Shimla Municipal Corporation introduced Green Tax

Shimla Municipal Corporation on 15 September 2012 introduced Green Tax on Shimla entry of vehicles not registered in Himachal Pradesh. The Corporation Commissioner M.P. Sood stated that the vehicles crossing the entry points of the town will have to pay the imposed tax. The tax will be imposed on automobiles on both commercial and non-commercial category.

By imposing the tax, the corporation will increase its revenue by Rs 6 crore per year. The taxes will be charged on the four entry points of the city namely, Totu, Tara Devi, Dhalli and Mahali.

Tax imposed as per the category of vehicles:

1. Two wheelers- Rs 100 per entry
2. Car- Rs 200 per entry
3. Utility Vehicles- Rs300 per entry
4. Bus/truck- Rs 500 per entry

Prime Minister led National Investment Board

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 15 September 2012 pitched for institutionalization of a National Investment Board under the leadership of Prime Minister. The formation of the board will help in speeding the approval of the proposals, for the mega projects and their implementation. Formation of the board will help the country in achieving the targeted growth for the twelfth five year of 8.2 percent. 

At the meeting of the full planning commission under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the finance minister expressed his concern on the delayed implementation of the mega projects and stressed on the fact that the decision made by the National Investment Board (NIB) to be taken as the final decision. Chidambaram also insisted interference by any other authority on the approvals and decisions made by the NIB will be entertained. He also added to his statement that NIB’s role will be limited to the projects with investments of Rs 1000 crore or more.

Full Plan panel endorses 8.2% growth target for 12th Plan

The Full Planning Commission chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 15 approved the 12th Plan (2012-17) draft document endorsing the scaling-down of the annual average economic growth target to 8.2 per cent from the 9 per cent envisaged earlier, keeping in view the fragile economic environment.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: “The Full Planning Commission approved the draft 12th Five-Year Plan document, subject to certain suggestions made in the meeting… The full Commission endorsed the revised growth target of 8.2 per cent for the 12th Plan, which is necessary to achieve inclusive growth.”

As per practice, the draft document will now have to be vetted by the Union Cabinet and then placed for final approval before the National Development Council (NDC), the country’s highest decision-making body, comprising the Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories, and the Full Planning Co

At Saturday’s meeting of the full Plan panel, which was attended by Commission members and all key Cabinet members — though Railway Minister Mukul Roy (belonging to the Trinamool Congress) was not present — the Prime Minister gave an overview of the economic scenario and the circumstances in which the GDP growth target for the five-year period had to be lowered and what needed to be done to attain inclusive growth.

Keeping in view the fragile economic recovery and uncertain global environment, Mr. Ahluwalia pointed out that the 12th Plan growth target of 8.2 per cent, as compared to 7.9 per cent achieved in the 11th Plan period, was “actually a realistic target” for the five-year period, although it was lower than the nine per cent envisaged earlier in the Approach Paper.

Mr. Ahluwalia pointed out that the 12th Plan strategy would be to provide flexibility to States in utilisation of funds provided to them under various Centrally-sponsored schemes (CSS) with the liberty to make State-specific guidelines under these programmes for incurring expenditure.

With regard to rationalisation of subsidies, he said the Commission would take follow-up action on Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s suggestion with regard to cash transfers pertaining to food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies. He hoped that the exercise of cash transfer of subsidies would be completed by March 2017, which marks the end of the 12th Plan period.

As for the concerns expressed by Mr. Chidambaram that reducing the subsidy burden to 1.2 per cent of the GDP by 2016-17 from the 1.9 per cent estimated in the Budget for 2012-13 was optimistic, Mr. Ahluwalia said: “I agree that these are all ambitious targets. Plan is all about ambition”.

The three scenarios

Earlier, justifying the hike in diesel prices and advocating the need for “courage and some risks” to break the policy logjam, the Prime Minister presented three economic scenarios — “Strong inclusive growth”, “Insufficient action” and “policy logjam” — as unveiled by the draft document and argued in favour of the first one for the country needed close to a $1-trillion investment in the infrastructure sector during the period.

“I believe that we can make Scenario I possible. It will take courage and some risks but it should be our endeavour to ensure that it materialises. The country deserves no less,” Dr. Singh said.

