📰 AAP government launches doorstep delivery of public services in Delhi
Residents can now apply for 40 documents; no. of services will be raised to 100 in future, says Kejriwal
•After months of planning, the Delhi government on Monday launched its ambitious project to deliver public services at the doorstep of residents.
•From driving licences to marriage certificates, Delhiites can now apply for 40 government documents to be delivered at their homes for a fee of ₹50 per service.
•The applicant would have to call 1076 and fix an appointment with a mobile sahayak, who will go to their home and help with filling forms, payment of fees and collection of documents.
•The mobile sahayak would then submit the documents at the government office concerned, which would post the certificate or licence once issued.
•Starting from Monday morning, after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the project in the presence of the Cabinet and Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, till 6 p.m., a total of 21,000 calls were attempted to the centralised number — 1076, the government said.
•Due to the large volume of calls, 2,728 were connected and 1,286 were answered by the operators, the government said.
•The calls that were attempted but were unable to connect would be returned by the operators, it said.
‘Teething troubles’
•Of the calls that were answered, 369 led to appointments for home visits by the mobile sahayaks, who collected documents from seven applicants as of 6 p.m.
•Speaking about the project, Mr. Kejriwal said there could be teething troubles for the next few days.
•From Tuesday, the number of operators would be increased to 80 from 40 and the number of phone lines to 120 from 50.
•The project, which has been outsourced by the Administrative Reforms Department to VFS Global, had received the Cabinet’s in-principle approval in November 2017. Though Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal had raised certain concerns, including about potential security threat from sahayaks, the Cabinet approved the contract with VFS on July 3.
•Mr. Kejriwal said the project faced many obstructions, including that from the Centre and the L-G. He added that the AAP government was fighting against deep-rooted vested interests.
•Terming it a historic day, Mr. Kejriwal said the move would end the long waiting time at government offices, the scope for touts to operate and increase productivity.
•“There are SDM offices where people start lining up at 4 a.m. and their turn comes at 10 a.m. They get tired of waiting and end up going to touts. Now, there is no need for this,” he said.
•The number of services to be home-delivered would be increased to 100 within three months, he added.
📰 Tejas clears maiden mid-air re-fuelling trial
•The first ever mid-air refuelling of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas was successfully carried out Monday, placing India in an elite group of countries which have developed the air-to-air refuelling system for military aircraft.
•With this first trial, the aircraft gets much closer to the important battle-ready tag, called the FOC or the final operational clearance.
•Production partner Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and LCA’s designer and developer Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) gave the thumbs-up as an Air Force transport plane IL-78 refuelled the light fighter as it flew at a height of 20,000 feet over Gwalior, an HAL statement said.
•HAL Chairman and Managing Director R.Madhavan said the landmark flight would quicken the final certification of the LCA.
•“The Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’ (LSP8) has successfully completed the ‘wet’ or actual engagement today[Monday] by transferring 1,900 kg of fuel from an IAF IL-78’s mid-air refuelling tanker. All internal tanks and drop tanks were refuelled. The aircraft was [flying at a speed of] 270 knots. On September 4 and 6, a dry docking of the aerial refuelling probe with mother tanker was done,” the release said. (LSP stands for limited series production.)
•The flight was piloted by Wing Commander Siddharth Singh of the National Flight Test Centre, Bengaluru, with designers from HAL and ADA closely monitoring the system parameters from the ground station.
📰 Rajiv convicts' mercy pleas: Does the buck stop at the Governor?
•With the Tamil Nadu government making a renewed effort to obtain the release of the seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case through a Cabinet recommendation to the Governor, legal experts differed on the scope of his power.
•While a senior advocate is of the opinion that any decision by the Governor would have to be reaffirmed by the President, a former Chief Justice of a High Court said the Governor had separate powers to decide the matter.
‘State has no say’
•Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog told The Hindu: “Since this is a CBI prosecution and not a State prosecution, the State has no say. Therefore, even after the State government recommends and the Governor takes a decision to release the convicts, there still needs to be reaffirmation by the Centre.”
•“Which basically means that it will go back to the President again for confirmation,” Mr. Nandrajog explained.
•Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Justice R.S. Sodhi, said it was too early to comment on the issue.
•But, he said that the Governor had separate powers to decide on mercy pleas such as the one in question here.
