RBI Asks Government To Improve Expenditure Quality

RBI in its quarterly review of Monetary and Credit Policy 2011-12 pointed out the risk of high fiscal deficit pushing up inflation and consequently it suggested central government to improve the quality of expenditure to contain demand in the economy.

Trade Figures (Ap11)
Exports–The Break-up			Imports–The Break-up
Sector	Value ($ b)	(% growth)	Sector	Value ($ b)	(% growth)
Engineering	23	94	Oil	30.5	18
Oil	14	60	Pearls, gems	7.5	10
Gems &jewellery	9.25	19	Gold & silver	17.7	200
Readymade garments	3.6	34	Machinery	9	49
Manmade yarn & fabrics	1.2	30	Electronics	7.6	71
Cotton yarn & fabrics	1.5	9.1	Chemicals	4.5	19
Electronics	2.8	69	Coal	3.7	27
Drugs & pharma	3.08	25	Iron & steel	2.7	-10
Chemicals	2.9	52	Transport equipment	2.5	34
Plastics & linoleum	1.5	50	Ores & scrap	3.4	37
Leather	1.1	26	Vegetable Oil	2	55
Mica, coal & ores	2.7	270	Resins & plastics	1.8	0
Marine products	0.6	27	Fertilisers	1.28	-28

As per RBI’s viewpoint, the large fiscal deficit has been a key source of demand pressures, therefore, fiscal consolidation is critical to maintain inflationary pressure in the economy. The government can support RBI’s efforts to achieve low and stable inflation by re-allocating resources to finance supply bottle-necks in food and infrastructure.

Outstanding Liabilities and Gross Fiscal Deficit (as % of GDP)
Year	Outstanding Liabilities	Gross Fiscal Deficit
2009-10	53.7	5.4
2010-11	49.9	4.7
2011-12 (BE)	48.5	4.6

Despite the hike in administered prices of fuel products, RBI still finds an element of suppressed inflation in the economy. As per RBI’s estimates, about 1 per cent of gross domestic product is still to be financed and becomes a major portion of this subsidy Bill. This subsidy Bill will result in inflationary pressure which, according to RBI is a major concern on the part of the government.

Food Accounts Largest Share in Consumer’s Spending : NSSO

NSSO’s 66th round of survey household consumer expenditure reveals that Indians are still spending a major chunk of their expenditure on food items. The survey, covering the period from July 2009 to June 2010 shows an average rural household to have allocated 53.6 per cent of its monthly consumption expenditure on food items. The corresponding share for urban household was less, at 40×7 per cent. According to the latest figures on consumption expenditure, per capita consumption expenditure in a month was 88 per cent more in case of urban India compared to rural. India during 2009-10, a trend which was more or less five years ago.

Share of Food in Total Consumption Expenditure (in%)
Year	Rural	Urban
1987-1988	64.0	56.4
1993-1994	63.2	54.7
1999-2000	59.4	48.1
2004-2005	55.0	42.5
2009-2010	53.6	40.6

Per capita expenditure on consumption for the bottom 10 per cent of the people in rural areas was five times less than the top 10 per cent of the people while in case of urban parts, it was 10 per cent less.

Survey results show that cereals still make up the largest chunk of an average Indian household’s consumption budget—15.6 per cent in rural and 9.1 per cent in urban areas.

This is followed by fuel and light (9.5 per cent in rural and 8 per cent in urban), milk and milk products (8.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent), vegetables (6.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent) and clothing (4.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent).

The survey has estimated the all-India average monthly per capita expenditure at Rs. 1,053.64 in rural and Rs. 1,984.46. The States among the top in spending  are Kerala (Rs. 1,835.22 in rural and Rs. 2,412.58 in urban
areas), Punjab ( 1,648.92 and Rs. 2,108.79), Haryana (Rs. 1,509.91 and Rs. 2,321.49) and Maharashtra (Rs. 1,152.79 and Rs. 2,436.75).

The States at the bottom of the consumption chart are Bihar (Rs. 780.15 and Rs. 1,23754), hhattisgarh (Rs. 783.57 and Rs. 1,647.32), Orissa (Rs. 818.47 and Rs. 1,548.36) and Jharkhand (Rs. 825.15 and Rs. 1,583.75).

Institutional Credit Disbursement to Agriculture Sector Shows Big Rise in 2010-11

Institutional credit disbursement to agriculture sector during 2010-11 registered a big rise. As against the target of Rs. 3,75,000 crore for agriculture credit in 2010-11, the banking system disbursed Rs.4,26,531 crore to the agriculture sector, thereby exceeding the target by around 13.7 per cent. As per the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, out of the total disbursed credit of Rs. 4,26,531 crore, Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks contributed Rs. 3,14,182 crore, Rs. 69,076 crore and Rs. 43,273 crore respectively. Thus during 2010-11, the share of Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks in total disbursed credit stood at 73.7 per cent, 16.2 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively.