Dr. Singh pointed out that the Plan document’s central message was that all stated objectives can be achieved provided policies are put in place to take care of the weaknesses.

Providing, for the first time, a choice to policymakers as to what they desire, the Plan document noted that under the ‘Strong Inclusive Growth’ scenario, one could expect a number of virtuous cycles to start operating, leading to positive results on both growth and inclusion. “This is the scenario we should aim for,” it said.

Scenario II (Insufficient action) is described as a state of partial action with weak implementation. In this scenario, the virtuous cycles that reinforce growth in Scenario I do not kick in and growth can easily slow down to 6 to 6.5 per cent.

Driving home the point of aspiring for higher growth, Dr. Singh noted that the second scenario would make it hard to achieve inclusiveness. “This is where we will end up if we make only half-hearted efforts and slip in implementation. It is my sincere hope that we do not do so.”

Scenario III (Policy logjam), Dr. Singh said, reflected a situation where for one reason or the other, most of the policies needed to achieve Scenario I are not taken. “If this continues for any length of time, vicious cycles begin to set in and growth could easily collapse to about five per cent per year, with very poor outcomes on inclusion.

“I urge everyone interested in the country’s future to understand fully the implications of this scenario. They will quickly come to an agreement that the people of India deserve better than this,” Dr. Singh said.

Grow, Transform and Sustain – The Mantra for Indian PSUs

India’s central public sector enterprises have undergone a cycle of transformation since the introduction of liberal economic policies a couple of decades ago.  Many believed that the public sector enterprises will simply wither away because of competition and their inefficiency; or they will be subsumed by the private sector because of the divestment programme.  However, as the experience has shown, the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) continue to have a critical role to play in many businesses, especially in the strategic sectors.  Many CPSEs have proved their critics wrong by becoming extremely efficient and competitive.

In the strategic sectors of our economy, CPSEs are needed to ensure that the national and the social priorities are guaranteed – in terms of assured supply and affordable prices.  Infrastructure, energy, healthcare, defence are such areas where it cannot be left entirely to the markets.  In fact, the CPSEs are needed to create, balance and sustain the market in these sectors.  Even in the business and consumer services sector, the CPSEs are needed to ensure adequate and fair competition and stabilize the market.

However, at the same time, the CPSEs cannot take such role for granted for future also.  They cannot be allowed to become complacent.  Efficient and effective management is essential to ensure that the CPSEs continue to fulfill their obligations to the country.  Indian CPSEs need to be competitive at home against the global competitors and become multinationals themselves.  By striving to become multinationals, Indian CPSEs will be following the best management and operational benchmarks in the world, making it easier for them to be competitive at home and also in global arena.

Most of CPSEs are profitable despite operating with the constraints of public service priorities.  Of the 248 CPSEs, 220 are currently operational and of those 158 are profitable.  That is an impressive 70 per cent plus mark for a group that also includes a large number of legacy companies taken over as sick private sector units.  The operating efficiency of the CPSEs is also quite good in the prevailing dullness in the economy.  Last year, i.e. 2010-11, CPSEs delivered dividend of Rs. 35,681 crore.  Importantly, there has been significant improvement in the revenue and profitability levels of the CPSEs.  So, the CPSEs are making a substantial contribution to the country’s economic growth.  Even on the stockmarkets, the listed 45 odd CPSEs make nearly 20 per cent of the value of all listed Indian stocks.  Clearly, Indian public sector has the size and the efficiency to entertain ambitions of going global.  The CPSEs can also build and be parts of global supply chains.  In doing so, they can achieve an edge in technological and managerial innovation and help Indian economy grow at a faster rate.

Already, many Indian CPSEs are global giants.  Most of the petroleum PSEs are now multinationals and helping secure energy fuels for now and the future.  In the heavy engineering, infrastructure and project services too, Indian CPSEs have significant presence overseas.  Now, the power sector CPSEs are set to spread out in the world.  Given their experience of working in resource constrained and politically obstructive environment, Indian CPSEs are well equipped to do business in the other developing parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia and Africa.

The Government has taken steps to help the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to improve their operations and competitiveness at home.  The Maharatana and Navaratna CPSEs have been allowed to invest in assets overseas and undertake joint ventures abroad.