•“However, what he does in exercise of his power is open to him to decide. Let’s wait for him to decide on the issue,” Justice Sodhi said.
•Apart from A.G. Perarivalan, other convicts — Nalini, T. Suthendraraja alias Santhan, Sriharan alias Murugan (Nalini’s husband), Robert Payas, S. Jayakumar alias Jayakumaran, and Ravichandran alias Ravi — have been in jail for over 27 years.
•All of them had pleaded to the Governor and the State government for remission of their sentence.
•Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta said, “The Supreme Court, in its recent order of September 6, 2018, only stated that the authority concerned will be at liberty to apply its mind under Article 161 of the Constitution.”
•“The said order is in consonance with the law laid down by a Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in V. Sriharan case, where it has been held that the convict has a right to have his case considered and decided,” Mr. Gupta said, adding that, “any decision taken under Article 161 will be amenable to judicial review.”
📰 CPEC to consider Pak. social sector priorities
‘We will prioritise livelihood projects and extend them to western Pakistan’
•China and Pakistan are looking afresh at projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in tune with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s focus on development of social infrastructure.
•“China will give more assistance on a priority basis to such areas as agriculture, education, medical service and drinking water, delivering tangible benefits to more people,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, in response to a question.
Wang’s visit
•Asked to comment on Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s three-day visit to Islamabad, where the CPEC was discussed, Mr. Geng said: “The two sides will enhance the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and decide the future development path and the course for cooperation through negotiations in light of Pakistan’s next-stage socio-economic development priorities and the needs of its people.”
•“We will prioritise the faster development of industrial cooperation and livelihood projects, gradually extend them to the western part of Pakistan and enable more Pakistanis to benefit from the CPEC.”
•Mr. Geng’s focus on developing social infrastructure in Pakistan chimes with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s emphasis on pursuing a people-oriented approach.
•Meanwhile Pakistan media reports said that Mr. Khan’s adviser on commerce, textiles, industries and investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, has dismissed aFinancial Times report on CPEC, stating that his statements were taken out of context.
•In his clarification, Mr. Dawood emphasised that Pakistan’s commitment to CPEC would not change. He added that during the recent visit of Mr. Wang, both countries decided to take their strategic partnership forward, stressing that commitments to CPEC would be honoured and were unwavering, Pakistan’s Geo TV reported.
•The Financial Times report stated that Pakistan was considering a review of the CPEC agreement with China, citing Islamabad’s unease with what it claimed were unjust benefits being enjoyed by Beijing-owned companies.
📰 Casting capers: Maneka sees animals in wrong role
Minister accuses the AWBI of not enforcing rules that specify how animals can be depicted in films and television shows
•Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has locked horns with the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), accusing it of being lax in enforcement of rules that specify how wild animals can be depicted in films and television programmes. The board is India’s apex body for ensuring that animals are not mistreated.
•In a July 23 letter to Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan, Ms. Gandhi, who is also known for her activism for animal rights, listed “blatant errors” by the AWBI subcommittee that screens applications from film-makers.
•She alleged that the committee did not seek details of the species being used, which were required to determine whether they were protected. It had even allowed their depiction in scenes that could promote cruelty to animals.
•The letter cites an instance of approval given for a scene showing animal sacrifice, which is against the Supreme Court’s orders.
•S.P. Gupta, AWBI Chairman, said the allegations were “baseless” and part of a campaign to “defame” the board. “There have been six or seven such letters that have been sent to us ... I have responded to the Environment Minister. The allegations regarding permits are completely false and we have examined every case thoroughly [when giving or denying permissions],” he told The Hindu on the phone.
•He, however, did not share a copy of his response to Dr. Vardhan, saying it was not a “public document”.
•The letter, seen by The Hindu, cites an instance of the AWBI allowing the featuring of a hoolock gibbon, an endangered species, in a documentary film without enquiring from the film-makers whether or not special permission was obtained.
•In July, a TV show called “India’s Next Top Model” was given approval for using animals and birds brought from outside the country, such as macaws and ball pythons, without verifying how they were sourced and whether requisite certificate was obtained for their import. While tigers, monkeys, lions, bears, panthers (including leopards) are banned from being exhibited under Section 22 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the government body has allowed their use on several occasions, Ms. Gandhi wrote in her letter. The subcommittee has granted requests for showing snakes and birds without applicants specifying the species.