During 2009-10, as against the target of Rs. 3,25,000 crore for agriculture credit, the banking system disbursed Rs. 3,84,514 crore to the agriculture sector, thereby exceeding the target by about 18 per cent. For the financial year 2011-12, the target of disbursing agriculture credit to farmers in Rs. 4,75,000 crore. It is worthnoting that government is providing concessional crop loans to farmers from the year 2006-07. The farmers who repay loans well in time get concession on their crop loans. In 2009—10, this concession was 1% which was raised to 2% in 2010- 11. For 2011-12, it now stands at 3%.

Flow of Institutional Credit to Agriculture Sector (in Rs. crore)
Agency	2009-10			2010-11
	Target	Actual Credit Disbursement	Target	Actual Credit Disbursement
Commercial Banks	2,50,000	2,85,000	2,80,000	3,14,182
Cooperative Banks	45,000	63,497	55,000	69,076
Regional Rural Banks	30,000	35,217	40,000	43,273
Total	3,25,000	3,84,514	3,75,000	4,26,531

Central Coordination -Cum- Empowered Committee Reviewed Position of Mineral Concession Regime in the Country

The quarterly meeting of the Central Coordination-cum¬-Empowered Committee (CEC) on monitoring and minimizing delays in grant of approvals for mineral concessions was held under the chairmanship of Shri S. Vijay Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Mines on September 23.

The Committee reviewed the position regarding various important aspects of the mineral concession regime in the country, and took decisions aimed at bringing about more efficiency and transparency in the system. Some of the important issues that came up for discussions and review in the meeting were: action taken to curb illegal mining including use of satellite imagery; improving monitoring of the mineral system through a State Empowered Committee and District level Task Forces; plugging loopholes in the royalty collection system; strengthening governance by gearing up the State Mining Directorates; expediting approval including forest clearance cases to clear long pending mineral concession applications.

Major decisions taken included:

(i) Action Plan to be prepared to increase capacity of State Mining Directorates.

(ii) End-to-end accounting system for mineral transaction to prevent and detect illegal mining through an All Indian Online System.

(iii) Ensuring proper exploration in leasehold areas in a time-bound way to enable execution of Mining Plans in a scientific manner.

Presentations were also made by (i) M/s Ernest & Young on Mining Tenement System; (ii) by M/s E-Connect Solution Pvt. Ltd., Udaipur, on the Online Management System developed by them for the Government of Rajasthan; and (iii) by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on their new software on forest clearance that is proposed to be launched shortly.

Representatives of various Central Ministries/Departments concerned with the subject, viz. Environment and Forests, Defence, Civil Aviation, Steel, Revenue, Railways, Shipping and Fertilizer attended the meeting. The Governments of all mineral-rich States, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu also participated in the meeting.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Signs MoU with Goethe-Institute for Teaching of German

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) (represented by Mr. Avinash Dikshit Commissioner) and Goethe-Institute/Max Mueller Bhavan (represented by Mr. Heiko Sievers, Regional Director) here today. It was signed in the presence of Shri E. Ahamed, Minister of State, Human Resource Development and Ms. Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State, German Federal Foreign Office.

The MoU aims at

• imparting communicative German language training to students of Kendriya Vidyalayas.

• Training and supporting teachers of KVs in implementing the German project involving teaching German language in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

• Equipping schools with materials to support the teaching of German language.

• To gradually enable KVS staff to independently take over German language education, with the MMB playing an advisory role.

The KVS has taken a decision to offer German as a third language in its schools. A large number of the Kendriya Vidyalayas have shown an interest in introducing German into their school network and have already started teaching German as a part of the curriculum. The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is a premier organization in India administering over a 1000 schools

The Goethe-Institute Max Mueller Bhavan (MMB) is an organization that supports the teaching of German. It offers organizational and academic support to partner institutions in the host country that choose to offer German as a Foreign Language as a part of their curriculum. .

Resource Mobilization for NGBRA Under World Bank Assistance

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Ministry of Environment and Forests’s proposal for ‘World Bank assistance to NGRBA for abatement of pollution of river Ganga’ at an estimated cost of Rs.7000 crore. The World Bank Board has also accorded approval to this project on 31.05.2001. The Loan agreement with World Bank has been signed on 14.06.2011 and the Bank will support the Government of India by providing technical assistance and financing of US $ 1 billion (approx. Rs.4600 crore). The share of Government of India will be Rs.5100 crore and that of the State Governments of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal will be Rs.1900 crore. To facilitate project implementation project and monitoring, National Mission Clean Ganga, a registered society is being formed at the Central level. Similar Project Management Groups are being set up in the States. Implementation of the Project will be spread over a period of 8 years. The principal objective of the project is to set up institutional structure at Centre and States and fund priority infrastructure investments for conservation and structure at Centre and States and fund priority infrastructure investments for conservation and restoration of the water quality of the river Ganga. The project will render benefits of significant order to the local populations. It would contribute to lessening the pollution loads due to untreated sewage from cities and towns located along Ganga. Tackling of industrial effluents and municipal solid wastes impacting the river water quality would also help move towards the objective of Mission Clean Ganga.