The CPSEs are continuing to invest even in the prevailing slowdown.  Much of this money is being invested in the critical sectors such as energy and infrastructure.  This investment will have a multiplier effect on the economy.  Also, a significant part of the fresh investment this year is going into capacity building overseas.  This investment has been made possible by the CPSEs strong performance during the past few years, which have yielded adequate cash surpluses for investment.  The government has also allowed the CPSEs to use their cash surpluses to buy others’ stocks in order to aggregate their complementary strengths.

Steps have also been taken to improve efficiency of these investments.  Majority of the CPSEs have been signing MOUs with the Government which cover not only the financial results but also the outcomes in areas such as corporate governance, research and development and corporate social responsibility.  A vast majority of the MOU signing CPSEs have been meeting or exceeding their targets.  A comprehensive review of the MOU system is underway and revamped MOU system would be put in place shortly.

The Government has also been taking steps through, the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) and Government approved revival packages to ensure that the performance of loss-making CPSEs could be improved.  We are also taking new initiatives such as enhancement of the age of superannuation from 58 to 60 years and grant of 1997 pay scales to the employees of sick and loss-making CPSEs as these steps can give them the incentive to make extra effort to get out of the red.

Even as the CPSEs move towards becoming globally competitive and going global, they still have to play their role as the catalysts of development and opportunity.  The CPSEs will continue to go to hinterlands to seed industries there and they will continue to invest in creating employment and economic opportunities for the deprived.  The government would like the CPSEs to integrate India’s rural economy into the mainstream.  However, it is upto the CPSEs themselves to continue to prove their relevance and they will survive only if the public sees them performing a useful function and only if they can compete with the best in the world at home and overseas.

Autonomy and more freedom are crucial for achieving this objective.  In fact freedom is not complete if it does not include freedom to commit mistakes and take risks.  Keeping this in view, it is the Government’s endeavour to enhance freedom and autonomy to CPSE management and an exercise in this direction has already begun.

SEBI

To reform the financial services sector especially the securities market, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was established by the Government of India in 1988 through an executive resolution, and was subsequently upgraded as fully autonomous body (a statutory board) in the year 1992 with the passing of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act (SEBI Act) on 30th January 1992.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is the sole regulator for the securities market in India.

The SEBI is managed by six members, i.e. by the chairman who is nominated by central government & two members, i.e. officers of central ministry, one member from the RBI & the remaining two are nominated by the central government.

SEBI is headquartered in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western regional offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

The basic objectives of the Board were identified as: 

• to protect the interests of investors in securities;
• to promote the development of Securities Market;
• to regulate the securities market and
• for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute:

• the issuers of securities
• the investors
• the market intermediaries.

To the investors, the SEBI strives to assure that their rights are protected; they are enabled to make informed choices and decisions in financial dealings.

To the issuer, the SEBI strives to provide a transparent and efficient market where they are able to raise resources but meet regulatory obligations.

To the intermediaries, the SEBI strives to render a market in which they can compete freely and operate in a manner which gives the investors and market participants that the market is efficient, orderly and fair.

Functions and responsibilities

The main functions of Security and Exchange Board of India is to introduce some important regulatory measures, market registration norms with eligibility criteria, code of conduct for intermediaries such as issue bankers, merchant bankers, brokers, sub-brokers, registrars, portfolio managers, credit rating agencies and others connected to securities market.

In order to make the securities market safe and transparent to investors SEBI has also introduced the comprehensive regulatory measures, prescribed registration norms, the eligibility criteria, the code of obligations and the code of conduct for different intermediaries like, bankers to issue, merchant bankers, brokers and sub-brokers, registrars, portfolio managers, credit rating agencies, underwriters and others. It has framed bye-laws, risk identification and risk management systems for Clearing houses of stock exchanges, surveillance system etc.

Thus salient functions are summed as:

REGULATORY FUNCTIONS: 

a) Registration of brokers and sub-brokers and other players in the market.
b) Registration of collective investments schemes and Mutual Funds.
c) Regulation of stock exchanges and other self-regulatory organisations (SRO) merchant banks etc
d) Prohibition of all fraudulent and unfair trade practices
e) Controlling Insider Trading and take over bids and imposing penalties for such practices

DEVELOPMENT FUNCTIONS:

a) Investor education
b) Training of intermediaries.
c) Promotion of fair practices and Code of conduct.
d) Conducting Research and Publishing information useful to all market participants.

