vol 94 17th september 2015 to 23rd september 2015

7/25/2019 Vol 94 17th September 2015 to 23rd September 2015

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News from PIB & Various Sourcs

Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY)launched by Government of India

Min ist e r o f Min es & St ee l ca l l s i t a revo lu t ionary and

un p receden ted schem e

The Central Government today announced the launch of the Pradhan Mantri KhanijKshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY). This is a new programme meant to provide for thewelfare of areas and people affected by mining related operations, using the funds gener-ated by District Mineral Foundations (DMFs).

Minister of Mines and Steel Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said, PMKKKY is a revolu-tionary and unprecedented scheme of its kind, which will transform the lives of people

living in areas which are affected directly or indirectly by mining.The objective of PMKKKY scheme will be (a) to implement various developmental

and welfare projects/ programs in mining affected areas that complement the existingongoing schemes/ projects of State and Central Government; (b) to minimize/ mitigatethe adverse impacts, during and after mining, on the environment, health and socio-eco-nomics of people in mining districts; and (c) to ensure long-term sustainable livelihoodsfor the affected people in mining areas. Care has been taken to include all aspects ofliving, to ensure substantial improvement in the quality of life. High priority areas likedrinking water supply, health care, sanitation, education, skill development, women andchild care, welfare of aged and disabled people, skill development and environment con-

servation will get at least 60 % share of the funds.

For creating a supportive and conducive living environment, balance funds will bespent on making roads, bridges, railways, waterways projects, irrigation and alternativeenergy sources. This way, government is facilitating mainstreaming of the people fromlower strata of society, tribals and forest-dwellers who have no wherewithal and are af-fected the most from mining activities.

The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, man-dated the setting up of District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) in all districts in the countryaffected by mining related operations. The Central Government today notified the rates

of contribution payable by miners to the DMFs. In case of all mining leases executedbefore 12th January, 2015 (the date of coming into force of the Amendment Act) minerswill have to contribute an amount equal to 30% of the royalty payable by them to theDMFs. Where mining leases are granted after 12.01.2015, the rate of contribution would

be 10% of the royalty payable. Using the funds generated by this contribution, the DMFsare expected to implement the PMKKKY.

The Central Government has issued a directive to the State Governments, underSection 20A of the MMDR Act, 1957, laying down the guidelines for implementation ofPMKKKY and directing the States to incorporate the same in the rules framed by them forthe DMFs.

The DMFs have also been directed to maintain the utmost transparency in their func-tioning and provide periodic reports on the various projects and schemes taken up bythem.
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Environment Ministry Recommends Ban on MultidoseVial of Diclofenac to Save Vultures

Based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and ClimateChange, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has banned the sale of Diclofenac inmultidose vial. It will be sold only in single-dose vial packaging.

Keeping in view the severity of the situation and the need to conserve and protectvultures from extinction, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change hasrequested the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to restrict the pack of Diclofenac forhuman use in single dose only. Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, inconsultation with Environment, Forest and Climate Change, published a Gazette notifi-cation no G.S.R 558 (E) dated 17th July, 2015, regarding the restriction on packaging ofmulti-dose vial of Diclofenac to single dose for human use. Even after banning the use ofDiclofenac for veterinary use, the multi-dose vials available in the market for human usewere widely misused for veterinary purpose. This, in turn, has a severe impact on thepopulation of vultures.

The commonly-used anti-inflammatory drug for cattle is considered the chief causefor the steep decline in the number of vultures in recent years. The drug is harmless to thecattle it is administered to, but is fatal for the vultures, who routinely feed on the carcassof dead cattle. Studies have shown that the drug causes kidney and liver failure in vul-tures.

Earlier, in 2006, the Government of India had imposed a ban on the use of Diclofenacfor treating cattle.

General Guidelines on Biosecurity will Help in Preventing

Ingress of Diseases in the Poultry Farms

Genera l Gu ide l ines fo r B iosecur i t y f o r Pou l t r y Farm s Re leased

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DADF), Ministry of Agri-culture and Farmers Welfare, today here released theGeneral Guidelines for Biosecurityat Central Poultry Development Organization. The Department from time to time re-views the biosecurity situation in their subordinate Organizations viz. Central PoultryDevelopment Organizations (CPDOs). The last biosecurity guidelines were issued in 2013.It was decided to revisit the biosecurity guidelines in light of latest developments and toincorporate some practices in vogue to make them more effective. Keeping this in mind,the General Guidelines for Biosecurity at Central Poultry Development Organizationswere revised so that the basic tenets can be applied not only to CPDOs but also State andPrivate Poultry Farms.

Poultry farms across the country need to maintain the basic sanitary conditions es-sential for healthy birds and hygienic products. An integrated biosecurity programme isan application on logical and sound principles specific to an enterprise, monitoring ofdisease status, evaluation of ongoing poultry farm operations on continuous basis withan objective to contain the diseases at bare minimum level. Some poultry diseases likeAvian Influenza are zoonotic in nature, i.e. they may be transmitted to humans, and po-

tentially poses serious public health risks.The farms should strive to maximize the benefits achievable through effective

biosecurity and to be consistent with HACCP (Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points)principles which can be developed easily. For this, the Central Poultry Development Or-


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ganization & Training Institute (Southern Region), Hessarghatta would design trainingmodules and hold workshops based on demand from the States.