The capital and O&M costs for the first five years are to be borne by the Central and State Government in 70:30 ratio. Any cost escalation, over and above the sanctioned costs, shall be borne by the State Government (s) concerned. The terms and conditions of the World Bank loan assistance would be as mutually decided between the World Bank and the Govt. of India.

Security Printing & Minting in India

·         18^th Century – Minting of coins started at Calcutta Mint.  In 1790 modern machinery was brought from England and second Mint was established.   Bronze, silver and Gold coins were getting minted from these mints

·         1918- British sovereign were minted during 1918 as the Mint in Mumbai was declared as branch of Royal Mint of London

·         1925 – Printing of postal stationery & stamps started at Nashik

·         1928 – Printing of currency/bank notes started at Nashik

·         1929 onwards –various other security products added

·         1962- Re.1/- printing started at new location

·         1967- A Security Paper manufacturing Mill was commissioned at Hoshangabad (M.P.)

·         1974 – A new press was established at Dewas (M.P) with complete range of printing machines to take care of printing of higher denomination of  bank notes using “Intaglio Printing Technology and Guillotine Machines” for carrying out finishing jobs of processing bank notes.  In Bank Notes Press, Dewas, high quality security inks are also produced and supplied to various security organizations

·         1980- Printing of all currency/bank notes shifted to new location

·         1982-First security printing unit established by Government of India at Hyderabad

·         1988-Government of India came up with first Mint of its own at Noida (U.P.)

Role of Banks and Financial Institutions in Economy

Money lending in one form or the other has evolved along with the history of the mankind. Even in the ancient times there are references to the moneylenders. Shakespeare also referred to ‘Shylocks’ who made unreasonable demands in case the loans were not repaid in time along with interest. Indian history is also replete with the instances referring to indigenous money lenders, Sahukars and Zamindars involved in the business of money lending by mortgaging the landed property of the borrowers.

 

Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, with the onset of modern industry in the country, the need for government regulated banking system was felt.  The British government began to pay attention towards the need for an organised banking sector in the country and Reserve Bank of India was set up to regulate the formal banking sector in the country. But the growth of modern banking remained slow mainly due to lack of surplus capital in the Indian economic system at that point of time. Modern banking institutions came up only in big cities and industrial centres. The rural areas, representing vast majority of Indian society, remained dependent on the indigenous money lenders for their credit needs.

 

Independence of the country heralded a new era in the growth of modern banking. Many new commercial banks came up in various parts of the country. As the modern banking network grew, the government began to realise that the banking sector was catering only to the needs of the well-to-do and the capitalists. The interests of the poorer sections as well as those of the common man were being ignored.

 

In 1969, Indian government took a historic decision to nationalise 14 biggest private commercial banks. A few more were nationalised after a couple of years. This resulted in transferring the ownership of these banks to the State and the Reserve Bank of India could then issue directions to these banks to fund the national programmes, the rural sector, the plan priorities and the priority sector at differential rate of interest.  This resulted in providing fillip the banking facilities to the rural areas, to the under-privileged and the downtrodden. It also resulted in financial inclusion of all categories of people in almost all the regions of the country.

 

However, after almost two decades of bank nationalisation some new issues became contextual. The service standards of the public sector banks began to decline. Their profitability came down and the efficiency of the staff became suspect. Non-performing assets of these banks began to rise. The wheel of time had turned a full circle by early nineties and the government after the introduction of structural and economic reforms in the financial sector, allowed the setting up of new banks in the private sector.

 

The new generation private banks have now established themselves in the system and have set new standards of service and efficiency. These banks have also given tough but healthy competition to the public sector banks.

 

Modern Day Role
Banking system and the Financial Institutions play very significant role in the economy. First and foremost is in the form of catering to the need of credit for all the sections of society. The modern economies in the world have developed primarily by making best use of the credit availability in their systems. An efficient banking system must cater to the needs of high end investors by making available high amounts of capital for big projects in the industrial, infrastructure and service sectors. At the same time, the medium and small ventures must also have credit available to them for new investment and expansion of the existing units. Rural sector in a country like India can grow only if cheaper credit is available to the farmers for their short and medium term needs.

 

Credit availability for infrastructure sector is also extremely important. The success of any financial system can be fathomed by finding out the availability of reliable and adequate credit for infrastructure projects. Fortunately, during the past about one decade there has been increased participation of the private sector in infrastructure projects.

 

The banks and the financial institutions also cater to another important need of the society i.e. mopping up small savings at reasonable rates with several options. The common man has the option to park his savings under a few alternatives, including the small savings schemes introduced by the government from time to time and in bank deposits in the form of savings accounts, recurring deposits and time deposits. Another option is to invest in the stocks or mutual funds.

 

In addition to the above traditional role, the banks and the financial institutions also perform certain new-age functions which could not be thought of a couple of decades ago. The facility of internet banking enables a consumer to access and operate his bank account without actually visiting the bank premises. The facility of ATMs and the credit/debit cards has revolutionised the choices available with the customers. The banks also serve as alternative gateways for making payments on account of income tax and online payment of various bills like the telephone, electricity and tax. The bank customers can also invest their funds in various stocks or mutual funds straight from their bank accounts. In the modern day economy, where people have no time to make these payments by standing in queue, the service provided by the banks is commendable.