SEBI Complaints Redress System

SCORES is a web based centralized grievance redress system of SEBI. SCORES enables investors to lodge and follow up their complaints and track the status of redressal of such complaints online from the above website from anywhere. This enables the market intermediaries and listed companies to receive the complaints online from investors, redress such complaints and report redressal online.

INDIA IN FIGURES 2012

Employment to Tribals

National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) has signed refinance agreements with National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), seven Public Sector Banks namely State Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank, Union Bank of India and UCO Bank; and seven Regional Rural Banks namely Assam Gramin Vikash Bank (Assam), Baitarani Gramya Bank (Odisha), Vananchal Gramin Bank (Jharkhand), Tripura Gramin Bank (Tripura), Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank (Gujarat), Dena Gujarat Gramin Bank (Gujarat) and Sharda Gramin Bank (Madhya Pradesh) for providing concessional loan to the people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community for enhancing their self employment opportunities.

The terms and conditions of the said agreements, inter-alia, include implementation of schemes by Banks/ NCDC in line with the lending norms of NSTFDC, timely repayment, arbitration mechanism, etc. NSTFDC has launched a scheme for facilitating professional and technical education including Ph.D. in India among tribals. Under the scheme titled “Adivasi Shiksha Rrinn Yojana (ASRY)”, loan up to Rs 5.00 lakh can be provided covering expenses towards fees, books, computer, study tours, boarding & lodging, etc. The interest chargeable is @ 6% p.a. Interest subsidy is available for the moratorium period. About 1.5 lakh people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes have benefited from the above mentioned agreements and ASRY up to 31.08.2012. Details of activites of NSTFDC is given below:

National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC), under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, implements schemes for self-employment of Scheduled Tribes. Under the schemes, NSTFDC provides concessional financial assistance to individuals or groups of STs for undertaking Income Generating Activities.

The salient features of the major schemes of NSTFDC are:

• Term Loan scheme: NSTFDC provides Term Loan for viable projects costing up to Rs 10.00 lakh per unit. The financial assistance is extended up to 90% of the cost of the project and the balance is met by way of subsidy/ promoter`s contribution/ margin money. The interest rate chargeable is 6% p.a. for loan up to Rs 5.00 lakh and 8% p.a. for loan exceeding Rs 5.00 lakh.

• Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana (AMSY): This is an exclusive scheme for economic development of Scheduled Tribes women. Loans up to 90% for projects costing up to Rs 50,000/- are provided at highly concessional interest rate of 4% p.a.

• Micro Credit Scheme for Self Help Groups: The Corporation provides loans up to Rs 35,000/- per member and Rs 5.00 lakh per Self Help Group (SHG). The interest rate chargeable is 6% p.a.

• Assistance to TRIFED empanelled Artisans: NSTFDC provides concessional finance to tribal artisans empanelled with TRIFED towards working capital and purchase of project related assets. Financial assistance is provided up to Rs 50,000/- to individuals and up to Rs 5.00 lakh to SHGs (with a ceiling of Rs 35,000/- per member) and cooperative societies. The interest rate chargeable is 4% p.a. from ST women and 6% p.a. from SHGs and others.

Per Capita Income of Tribals

As per information received from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, social group-wise per capita income is not maintained. However, State-wise percentage of population below poverty line (social group-wise) is given in Annexure.

          The Ministry of Tribal Affairs supplements the efforts of other Ministries like Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Labour and Employment, etc. in economic upliftment of the tribals in the country. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing a programme titled “Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Plan (SCA to TSP) for employment-cum-income generation activities of BPL Scheduled Tribes. The ultimate objective of this programme is to boost the demand-based income-generation and thus raise the economic and social status of tribals.

          

Click here to see Annexure

Union cabinet approved interest subsidy for farmer loans

The Union Cabinet on 6 September 2012 gave its approval to continue interest subsidy to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Cooperatives Banks and NABARD enabling them to provide short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakhs to farmers at 7% p.a. during the year 2012-13.

It was also decided to provide additional interest subsidy of 3% p.a. to those farmers who repay loans within one year of disbursement in the current fiscal year.