•“All Indian snakes and birds except the crow are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act and any certification for performance or exhibition is only possible after permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden of the relevant State,” the letter says.
📰 Much must change in Kerala
After the devastating floods, Kerala society as a whole now needs to reorient its relationship with nature
•In a national calamity, people look towards a leader to extend them empathy, a sense of somebody being in charge and a route to a more secure future. By any measure, Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, has lived up to expectation on the first two aspects and may be expected to play a role in identifying the third after the State has had to face its biggest disaster in a century in the form of floods. He has reflected gravitas, displayed pragmatism and expressed a willingness to take assistance from any source. The last is a necessary corrective at a time when false pride, standing in the way of accepting the hand of friendship extended from the outside, is projected as a desirable nationalism. At the very same time, it is necessary to acknowledge the extraordinary outpouring of humanity and material assistance towards the people of Kerala from the rest of India. It is difficult to recall something on this scale as a response to a calamity in a distant corner of the country in recent times.
Natural capital and progress
•Now that the Chief Minister has affirmed that the “last person has been rescued”, rehabilitation is progressing and plans are afoot to rebuild Kerala, it is hoped that the last will be approached with an open mind. This would be a mindset that recognises that much must change in Kerala’s civil society, which in turn would trigger change at the level of governance. Indeed a paradigm shift, being a profound change in the perception of progress, is needed. The central element in this new perception must be that a continuous decline of a society’s natural capital cannot be seen as compatible with progress. Kerala has justifiably been identified as having carved out a niche, and not just in India but globally, as a society with high human development at a relatively low level of income. While it may be pointed out that globally, many other societies, particularly to the east of India, have achieved the same in terms of some standard social indicators, it must be remembered that, as a part of India, it had also to deal with an ossified social structure in the form of caste and the inequalities it perpetuated. Social stratification was far less in east Asian societies making it easier for them to transform. For Kerala to have overcome this burden through a non-violent political revolution is a considerable achievement.
•At times though, stories of our success relayed across the world may lead us to be somewhat swayed by praise. This may have happened to the leadership of Kerala society which extends beyond the political class to its intellectuals. While focussing on certain aspects of a society, external observers could miss others that are just as crucial in evaluating its development. Laudatory evaluations of Kerala have masked the decline in natural capital and associated ecosystem services that have accompanied the rise in income. The decline in natural capital has ranged from deforestation that contributes to rainwater run-off contributing to landslides, to sand-mining that leads to rivers over-flowing their banks, and building on the flood plains that were meant to provide a cushion. All of these contribute to flooding.
Too much consumption
•When we have it upon the word of Madhav Gadgil — who may be considered India’s ecological voice and has studied the Kerala topography and its alteration — that human action may have exacerbated the consequences of the unusually heavy rain this year, we would be advised to hear the message. We know exactly the corrective actions necessary to reverse, possibly only at a glacial pace at that, the accumulated man-made factors responsible for this. At the centre of it is consumption. In relation to the ecological damage that it can wreak, Kerala consumes too much. At the centre of this consumption is luxury housing and commercial holiday resorts, of course luxurious. Structures much larger than necessary cover the soil with concrete, heightening rainwater run-off, and through their weight increase subsidence. Houses here have historically been built with sand mined from rivers. Once this source got exhausted, river sand has been replaced by manufactured sand which is a by-product of quarrying. Large-scale quarrying has meant loping off the top of hills and allowing water to seep into them, making them unstable. So at the back of much of the human factor that has exacerbated the flooding by changing the landscape is luxury housing. It is significant too that some of this housing is not even used or has very few persons living in them. This is hardly a rational use of a scarce resource such as land, especially when it has known catastrophic consequences.
Unsustainable trajectory
•Altogether, Kerala’s much-acclaimed development trajectory is unsustainable as demonstrated during the recent floods, and needs a change. The needed change is radical and the reality is that its past cannot be a guide to its future. This past has been one of human development, but Kerala society as a whole now needs to reorient its relationship with nature. However inclusive this development may have been — and there is reason to believe that some of the claims made are exaggerated — that by itself does not ensure that the assault on nature will now end. Only the State’s civil society can guarantee its future on this score. Political parties are loathe to speak the language of responsible consumption for fear of losing out on votes.