 

While the commercial banks cater to the banking needs of the people in the cities and towns, there is another category of banks that looks after the credit and banking needs of the people living in the rural areas, particularly the farmers. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) have been sponsored by many commercial banks in several States. These banks, along with the cooperative banks, take care of the farmer-specific needs of credit and other banking facilities.

 

Future
Till a few years ago, the government largely patro-nized the small savings schemes in which not only the interest rates were higher, but the income tax rebates and incentives were also in plenty. The bank deposits, on the other hand, did not entail such benefits. As a result, the small savings were the first choice of the investors. But for the last few years the trend has been reversed. The small savings, the bank deposits and the mutual funds have been brought at par for the purpose of incentives under the income tax. Moreover, the interest rates in the small savings schemes are no longer higher than those offered by the banks.

 

Banks today are free to determine their interest rates within the given limits prescribed by the RBI. It is now easier for the banks to open new branches. But the banking sector reforms are still not complete. A lot more is required to be done to revamp the public sector banks. Mergers and amalgamation is the next measure on the agenda of the government. The government is also preparing to disinvest some of its equity from the PSU banks. The option of allowing foreign direct investment beyond 50 per cent in the Indian banking sector has also been under consideration.

 

Banks and financial intuitions have played major role in the economic development of the country and most of the credit- related schemes of the government to uplift the poorer and the under-privileged sections have been implemented through the banking sector. The role of the banks has been important, but it is going to be even more important in the future. 

R. Sridhar elected FIDC Chairman

The Finance Industry Development Council, a self-regulatory organisation for NBFC-AFCs, has a new Chairman in Mr R. Sridhar, who is currently Managing Director of Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd. He was elected as FIDC Chairman for period of two years at a meeting of the Council held in Mumbai. Mr Sridhar is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India .

Bank of India, Brickwork Ratings sign MoU for MSME

Brickwork Ratings, a SEBI-approved credit ratings agency, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with public sector lender Bank of India for certification of units in the MSME sector.

The MoU was signed on September 20 by Brickwork Ratings Founder Director Mr D Ravishankar and Mr Rakesh Sethi, the General Manager, Bank of India, Mumbai.

Under the MoU, the bank would encourage its MSME customers to have a professional rating done by Brickwork Ratings.

“The bank feels it is an important step toward encouraging the sector to enhance its accounting practices and corporate governance and bring it in line with the best practices in the industry,” a Brickwork Ratings statement said.

Mr Vivek Kulkarni, the Founder Managing Director of Brickwork Ratings, said: “We have a strong focus on the MSME sector. We feel a professional rating helps the sector in getting its due recognition and hence, can act as a catalyst for growth.”

Brickwork Ratings said it has a talented team that understands the sector, with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Central Coordination -Cum- Empowered Committee Reviewed Position of Mineral Concession Regime in the Country

The quarterly meeting of the Central Coordination-cum¬-Empowered Committee (CEC) on monitoring and minimizing delays in grant of approvals for mineral concessions was held under the chairmanship of Shri S. Vijay Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Mines.

The Committee reviewed the position regarding various important aspects of the mineral concession regime in the country, and took decisions aimed at bringing about more efficiency and transparency in the system. Some of the important issues that came up for discussions and review in the meeting were: action taken to curb illegal mining including use of satellite imagery; improving monitoring of the mineral system through a State Empowered Committee and District level Task Forces; plugging loopholes in the royalty collection system; strengthening governance by gearing up the State Mining Directorates; expediting approval including forest clearance cases to clear long pending mineral concession applications.

Major decisions taken included:

(i) Action Plan to be prepared to increase capacity of State Mining Directorates.

(ii) End-to-end accounting system for mineral transaction to prevent and detect illegal mining through an All Indian Online System.

(iii) Ensuring proper exploration in leasehold areas in a time-bound way to enable execution of Mining Plans in a scientific manner.

Presentations were also made by (i) M/s Ernest & Young on Mining Tenement System; (ii) by M/s E-Connect Solution Pvt. Ltd., Udaipur, on the Online Management System developed by them for the Government of Rajasthan; and (iii) by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on their new software on forest clearance that is proposed to be launched shortly.

Representatives of various Central Ministries/Departments concerned with the subject, viz. Environment and Forests, Defence, Civil Aviation, Steel, Revenue, Railways, Shipping and Fertilizer attended the meeting. The Governments of all mineral-rich States, viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu also participated in the meeting.

New BPL norms

The Planning Commission told the Supreme Court on September 20 that anyone spending more than Rs 965 per month in urban India and Rs 781 in rural India will be deemed not to be poor. Updating the poverty line cut-off figures, the commission said those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages will no longer be eligible to draw benefits of central and state government welfare schemes meant for those living below the poverty line.

According to the new criterion suggested by the planners, if a family of four in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Chennai is spending anything more than Rs 3,860 per month on its members, it would not be considered poor. It's a definition that many would find ridiculously unrealistic.