The Cabinet allowed the release of 10901 crore Rupees as interest subvention for 2012-13. Interest subsidy is allowed for small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards for loan. The Cabinet approved the release of 442 crore rupees as interest subsidy to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards against negotiable warehouse receipts, for post-harvest.

Centre has subsidized short-term crop loans to farmers since 2006-07 to ensure the availability of crop loans to farmers of upto Rs.3 lakh at 7% p.a. Banks have been consistently meeting the target set for agriculture credit flow in the past years. For the year 2012-13, the target for agricultural credit flow has been raised to Rs 575000 crore from Rs 475000 crore in the year 2011-12.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana has been extended to licensed porters, licensed vendors and licensed hawkers on the Railways in consultation with Ministry of Labour & Employment. Railways are facilitating below poverty line beneficiaries for coverage under the scheme being implemented by the concerned State Governments. In the case of above poverty line beneficiaries, 75 per cent of the premium will be borne by the Railways subject to a maximum of Rs. 565/- per family per annum, whichever is less and the remaining 25 per cent to be contributed by the beneficiaries, who will also have to pay an amount of Rs. 30/- per family per year as registration/renewal fee.

National Family Benefit Scheme

The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing, through State Governments and UT Administrations, a scheme namely National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS). Under this scheme, earlier a provision of grant of Rs. 5,000/- was made in case of natural death of BPL primary bread winner. The primary BPL bread winner specified in the scheme, whether male or female, had to be a member of the household whose earning contributed substantially to the total household income. The death of such primary bread winner occurring whilst he/she was in the age group of 18 to 64 years. In the year 1998, the amount of benefit has been raised to Rs. 10,000/- in case of death due to natural causes as well as accidental causes.

The funds are released to State Governments and UTs by Ministry of Finance as Additional Central Assistance. The National Family Benefit Scheme is a sub-scheme of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and details of funds released sub-scheme wise to State/UTs are not maintained. These sub-schemes are only for BPL families.

UNIDO Findings on Industrial Growth

According to a Report of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) the world manufacturing output rose by 5.5. per cent in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the same period of 2010. This growth is mainly attributed to developing countries, whose manufacturing output increased by 13 per cent.

There has been some moderation in the growth rate of industrial production as measured in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The IIP growth rate in the fourth quarter (Jan-March) 2011-12 was 0.6% as compared to the growth rate registered of 7.9% in the corresponding quarter of previous year (Jan-March) 2010-11.

The major sectors that have adversely affected IIP growth are manufacturing and mining. Major reasons for the decline in manufacturing include global economic uncertainty, sluggish domestic demand, hardening of interest rates etc., whereas regulatory and environmental issues, court orders, decline in international demand for metallic minerals etc. Are affecting production in the mining sector.

Recent data on Poverty in India

Below Poverty Line Population in (%)

Survey Year          Rural   Urban  Total

1993-94                       50.1       31.8       45.3

2004-05                       41.8        25.7      37.2

2009-10                       33.8        20.9      29.8

 States

Poverty ratio in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttarakhand has declined by about 10 percentage points more.

In Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, poverty in 2009-10 has increased.

Some of the bigger states such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have shown only marginal decline in poverty ratio, particular in rural areas. States with high incidence of poverty are Bihar at (53.5 per cent), Chhattisgarh (48.7 per cent), Manipur (47.1 per cent), Jharkhand (39.1), Assam (37.9 percent) and Uttar Pradesh (37.7 per cent)

Social Groups

In rural areas, Scheduled Tribes exhibit the highest level of poverty (47.4%), followed by Scheduled Castes (SCs), (42.3%), and Other Backward Castes (OBC), (31.9%), against 33.8% for all classes.

In urban areas, SCs have Head Count Ratio of 34.1% followed by STs (30.4%) and OBC (24.3%) against 20.9% for all classes. In rural Bihar and Chhattisgarh, nearly two-third of SCs and STs are poor, whereas in state such as Manipur, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh the poverty ratio for these groups is more than half.