•While, going forward, a path-breaking environmental movement in Kerala’s civil society is necessary, it does not mean that governance in Kerala should be left unaccountable out of concern for peacability. Even in a past that has witnessed progress in the form of an elimination of social barriers, government in Kerala has remained unaccountable with respect to the economy. Malayalis have had to migrate in large numbers, leaving their families behind, to keep the home fires burning. Now with the new challenge of ecological sustainability arising, government — by which is meant the entire public sector — needs to assume accountability for the depletion of natural capital. Someone has to take responsibility for the pattern of land use in Kerala, the pathologies of which extend to building resorts on hillsides, turning every public space into a refuse dump for used plastic, and the continuous alienation of agricultural land, all of which may have had a role in exacerbating the floods. It is by now clear that the decentralisation of government has been unable to prevent these developments. Land use in the State needs review at the level of the State government.
Calling for a public review
•Mr. Vijayan has been statesmanlike in saying that he will take material assistance from every quarter. He must now extend this approach to listening to independent voices on the rebuilding of Kerala. The obvious place to start would be to institute a public review of the dams in Kerala and how they are operated, focussing in particular on how their operation may have affected the flooding. Such a demand has been made by a section of Kerala’s legislators. Even a conservative body such as the World Bank had instituted an independent review of the Sardar Sarovar Project in the 1990s, and tailored its policy accordingly. Considerations of both transparency and confidence of the people in the functioning of the government machinery demand that such a review be instituted at the earliest.
📰 Clemency question: The Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
The release of life convicts should be settled on legal principles alone
•After failing to get the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case released by exercising its statutory power to remit life sentences, the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu has taken recourse to a possible constitutional remedy. It has decided to invoke the Governor’s clemency power under Article 161 of the Constitution. The earlier attempt in 2014 to remit the sentences under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure was stayed by the Supreme Court, which ultimately held that the Centre had primacy in according remission to life convicts in a case that involves consultation between the Centre and the State. The Centre formally declined to concur with the State’s proposal in April 2018, saying it would “set a very dangerous precedent and lead to international ramifications”. There is no doubt that the sovereign clemency power vested in the President and the Governor is quite wide, but the Supreme Court has in the past cautioned against its use for political considerations. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit will now have to take a call on the advice of the State’s Council of Ministers and decide whether he is bound by it. The moot question is whether he will pause to consider the Centre’s opinion against releasing those involved in a “diabolical plot” hatched by “a highly organised foreign terrorist organisation” and either reject the proposal or seek its reconsideration. In either case, he will be mindful of the fact that his decision will be subject to judicial review.
•The Tamil Nadu government believes there is no legal bar on the convicts getting the benefit of Article 161, even though the mercy petitions of some of them have been rejected by both the Governor and the President. But the issue has thrown up a number of questions that relate to process. For instance, what happens to the four Sri Lankan nationals among the convicts? Will they remain in India or be repatriated? Also, shouldn’t there be a case-by-case evaluation for releasing those sentenced for life? An omnibus order of release clearly will not address the particularities in each case, or evaluate the gravity of their role in the crime and the effect on society of releasing them. In principle, the idea that convicts who have suffered prolonged incarceration require compassion cannot be faulted. The idea of locking away a person for life, without so much as a sliver of hope of freedom, is not in keeping with the ideals of a truly modern society. However, it is impossible to ignore the impact of such a decision on capital punishment. When lifelong imprisonment is regarded as a humane alternative to capital punishment, releasing life convicts may only strengthen the demand for the imposition of the death penalty — which would be retrograde. Although there are many political considerations behind the move to release the convicts, this case must be decided on the basis of legal principles alone.
📰 RBI intervenes as rupee breaches 72.5 to dollar
Currency among worst performers in emerging markets ; widening current account deficit weighs, more rate hikes may be on the cards
•The rupee breached 72.5 a dollar on Monday and touched all-time low of 72.67 intraday as the current account deficit widened to five- year high in the first quarter of the current financial year, to $15.8 billion or 2.4%, of the GDP.
•Following media reports quoting unnamed Finance Ministry officials that steps would be taken to arrest the fall in the currency, including deposit schemes for non-resident Indians along with central bank intervention, the rupee strengthened to 72.18 but again lost steam during the end of the trading session.
•“First time there was some verbal intervention by government that measures shall be taken to rein in rupee weakness,” said Sajal Gupta, head, forex and rates, Edelweiss Securities.