Not surprisingly, the new above the poverty line definition has already created outrage among activists, who feel it is just a ploy to artificially depress the number of poor in India. The plan panel said these were provisional figures based on the Tendulkar committee report updated for current prices by taking account of the Consumer Price Index for industrial and agricultural workers.

TOI broke down the overall monthly figure for urban areas and used the CPI for industrial workers along with the Tendulkar report figures to see what these numbers translate into and how much the Planning Commission believes is enough to spend on essential items so as not to be deemed poor.

The Planning Commission suggests that spending Rs 5.5 on cereals per day is good enough to keep people healthy. Similarly, a daily spend of Rs 1.02 on pulses, Rs 2.33 on milk and Rs 1.55 on edible oil should be enough to provide adequate nutrition and keep people above the poverty line without the need of subsidized rations from the government. It further suggests that just Rs 1.95 on vegetables a day would be adequate. A bit more, and one might end up outside the social security net.

People should be spending less than 44 paise on fruits, 70 paise on sugar, 78 paise on salt and spices and another Rs 1.51 on other foods per day to qualify for the BPL list and for subsidy under various government schemes. A person using more than Rs 3.75 per day on fuel to run the kitchen is doing well as per these figures. Forget about the fuel price hike and sky-rocketing rents, if anyone living in the city is spending over Rs 49.10 a month on rent and conveyance, he or she could miss out on the BPL tag.

As for healthcare, according to the Planning Commission, Rs 39.70 per month is sufficient to stay healthy. On education, the plan panel feels those spending 99 paise a day or Rs 29.60 a month in cities are doing well enough not to need any help. Similarly, one could be considered not poor if he or she spends more than Rs 61.30 a month on clothing, Rs 9.6 on footwear and another Rs 28.80 on other personal items.

The monthly cut-off given by the Planning Commission before the apex court was broken down using the Consumer Price Index of Industrial Workers for 2010-11 and the breakdown given in Annexure E of the Tendulkar report of expenditure calculated at 2004-05 prices.

New BPL norms: Rs 39 enough for medical expenditure

Updating the poverty line cutoff figures, the Planning Commission said that those spending in excess of Rs 32 a day in urban areas or Rs 26 a day in villages would no longer be eligible to draw benefits for those living below the poverty line.

TOI broke down the overall monthly figure for urban areas and used the CPI for industrial workers along with the Tendulkar committie report figures to see what these numbers translate into and how much the Planning Commission believes is enough to spend on essential items so as not to be deemed poor. The Planning Commission suggests that spending Rs 5.5 on cereals per day is good enough to keep people healthy.

Similarly a daily spend of Rs 1.02 on pulses, Rs 2.33 on milk and Rs 1.55 on edible oil should be enough to provide adequate nutrition and keep people above the poverty line without the need of subsidized rations from the government.

It further suggests just Rs 1.95 on vegetables a day would be adequate. A bit more and one might end up outside the social security net. People should be spending less than 44 paisa on fruits, 70 paisa on sugar, 78 paisa on salt and spices and another Rs 1.51 on other foods per day to qualify for the BPL list and qualify for subsidy under various government schemes.

A person using more than Rs 3.75 per day on fuel to run the kitchen is doing well as per these figures. Forget about the price hike of fuel or sky-rocketing rents in the city. If anyone living in the city is spending over Rs 49.10 a month on rent and conveyance, he or she could miss out on the BPL category.

As for healthcare, Rs 39.70 per month is felt to be sufficient to stay healthy, believes the Planning Commission . On education, the plan panel feels those spending 99 paisa a day or Rs 29.60 a month in cities are doing well enough not to need any help.

Similarly, one could be considered to not be poor if he or she spends more than Rs 61.30 a month on clothing, Rs 9.6 on footwear and Rs 28.80 on other personal items. The monthly cut-off given by the Planning Commission before the apex court was broken down using the Consumer Price Index of Industrial Workers for 2010-11 and the break down given in Annexure E of the Tendulkar Report of expenditure calculated at 2004-05 prices.

The new tentative BPL criteria was worked out by the Planning Commission and approved by the Prime Minister's office before the government's affidavit was submitted before the Supreme Court. The plan panel said the final poverty line criteria would be available after the completion of the NSSO survey of 2011-12.

Plans and Schemes

Bharat Nirman
For the year 2011-12, Bharat Nirman, which includes Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna, Indira Awas Yojna, National Rural Drinking Water Programme and Rural telephony have together been allocated 58000 crore. This is an increase of 10000 crore from the current year. A Plan was also announced to provide Rural Broadband Connectivity to all 250000 Panchayats in the country in three years.

