February 16. 2010

February 16, 2010

ü      Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai on Monday said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign hand in Saturday’s Pune blast. Mr. Pillai said there definitely was a link between the blast and American David Coleman Headley, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. Headley had spoken of an ISI-sponsored “Karachi Project” to take away Indian youth to Pakistan and indoctrinate them to carry out attacks in India.

ü      Andhra Pradesh Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday announced that he had accepted the resignations of 12 MLAs — 10 from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and one each from the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP.

·         For a brief write up on the Telengana agitation, please visit this link.

·         Earlier, even as the Governor’s address was in progress, students and police fought pitched battles on the Osmania University campus. The role of the students in the Telengana agitation has been an important one.

o    Apart from K.Chandrasekhar Rao, it was the powerful students’ agitation that kept the Telengana struggle in the news.

o    As it happened in 1969, students once again became the mainstay of the Telangana agitation, taking the cause to the streets, far away from the corridors of power.

o    Back in 1991, the university saw the formation of the Telangana Students Front (TSF) and the Telangana Liberation Students Organisation. The following year, a TSF unit was formed in Kakatiya University, which remained the centre of protest in Warangal over the last fortnight.

o    Protests first broke out in Osmania University following Chandrasekhara Rao’s arrest on November 29. Students clashed with the police, who had already assembled in considerable numbers. A brutal lathicharge and its live coverage on television did much to fuel protests elsewhere, too.

o    The Osmania University campus inched closer to normalcy only after the State Human Rights Commission intervened.

o    A string of suicides added considerably to the emotional dimension of the movement.

o    The sudden intensification of the students’ agitation caught the government unawares.

o    Hyderabad’s controversial free-zone status, mobilisation by TRS activists, and Osmania University’s own historical allegiance to the Telangana cause combined to build the momentum. Chandrasekhara Rao’s arrest further strengthened the movement and police excesses fuelled it again.

o    Osmania University continued to be a site of protest even after all colleges were closed in fear of further clashes.

o    Apart from the political reasons, it is the feeling of losing out to fellow students from other areas of Andhra Pradesh in job opportunities and educational opportunities that is making the students take up the protest.

o    In addition to this, there has been a growing disillusionment amongst the students towards the political parties and that includes TRS also. Please read this interview.

ü      The country’s leading strategic analysts have urged India to go ahead with talks with Pakistan and not allow Saturday’s Pune blast to weaken its resolve. They see the blast as part of the continuing pattern to thwart India and Pakistan from fostering closer ties ever since trouble erupted in Afghanistan in 2001.

ü      At least 24 jawans were killed and several others injured when Maoists attacked a security camp at Silda in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on Monday.

·         For a brief write up on Naxalism, please visit this link here.

ü      Norway, where, agriculture is the nation’s second most important industry and provides employment to nearly half the people, has rejected the idea of genetically modified seeds. This is a much needed impetus to the opposers of GM foods as Norway is the newest amongst the European nations to go against GM foods.

·         To read our article about GM foods, go here.

ü      International Conference on Biodiversity in relation to Food and Human Security in a warming planet was conducted in Chennai where the attendees voiced their concern against the climate change and the growing population.

·         Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years.

·         Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.

·         The recent usage, especially in terms of environmental policy, refers to changes in modern climate and may be qualified as anthropogenic climate change.

·         The basic causes of climate change are human activities including but not limited to industrial activities, deforestation, use of fossil fuels, use of CFCs, aerosol production, inappropriate land use etc.

·         Plate tectonics (Position of continents determine the position of oceans and thereby ocean currents), volcanic activities, solar radiations, orbital variations and ocean variability are some of the natural causes of climate change.

·         There has been lots of physical evidence that has pointed to climate change viz. melting of glaciers, dendraclimatology, pollen analysis, sea level change, changes in vegetation and insect activity etc.

·         The impacts of climate change are wide spread: Demographic, Economic, Ethical, Ecological etc.

·         The primary concern that has been raised is the owing up of responsibility, with the richer nations with a history of Industrialization failing to do so.

·         The recent Copenhagen summit failed to throw up an agreement or accord on which the countries could act so as to reduce (mitigate) the effects of climate change.

·         The way forward for countries includes not only mitigation but also adaptation and geo engineering.

·         Political and Scientific debate is going on about the possible causes and various measures.

·         But, there has been a growing skeptism about global warming and climate change.

o    The major point put forward by global warming skeptics is that global warming has ceased.

o    People have started questioning the validity and accuracy of the scientists’ reports and this has increased with the recent “glaciergate controversy”

o    People have claimed that the bulk of global warming is caused by natural causes.

o    Some claim that vested interests that include several clean energy organisations and countries have manipulated the data and the long term effects of global warming/climate change have been misrepresented

o    There has been a growing public opinion also against global warming.

o    The spate of recent “leaked mails” has also played a part in the controversy.