‘May test 73.50’
•“And some dollars sold by RBI helped rupee recover from 72.67 to 72.18 and it closed at 72.44. But still, rupee looks slippery again unless some policy measures or strong intervention [is taken]. It’s now slated to head toward 73.50 levels,” Mr. Gupta said.
•Currency dealers said the central bank is not intervening aggressively as before. In June, the RBI had sold more than $6 billion in the spot market. The data for July and August are yet to be released by the central bank.
•The rupee lost as much as 1.3% intraday before cutting some losses and ended at 72.45 a dollar — an all-time closing low, down 1% over it’s previous close of 71.73 a dollar. Rupee was the worst performer among emerging market currencies in Asia, depreciating about 13% this financial year amid limited intervention by the central bank. In September, rupee has depreciated 1.7% so far against the dollar.
•According to dealers, investors are concerned over economies that are expected to experience worsening balance of payments position.
•“On the external stability front, we expect the current account deficit to widen to 2.5% of GDP in FY2019 and 2.7% in FY2020, reflecting a combination of adverse terms of trade and a pickup in capex,” Morgan Stanley wrote in a note to it’s clients.
•Morgan Stanley expects inflation to accelerate prompting the central bank to hike interest rates by 50 basis points (bps), including 25 bps in the next policy review due in early October.
•“We expect another 25bps rate hike in October, as we think the Reserve Bank of India will front-load its hiking cycle to keep inflation expectations anchored. We highlight the risk of another rate hike of 25bp in the remaining part of the fiscal year, contingent on evolving external conditions,” it said.
Bond yields rise
•Bond yields spiked over fears of further rate hike as the yield on 10-year benchmark government bonds rose 13 bps to close the day at 8.16%. RBI had hiked interest rates by 50 bps since June this year over inflation concerns.
•Moody’s Investors Service warned that a sustained weakening of the rupee would be credit-negative for its rated Indian companies.
📰 India may overtake China in farmed shrimp production
‘Many producers planning to expand capacity’
•India is set gain the top slot in farmed shrimp production, overtaking China in 2019-20, said Ravi Kumar Yellanki, president, Society of Aquaculture Professionals.
•“We have already overtaken China in shrimp exports last year but are on par with regard to farmed shrimp production. Next year, we will overtake China [on this count] too,” he said.
China’s output falls
•While the shrimp production target for the current year stands at 7 lakh tonnes, India might end up producing 6.5 lakh tonnes, on par with China. Last year, India produced 6 lakh tonnes, he said. Shrimp production in China declined after the outbreak of the Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) disease, he added. While India was not impacted by the disease, countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Mexico were largely affected. “But China kept inflating its production numbers by adding imports from Vietnam,” he noted.
•“Next year, we will definitely overtake China as farmed shrimp production is on the wane. Their farmers suffered huge losses and this dissuaded them from getting into production,” said Ramakanth V. Akula, CEO, The Waterbase Ltd.(TWL), a leading shrimp feed manufacturer.
•Huge tracts of land were available to host brackish water for cultivation, he said adding,“India has 15 lakh hectares suitable for brackish water, but only 10% of it [1.5 lakh hectares] is being used for shrimp production. Farmgate prices are increasing. Also, several shrimp producers are planning to expand capacity.”
•Last year, India exported 4.02 lakh tonnes of Vannemei shrimp, an increase of 22% in quantity and 25% in value terms.
•The company also plans to augment its shrimp feed production capacity either through greenfield or brownfield project.
•“India needs good quality seeds. To sustain the momentum, we are setting up a ₹22 crore hatchery in Nellore in two phases,” he said. In the first phase, it would produce 250 million post larvae seed Vannemei shrimp. The trial runs are on and commercial productions would commence by October 2018. The second phase would also have similar capacity. The new plant might come up in Andhra Pradesh in two years. Based in Chennai, TWL is a leading acquaculture company promoted by Karan Chand Thapar Group. The company focusses on manufacture and marketing of shrimp feed, farm care products, processing of shrimp and producing post larvae of Vannemei shrimp. Last year, the company posted a revenue of ₹342 crore.Dwelling on the current year’s performance, he said a significant increase in raw material costs not only contracted the margins, but also impacted the operational profitability of the firm.