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan
The existing operational norms of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have been revised to implement the right of children to free and compulsory education which has come into force with effect from 1 April 2010. For the year 2011-12, 21000 crore will be allocated which is 40 per cent higher than 15000 crore allocated in the Budget for 2010-11. A revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme Vocationalisation of Secondary Education will be implemented from 2011-12 to improve the employability of our youth.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
In pursuance of last year’s budget announcement to provide a real wage of 100 rupees per day, the Government has decided to index the wage rates notified under the MGNREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour. The enhanced wage rates have been notified by the Ministry of Rural Development on 14 January 2011.
From 1 April 2011 remuneration of Anganwadi workers increased from 1500 rupees  per month to 3000 rupees per month and for Anganwadi helpers from 750 rupees per month to 1500 rupees per month.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) has emerged as an effective instrument for providing a basic health cover to poor and marginal workers. It is now extended to MGNREGA beneficiaries, beedi workers and others. In 2011-12, it was proposed to further extend RSBY to cover unorganised sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like slate and slate pencil, dolomite, mica and asbestos etc.
  
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
The total allocation of  Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is increased from 6755 crore in 2010-11 to 7860 crore in 2011-12.

Integrated Child Development Services Scheme
The Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers are the backbone of Integrated Child Development Services Scheme. An increase in the remuneration of Anganwadi workers from 1500 rupees per month to 3000 rupees per month and for Anganwadi helpers from 750 rupees per month to 1500 rupees per month was announced. This will be effective from April 1, 2011. Around 22 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers will benefit from the increase.

Swavalamban
A subscriber under Swavalamban will be allowed exit at the age of 50 years instead of 60 years, or a minimum tenure of 20 years, whichever is later. Union Finance Minstry proposed to extend the benefit of Government contribution from three to five years for all subscribers of Swavalamban who enroll during 2010-11 and 2011-12. An estimated 20 lakh beneficiaries will join the scheme by March 2012.Swavalamban was launched in the Budget 2010-11.

Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
Under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme for BPL beneficiaries, the eligibility for pension is proposed to be reduced from 65 years at present to 60 years. Further, for those who are 80 years and above, the pension amount is being raised from 200 rupees at present to 500 rupees per month.

Rajiv Awas Yojana
To enhance credit worthiness of economically weaker sections and LIG households, a Mortgage Risk Guarantee Fund was announced to be created under Rajiv Awas Yojana.

Scheduled Castes and Tribal Sub-plan
In the Budget for 2011-12, for the first time, specific allocations are being earmarked towards Scheduled Castes Sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan. These will be shown in the Budget of the relevant Ministries and Departments under separate minor heads of account. Further, the Budget allocation for primitive tribal groups was increased from 185 crore in 2010-11 to 244 crore in 2011-12.

National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
The Indian automobile market is the second fastest growing in the world and it has shown nearly 30 per cent growth in 2010-11. World over, substantial investments are being made in the field of hybrid and electric mobility. To provide green and clean transportation for the masses, National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles will be launched in the year 2011 in collaboration with all stakeholders.

Plans and Schemes

India Microfinance Equity Fund Proposed
India Microfinance Equity Fund of 100 crore with SIDBI was proposed in the budget 2011-12.The fund will be set up in the course of the year 2011.

Initiative on Vegetable Clusters
The growing demand for vegetables has to be met by a robust increase in the productivity and market linkage. An efficient supply chain, to provide quality vegetables at competitive prices will have to be established. In the Budget it was proposed to provide an amount of 300 crore for implementation of vegetable initiative to set in motion a virtuous cycle of higher production and incomes for the farmers. To begin with, this programme will be launched near major urban centres.

Promotion of Oil Palm
To achieve a major breakthrough, India has to pay special attention to oil palm as it is one of the most efficient oil crops. The budget proposed to provide an amount of `300 crore to bring 60,000 hectares under oil palm plantation, by integrating the farmers with the markets. The initiative will yield about 3 lakh metric tonnes of palm oil annually in 5 years.

Nutri-cereals
Besides, ensuring food for all, India must also promote balanced nutrition. Bajra, jowar, ragi and other millets are highly nutritious and are known to possess several medicinal properties. The availability and consumption of these Nutricereals is, however, low and has been steadily declining over recent years. A provision of 300 crore is being made to promote higher production of these cereals, upgrade their processing technologies and create awareness regarding their health benefits. This initiative would provide market linked production support to ten lakh millet farmers in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country. The programme would be taken up in 1000 compact blocks covering about 25000 villages. This will help improve nutritional security and increase feed and fodder supply for livestock.

National Mission for Protein Supplements
 The consumption of foods, rich in animal protein and other nutrients, has risen of late, with demand growing faster than production. The National Mission for Protein Supplements will be launched in 2011-12 with an allocation of 300crore. It will take up activities to promote animal based protein production through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat rearing and fisheries in selected blocks.

Accelerated Fodder Development Programme
 Adequate availability of fodder is essential for sustained production of milk. It is necessary to accelerate the production of fodder through intensive promotion of technologies to ensure its availability throughout the year. The budget proposed to provide 300 crore for Accelerated Fodder Development Programme which will benefit farmers in 25000 villages.

Scheduled Castes and Tribal Sub-plan
 In the Budget for 2011-12, for the first time, specific allocations are being earmarked towards Scheduled Castes Sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan. These will be shown in the Budget of the relevant Ministries and Departments under separate minor heads of account. Further, the Budget allocation for primitive tribal groups was increased from 185 crore in 2010-11 to 244 crore in 2011-12.