Religious Groups

Sikhs have lowest Head Count Ratio in rural areas (11.9%) whereas in urban areas, Christians have the lowest proportion (12.9%) of poor. In rural areas, the Head Count Ratio for Muslims in very high in states such as Assam (53.6%), Uttar Pradesh (44.4%), West Bengal (34.4%) and Gujarat (31.4%). In urban areas poverty ratio at all India level in highest for Muslims (33.9%). Similarly, for urban areas the poverty ratio is high for Muslims in states such  as Rajasthan (29.5%), Uttar Pradesh (49.5%), Gujarat (42.4%), Bihar (56.5%) and West Bengal (34.9%)

Occupational Categories

Nearly 50% of agricultural labourers and 40% of other labourers are below the poverty line in rual areas, whereas in urban areas, the poverty ratio for casual labourers is 47.1%. Those in regular wage/salaried employment have the lowest proportion of poor. In the agriculturally prosperous state of Haryana, 55.9% agricultural labourers are poor, wheareas in Punjab t is 35.6%. The HCR of casual labourers in urban areas is very high in Bihar (86%), Assam (89%), Orissa (58.8), Punjab (56.3%), Uttar Pradesh (67.6%) and West Bengal (53.7%).

Highlights

1. Only about 46% of household have toilet facilities
2. As per the Household Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2009-10, 29.9 per cent of the population is under BPL
3.  Rural poverty declined by 8 percentage points, urban poverty down by 4.8 per cetn
4.  Poverty has gone up in the north-eastern States of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland
5.  Bihar has the highest incidence of poverty at 53.5 per cent.
6.  Among social groups in the rural areas, Scheduled Tribes (47.4 per cent) suffer the highest level of poverty.
7.  Among social groups in the urban areas, Scheduled Castes (34.1 per cent)suffer the highest level of poverty.
8.  Among religious groups in the rural areas, Sikhs have the lowest level of poverty at 11.9 per cent
9.  Among religious groups in the urban areas, Christians have the lowest level of poverty at 12.9 per cent
10.  Both in rural and urban areas, Muslims have a high level of poverty ranging from 29 per cent to 53 per cent
11. Just 32% of households use treated water for drinking
12. About 17% of the households still fetch drinking water from a source located more than 500 m in rural areas 100 m in urban areas
13. About 11% more households have got access to electricity between the years 2001 and 2011.
14. About 45% households owns a cycle which remains the primary mode of transportation. 

• Poverty - Types and Indicators

1. Poverty can be of different types like absolute poverty and relative poverty. There may be many other classifications like urban poverty, rural poverty, primary poverty, secondary poverty and many more. Whatever be the type of poverty, the basic reason has always been lack of adequate income. Here comes the role of unemployment behind poverty.

   Lack of employment opportunities and the consequential income disparity bring about mass poverty in most of the developing and underdeveloped economies of the world.

   Absolute Poverty

   Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty (the later being actually an index of income inequality). Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries.

   The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US $1.25 (PPP) per day, and moderate poverty as less than $ 2 a day (but note that a person or family with access to subsistence resources, e.g. subsistence farmers, may have low cash income without a correspondingly low standard of living - they are not living on their cash income but using it as a top up). It estimates that in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption level below 1$ a day and 2.7$ billion lived on less than $2 a day.

   Relative Poverty

   Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context, hence relative poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income. There are several other income inequality metrics, for example for Gini coefficient or the Theil Index.

   Relative poverty measures are used as official poverty rates in several developed countries. As such these poverty statistics  measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. The measurements are usually based on a person's yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on 'economic distance' a level of income is set at 60% of the medial household income. 

   Multidimensional Poverty Index

   The multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was developed in 2010 ny Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Program. The MPI is an index of acute multidimensional povety. It reflects deprivations in very rudimentary services and core human functioning for people across 104 countries. Although deeply constrained by data limitations, MPI reveals a different pattern of poverty than income poverty, as it illuminates a different set of deprivations.

   The MPI has three dimensions - health, education, and standard of living. These are measured using ten indicators. Each dimension and each indicator within a dimension is equally weighted.

   
   

   These 10 indicators are used to calculate the MPI:

   Education (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/6)

   • Years of Schooling - Deprived if no household member has completed five years of schooling.
   • Child Enrollment - Deprived if any school aged child is not attending school in years 1 to 8.

   
   

   Health (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/6)

   • Child Mortality - Deprived if any child has died in the family
   • Nutrition - Deprived if any adult or child for whom there is nutritional information is malnourished.