·         But, it has to be understood that the overall temperature has been increasing and it is the moral responsibility of every person to do his bit to preserve the world for the future generations.

·         On a lighter note, we must also acknowledge the fact global warming is not all about thorns. Please look at this link for understanding the DISADVANTAGES and ADVANTAGES of global warming.

ü      Following Saturday’s blast at Pune’s German Bakery, which was classified as a “soft target,” the Maharashtra government has reviewed afresh security measures at malls, shops, multiplexes in addition to conducting security audits for vital installations or “hard targets.”

ü      Faced with a huge fiscal deficit and rising costs of social security programmes, the United Progressive Alliance-II government could announce possible decontrol of petrol and diesel prices in the Union budget to be presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 26.

·         This could provide the road map for partial deregulation of the petroleum sector and help it cut down on subsidies.

·         Official sources in the Petroleum Ministry said both Mr. Mukherjee and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora discussed such a road map that could ultimately provide an alternative to the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to review the prices of petrol and diesel on a regular basis.

ü      The G.T. Nanavati-Akshay Mehta judicial commission probing the Godhra train carnage and post-Godhra riots, on Monday informed the Gujarat High Court that it was in the process of “recording its findings” and was expected to complete the report in the next three or four months.

ü      Indian-origin lawyer Rashad Hussain, a hafiz of the holy Quran, will be U.S.’ new special envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, a post vital to President Barack Obama’s bid to repair strained relations with the Islamic world.

ü      Overall inflation based on WPI (wholesale price index) for all commodities soared to 8.56 per cent in January from 7.31 per cent in December last year, thereby breaching the Reserve Bank’s projection of 8.5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal two months ahead of official expectation.

·         In its third quarter monetary policy review earlier this month, the RBI had raised the CRR (cash reserve ratio) by 75 basis points to 5.75 per cent to render it mandatory for banks to park a larger quantum of funds with it so as to suck out excess liquidity of about Rs. 36,000 crore from the banking system as a measure to check rising prices.

·         Alongside, however, while indicating that the fiscal stimulus measures should also be gradually withdrawn by the government, the apex bank made it clear that monetary measures alone were not the answer to controlling food price inflation as it was a supply-side problem.

·         At the same time, rising food inflation, if left unchecked, has a tendency of seeping into the manufacturing sector and contribute to overall inflation, it said.

·         The WPI inflation figures for January reveal that the seeping may already be happening and may surge well over 10 per cent by the end of the fiscal if adequate steps are not taken.

·         With the rising inflation numbers coming in the wake of surging industrial growth, which is likely to lead to an overall economic expansion projected at around 7.50-7.75 per cent for 2009-10, the government’s dilemma would be to choose between sustaining high growth and containing inflation.

ü      Preview to the Budget (Telecom Sector)

·         The telecom sector was one of the sectors that was largely not affected by the recession

·         Apart from its long-standing demand of relaxation of the “severe” tax regime, telecom players are eyeing some announcements that will give the much-needed push to the telecom equipment manufacturing segment and m-commerce.

·         The telecom sector, particularly the mobile industry, has been demanding rationalisation of the tax structure. The industry, which pays both Central and State-level taxes, has been seeking a unified tax rate.

·         Most affected are mobile operators. They have seen their profits come down in the past couple of years due to fierce competition, resulting in Indians enjoying the cheapest telecom tariffs globally.

·         Besides the license fee that is paid to the government, a mobile operator contributes towards the Centre-monitored Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund meant for the growth of rural telephony.

·         There is also excise duty, service tax and other cess.

·         Telecom players also want tax holiday benefits granted to new entrants who have started providing service after March 31, 2005.

·         To maintain its profitability, the industry is also going to see major mergers and acquisitions within the country.

·         Similarly, m-commerce is an area the government needs to focus on through regulatory framework to facilitate business and day-to-day transactions, besides helping rural people become a part of it

·         The telecom manufacturing industry, meanwhile, is looking forward to some incentives and the availability of cheap and easy credit, besides some lowering of taxes and boost to exports.

ü      

      India and the ten-member ASEAN block will hold parleys on ways to conclude talks before the August 2010 deadline to widen the scope of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to include services and investment expected to provide huge opportunity to Indian professionals to work in Southeast Asia.

·         To read more about FTAs, please read our earlier post. Please scroll down the page, as the report comes later in the post.