National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
The Indian automobile market is the second fastest growing in the world and it has shown nearly 30 per cent growth in 2010-11. World over, substantial investments are being made in the field of hybrid and electric mobility. To provide green and clean transportation for the masses, National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles will be launched in the year 2011 in collaboration with all stakeholders.

India-Japan Global Partnership Summit 2011

India-Japan global partnership summit 2011 was held in Tokyo, Japan on 5-7 September 2011. To mark 10 years of the announcement of India-Japan Global Partnership Agreement, the India Center Foundation organized this summit.

Apart from socio-cultural exchanges, this summit provided a platform for face to face discussion among the top business leaders, policy makers, opinion leaders and academicians from both nations.

India Center Foundation is a non-partisan and not-for-profit organization working as a catalyst in nation building processes of India through its various socio-economic initiatives. India Japan Global Partnership is one of such initiatives.

GDP growth taking a hit if Euro zone

An internal government assessment is worried that any deceleration in software exports due to the Euro zone debt crisis and the poor economic conditions in the US will affect GDP growth. The economy growth is estimated to grow at 8-8.5 per cent during current financial year.

 “In 2009-10, the US alone accounted for 61 per cent of India's total software exports. European countries (including the UK) followed with as much as 26.5 per cent. If these two regions are the first to be hit by the recession, it is unlikely that software export revenue would remain unscathed.”

Over the period 2004-05 to 2009-10, services accounted for 66 per cent of the increment in India's GDP. Revenues from software services amounted to 9.4 per cent of this (excluding public administration and defence), the assessment adds.

According to balance of payment data, gross revenue from exports of software services amounted to as much as 24 per cent of the gross revenue from merchandise exports.

Talking about the merchandise exports, the note says that markets accounting for about a third  of India's export are already stagnating or in recession. Only two regions counter this trend: Parts of Asia (excluding China) and the OPEC countries.

Although worst affected EU economies such as Portugal, Greece and Ireland have very little impact on Indian exports, the problem will be more significant if the crisis spreads to Italy and Spain, the assessment notes.

In 2010, Portugal and Greece had a share of about 1.3 per cent each in India's exports to the EU and Ireland had about 0.7 per cent. Italy and Spain had 11.5 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively.

AP to invest Rs 1,154 cr for high-voltage distribution system

The Andhra Pradesh Government has drawn up an action plan to put in place high voltage distribution system (HVDS) with an estimated expenditure of Rs 1,154 crore.

The system will be implemented in a period of five years in a phased manner to provide more reliable and quality power supply to the farmers covering over 2.45 lakh agricultural pump-sets in the State.

Loan agreement

The Union Government concluded a loan agreement with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for a loan of Rs 988 crore towards implementing the project, the State Government was informed.

The distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh would foot the remaining expenditure of the project, according to a release issued on Sunday.

According to the action plan, the low voltage network would be replaced by a high voltage network apart from the installation of smaller capacity distribution transformers and power supply with good voltage to farmers' pump sets.

Energy losses

The implementation of HVDS is expected to bring down energy losses in supply of power to agricultural sector from an estimated 25 per cent to 10 per cent.

Savings

The other benefits would include a total savings of Rs 307 crore in the form of reductions in energy loss, theft in energy, peak power loss and transformer failure.

PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE 2010

1. Programs that automatically submit your search request to several search engines simultaneously are called—
(1) Metasearch engines
(2) Webcrawlers
(3) Spiders
(4) Hits
(5) None of these

2. Graphical diagrams used to represent different multiple perspectives of a system include—
(1) use-case, class, and state diagrams
(2) state, interaction, derivative diagrams
(3) interaction, relationship, and class diagrams
(4) deployment, relationship, and use-case diagrams
(5) None of these

3. Database redesign is not terribly difficult if the—
(1) database is structured
(2) database is well-designed
(3) database has no data
(4) database is relatively small
(5) database is relatively large

4. Which of the following are normally used to initialize a computer system's hardware?
(1) Bootstrap memory
(2) Volatile memory
(3) Exteranl mass memory
(4) Static memory
(5) Random access memory

5. If you wanted to locate the hardware address of a local device, which protocol would you use?
(1) ARP
(2) RARP
(3) ICMP
(4) PING
(5) PONG

6. What is Internet 2?
(1) A new type of cabling system for Wide Area Networks
(2) A second local area network that can connect with another online LAN to share access
(3) A new standard for Internet browsers
(4) An association to develop advanced Internet technology
(5) None of these

7. The term, "hypertext", means—
(1) Non-sequential writing
(2) Hypermedia
(3) Blinking text
(4) Text with heavy formatting
(5) None of these

8. While searching a website, you have been unable to find information that was on the site several months ago. What might you do to attempt to locate that information?
(1) Visit Google's cached page to view the older copy.
(2) Forget about it, as there is no way to find this information.
(3) Visit a partner site of the organization to see if it is there.
(4) Use the wayback machine.
(5) None of these

9. Which kind of lock includes a keypad that can be used to control access into areas?
(1) Cipher
(2) Warded
(3) Device
(4) Tumbler
(5) Typelock