   
   

   Standard of Living (each indicator is weighted equally at 1/18)

   • Electricity - Deprived if the household has no electricity.
   • Sanitation - Deprived if they do not have an improved toilet or if their toiled is shared (MDG Definition).
   • Drinking Water - Deprived if the household does not have access to clean drinking water or clean water is more than 30 minutes walk from home (MDG Definition).
   • Floor - Deprived if the household has dirt, sand or dung floor.
   • Cooking Fuel - Deprived if they cook with wood, charcoal or dung.
   • Assets - Deprived if the household does not own more than one of radio, TV, telephone, bike or motorbike.

   
   

   A person is considered poor if they are deprived in at least 30% of the weighted indicators. The intensity of poverty denoted the proportion of indicators in which they are deprived.

Panel for postponement of GAAR by 3 years

The expert committee on General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) on September 1 recommended postponement of the controversial tax provision by three years and abolition of capital gains tax on transfer of securities.

As a step towards reassuring global investors, the Committee in its draft report, suggested that GAAR provisions should not be invoked to examine the genuineness of the residency of entities in Mauritius.

Mauritius is the most preferred route for foreign investments because of the liberal taxation regime in the island country. India has a double taxation avoidance treaty with Mauritius.

The Committee, headed by Parthasarathi Shome, has recommended that GARR be applicable only if the monetary threshold of tax benefit is Rs 3 crore and more.

The draft report, which was submitted to the Finance Ministry, has also sought comments from the stake holders by September 15. The Shome Committee was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the concerns of foreign investors.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has also expanded the scope of the terms of reference of the committee to include all non-resident tax payers instead of only FIIs.

The draft report of the Shome committee said: ”...GAAR should be deferred for 3 years. But the year, 2016-17, should be announced now. In effect, therefore, GAAR would apply from assessment year 2017-18. Pre-announcement is a common practice internationally, in today’s global environment of freely flowing capital”.

In view of wide-spread concerns by foreign investors, the government had earlier postponed implementation of GAAR, which was introduced by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget for 2012-13 to check tax evasion.

Four Water Purification Plants set up in Coastal Areas

The Centre has installed four plants for converting sea water into drinking water based on indigenously designed and developed Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology. National Institute of Ocean Technology, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has set up the plants at Kavarati, Minicoy, Agatti in Lakshadweep and the fourth one is at North Chennai Thermal Power Station, Chennai. The Minister of Rural Development and the Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the cost per litre of produced drinking water would depend on the technology used and cost of electricity which varies from place to place. However, according to the cost estimates made recently by an independent agency for LTTD technology, the operational costs per litre of desalinated drinking water currently works out to be 19 paise for island based plants which is exclusive of capital cost. He said, approval has also been accorded to set up six more LTTD plants, one each in Amini, Chetlet, Kadamat, Kalpeni, Kiltan and Andrott islands of Lakshadweep. The Minister added that there is also a proposal to set up another palnt with a capacity of generating 2 million litres of potable water per day at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station, Tamil Nadu.

Production of Vegetables and Fruits on the Rise

The production of vegetables and fruits in the country is estimated to be 1505.86 and 752.74 lakh tonnes respectively, during 2011-12 as compared to 1465.54 and 748.78 lakh tonnes during 2010-11.

The Government of India has been implementing Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH) and National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in the remaining States of the country for enhancing production and productivity of horticulture crops including fruits and vegetables. Under these missions, assistance is provided for establishment of nurseries, seed production for vegetables, enhancing quality production and productivity of fruits and vegetables through area expansion, protected cultivation, canopy management, integrated nutrient and water management, integrated pest management, rejuvenation of senile orchards, mechanization, Human Resource Development, etc.

Agriculture Ministry is implementing Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) on request of State/ UT Governments for procurement of various horticultural commodities. The purpose of implementation of MIS is to protect the growers from making distress sales in the event of a bumper crop when there is glut in the market, causing prices to fall below economic levels/ cost of production. Losses, if any, incurred by the procuring agencies are shared equally between the Central Government and the State Government concerned on 50:50 basis (75:25 in case of North-Eastern States). MIS was sanctioned for procurement of 54,000 MT of onion at the Market Intervention Price of Rs.6,000 per MT w.e.f. 14.12.2011 to 14.01.2012 in Karnataka during 2011-12.