10. A……………..sometimes called a boot sector virus, executes when a computer boots up because it resides in the boot sector of a floppy disk or the master boot record of a hard disk.
(1) system virus
(2) trojan horse virus
(3) file virus
(4) macro virus
(5) None of these

11. Carbon credit is meant for—
(1) Deforestation
(2) Protection of environment
(3) Rural infrastructure
(4) Diamond trading
(5) Precision farming

12. Acetic acid is present in—
(1) Vinegar
(2) Curd
(3) Lime
(4) Fish
(5) Rancid butter

13. Deep litter and cage systems are associated with—
(1) Dairy development
(2) Pig farming
(3) Poultry growing
(4) Quali farming
(5) Sheep rearing

14. When milk is churned, the cream is separated due to—
(1) Gravitational force
(2) Centrifugal force
(3) Frictional force
(4) Electro magnetic effect
(5) None of the above

15. Agricultural scientist who got Nobel prize for peace—
(1) Dr Norman E. Borlaug
(2) Dr M.S. Swaminathan
(3) Dr Hargovind Khorana
(4) Dr Chandrasekhar
(5) Dr Watson

16. Free flow of capital, goods and services is envisaged under—
(1) WTO
(2) Food Bill
(3) AEZ
(4) Essential commodities Act
(5) Warehouse Bill

17. Process involved in the conversion of milk to curd is—
(1) Oxidation
(2) Dehydration
(3) Hydrogenation
(4) Fermentation
(5) Hydration

18. National Policy for Farmers 2007 is formulated based on the recommendations of—
(1) Committee on Financial Inclusion
(2) Vaidyanathan Committee
(3) Forward Market Commission
(4) Working Group on Agriculture
(5) National Commission on Farmers

19. The Head Quarters of CFTRI—the leading institute for research on various food products is located at—
(1) Mysore
(2) New Delhi
(3) Mumbai
(4) Gurgaon
(5) Jammu

20. Common refrigerant used in fridges and cold storages—
(1) Neon
(2) Freon
(3) Crypton
(4) Argon
(5) Ice

21. Who among the following is the author of the novel ‘Two Lives’?
(1) Salman Rushdie
(2) Vikram Seth
(3) Arundhati Roy
(4) Ruskin Bond
(5) Dhruv Sawhney

22. Who among the following has been appointed as the first Chief Information Commissioner of India?
(1) Vijay Shankar
(2) T.N. Seshan
(3) Wajahat Habibullah
(4) Mathew Varghese
(5) M.H. Baig

23. On which of the following dates is World AIDS Day observed?
(1) December 9
(2) December 1
(3) November 30
(4) October 24
(5) December 30

24. Which of the following is India’s first indigenous animation film?
(1) Hanuman
(2) Ramayana
(3) Harry Potter
(4) Mughal-e-Azam
(5) Ram Sita

25. Who among the following has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashimir?
(1) Mufti Mohammed Sayeed
(2) Ghulam Nabi Azad
(3) Omar Abdullah
(4) M.H. Baig
(5) T. N. Seshan

ANSWERS:
1. (1) 2. (1) 3. (1) 4. (5) 5. (1)
6. (4) 7. (2) 8. (3) 9. (4) 10. (1)
11. (2) 12. (1) 13. (3) 14. (2) 15. (1)
16. (1) 17. (4) 18. (5) 19. (1) 20. (2)
21. (2) 22. (3) 23. (2) 24. (1) 25. (2)

Wipro to develop software for Saab’s e-warfare system

Wipro Ltd has entered into a strategic alliance with Saab AB to develop and market protective software for the Swedish major’s Land Electronic Defence System (LEDS) in the country, the IT bellwether said Thursday.
LEDS provides protection to light and medium combat vehicles and main battle tanks against rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles, mortars and artillery shells.
“We will pursue opportunities for LEDS in the domestic market with Indian defence establishments and original equipment manufacturers,” Wipro infrastructure engineering division president Pratik Kumar said on the margins of the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEi) 2011 trade fair being held in London.

DSEi is the world’s largest integrated defence and security exhibition providing a single platform to showcase the latest equipment and systems.
Wipro will develop, manufacture and integrate the equipment to address the Indian market for land-based active protection systems (APS).
“The primary objective of the partnership with Saab is to serve the Indian market with state-of-the-art APS solutions. The partnership will include component sourcing within the country, technology transfer and manufacture and integration of APS,” Kumar said.
The global software major hopes the strategic alliance will put India on the global map as a cost-effective and reliable defence manufacturing hub.
Both the firms also partnered in 2008 and 2010 to address the Indian survivability technology market.
“India is an important market for us and a cornerstone of our global strategy. The new collaboration marks our next step towards consolidating our position in the Indian defense market,” Saab’s business head for LEDS Micael Johansson said on the occasion.
The e-warfare system combines active signature management and soft-kill and hard-kill mechanisms to provide full spectrum active protection to land vehicles. The specifications include hemispherical coverage to detect incoming threats and alert the crew.