488 Lakh Soil Health Cards Issued

About 488.25 lakh soil health cards have been distributed to farmers up to March 2012. The Government is according high priority to soil testing and is providing assistance to State Government/ Union Territories (UTs) for setting up Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) for augmenting existing capacity of States for soil testing for issuing soil health cards to farmers. However, this requires effort by State Governments/ UTs in mobilizing technical manpower for soil testing and issuing soil health cards.

21, 751 Village Grain Banks Sanctioned for 20 States

The Government has been sanctioned 21,751Village Grain Banks to 20 States. The Village Grain Banks Scheme provides safeguards against starvation during period of lean season or natural calamity, when marginalized food insecure households do not have sufficient resources to purchase rations. Such households in need of food grains, can borrow food grains from the Village Grain Banks set up within their villages to be subsequently returned to the Bank. The grain banks can be set up in food scarce areas like drought prone areas, hot and cold desert areas, tribal areas and the inaccessible hilly areas which remain cut off because of natural calamities like flood etc. About 30-40 Below Poverty Line/Antyodaya Anna Yojana families may form a grain bank. These villages are to be identified/notified by the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration. Foodgrains are loaned to BPL families @ one quintal per family under Village Grain Bank Scheme, he added.

Strengthening of PDS

With a view to specifically target poor sections of society, Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was launched in 1997. Under TPDS, foodgrains (rice and wheat) @ 35 kg per family per month are allocated to States/Union Territories (UTs) for 6.52 crore accepted number of Below Poverty Line (BPL)/Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families for distribution at subsidized prices through Fair Price Shops. Allocation of foodgrains are also made to Above Poverty Line (APL) families depending upon the availability of foodgrains in Central pool and past offtake. Presently, the allocations of foodgrains to APL families range between 15 kg to 35 kg per family per month. This information was given by Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister for Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution System in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The Minister stated that strengthening and streamlining of TPDS is a continuous process. To improve functioning of TPDS, Government has been regularly requesting State/UT Governments for continuous review of lists of BPL and AAY families, ensuring timely availability of foodgrains at Fair Price Shops (FPSs), ensuring greater transparency in functioning of TPDS, improved monitoring and vigilance at various levels and introduction of new technologies such as Computerization of TPDS operations at various levels. States/UTs have also been advised to improve the viability of FPSs by enlarging the basket of commodities by adding non-PDS items for sale through FPSs, rationalization of commission to FPS dealers, door-step delivery of foodgrains, etc. the Minister added.

National food Security Mission helps Exceed Foodgrain Production Target

National Food Security Mission (NFSM) has been implemented in the identified districts of major foodgrain producing States of the country during 11th Five Year Plan. From the year 2012-13, six NE States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim and two States viz. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have been included under NFSM-Rice and three States viz. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand under NFSM-Wheat. Thus, in all NFSM is now implemented in 27 States of the Country during 2012-13. Under NFSM, incentives are provided to the farmers for purchase of seed, nutrients, soil amenders, plant protection chemicals, farm machinery including pumpsets and sprinklers etc. Farmers are also availing benefit from the training and technology demonstrations conducted on the fields.

The aim of the Mission was to enhance foodgrain production by 20 million tonnes (10 million tonnes of Rice, 8 million tonnes of Wheat and 2 million tones of Pulses). As a result of implementation of NFSM the production of Wheat has increased from 75.81 million tons (in pre-NFSM year of 2006-07) to 93.90 million tons during 2011-12 (4th Advance Estimate) i.e. nearly, 18.09 million tons is achieved against the envisaged target of 8 million tons at the end of 11th plan period. Similarly, the total production of rice has increased from 93.35 million tons (in pre –NFSM year 2006-07) to 104.32 Million tons in 2011-12 (4th Advance Estimate) with an increase of nearly 10.97 million tons against the target of 10 million tons. The total production of pulses has also increased from 14.20 million tons during 2006-07 to 18.24 million tons during 2010-11 with an increase of 4.04 million tons against the envisaged target of 2.0 million tons. The production of pulses during 2011-12 is estimated as 17.21 million tons (as per 4th advance estimate). Moisture stress in states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and parts of Andhra Pradesh impacted pulses production in Kharif, 2011.