After lessons from Avian Influenza and other poultry disease outbreaks across thecountry both in public and private farms, we must implement, as far as possible, a

biosecurity plan to prevent any future disasters. These guidelines are proposed to act asroadmap for keeping a close vigil and maintenance of biosecurity and have been attemptedto cover the conceptual, structural and operational biosecurity through advisories on thefarm location and design, restricted access to birds, traffic control, isolation and quaran-tine of new birds, cleaning and sanitation, personnel hygiene, hygienic disposal of poul-try manure, disposal of dead birds and other bio/ biomedical wastes, feed safety, periodof rest or rearing of single age group, medication/ vaccination of birds, flock profiling,collection of infective / suspected material for laboratory testing etc.

The maj or routes for disease an d pa thogen transmission are brieflyenumerated. Emphasis is given on feed safety and water management, which were ear-lier not described in detail in the previous guidelines. It is also suggested therein, to refer

the Action Plan on Avian Influenza (revised in March, 2015), compartmentalization check-list, the Prevention and control of Infections and Bio-Medical Waste (Management & Han-dling) Rules, 1998 under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 etc., Disposal of dead bird(s)in a bio-secured manner, and compliance to the Prevention and Control of Infectious andContagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009. It is urged that the concerned personnel should

be well versed of these and apply the biosecurity measures in consonance, so thatall relevant points are covered.

It is also suggested that if there is any mortality reported in wild bird / water birds/ crows, etc. in farm campus the post mortem of such birds should be avoided in farmarea. The Department and the Regional / State / District Disease Diagnostic Labs should

be informed immediately and they may be requested to collect the samples as per theirprotocol for diagnosis [or for onward transmission to National Institute of High SecurityAnimal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal in case of Avian Influenza] for diagnosis, as per therequirement to be decided by the competent authority. If Avian Influenza or Notifieddisease is suspected or confirmed at any farm demobilize the staff of the farm with imme-diate effect.

It is also suggested to immediately stop sale-purchase / inflow-outflow of all poul-try products, feed or feed ingredients, etc. if disease is even suspected or diagnosed inany shed or farm till final test results of disease diagnosis is done and regarding Notifieddiseases / Avian Influenza after confirmation from designated / NIHSAD Bhopal.

An indicative quick checklist for implementing an effective poultry biosecurity planis also given mentioning about securing perimeter by keeping restricted signs postedat drive entrances, avoiding trees or dense foliage around sheds and prevent roosting sitefor wild birds, restrict entry to essential personnel and record entry, keeping poultry houseslocked, providing boots and coveralls for staff and visitors for each shed, personnel pre-cautions like changing by staff into dedicated/ disposable boots and coveralls upon enter-ing each different shed. Other relevant pointers are also mentioned like removing poultrymortality daily, storing or disposing them off by an approved method; create awarenessabout the dangers of raising or visiting other avian species and their contact with theirflock. Pointers on monitoring of vehicles, taking appropriate precautions such as disin-

fection, implementing a strong control program for insect, mammalian and avian vectorsare also given. It is also reminded to recheck and review biosecurity plan and flock healthprogram, including vaccination protocols, with veterinarian on a regular basis.


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It is also added that biosecurity on poultry farms is an essential tool for ensuringwelfare of poultry and humans by preventing transmission of poultry-related zoonoticand food-borne pathogens. Method of collection of infective/ suspected material for labo-ratory testing is added as it is mostly seen that the samples sent to laboratories are notproper and testing/ diagnosis is either not possible or leads to incorrect results. Sometables in the appendices are added for easy reference and monitoring of visitors move-

ment, water quality and formats for overall supervision and internal auditing of biosecurityon-farm.

Thus it is believed that this lucid General Guidelines on biosecurity will help pre-vent ingress of diseases in the poultry farms. If all poultry farms across the country, bothpublic and private follow the basic tenets listed in true spirit it will help in a disease-free,safe and wholesome poultry production.

Electronics Development Fund (EDF) Policy

Government of India has decided to appoint M/ s CANBANK Venture Capital Fund

Ltd. (CVCFL) as the implementation agency which will house the Electronics Develop-ment Fund. The Electronic Development Fund (EDF) is set up as a Fund of Funds toparticipate in Daughter Funds which in turn will provide risk capital to companiesdeveloping new technologies in the area of electronics, nano-electronics and InformationTechnology (IT). The EDF would take minority participation in Seed Funds, Angel Fundsand Venture Funds dedicated in this area.

The EDF shall invite requests from professionally managed private/ public fundsfor its participation. EDF participation in a fund may vary depending on the nature of thefund and risk involved. EDF will support both Indian and foreign funds which are regis-tered in India and comply with SEBI and other regulations in this regard.

With appointment of CVCFL as the agency to implement EDF, the EDF is now op-erational and start receiving requests for participation from Seed Funds, Angel Fundsand Daughter Funds.

A Review Meeting on World Summit on the InformationSociety (Wsis+10 Review)

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry ofCommunication & IT in collaboration with National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)conducted a multi-stakeholder consultation under Internet Governance to discuss the

priorities and concerns of Indian stakeholder in relation to the ongoing overall review bythe General Assembly of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS+10 Review).

India wants democratisation and broad-basing of the global affairs of telecommuni-cations and internet governance. This was the main message taken forward by the Minis-ter for Communications and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad while heled the Indian delegation to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Confer-ence held at Busan in South Korea in last October. Indias point is that ITU should takeleadership and partner with UN and other International/ Regional organizations in ex-ecuting the Information and Communication Technology projects and programs in devel-

oping countries. India also wants the ITU to be the supervisory authority of Space Assets.India expressed its desire that ITU should play a more active role in the global Internetgovernance as envisaged during the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).


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Recently, India has declared its commitment towards multi-stakeholder approach toInternet governance.

In pursuance of such declaration, a series of multi-stakeholder discussions involv-ing business, civil society, government, academia and technical community. The recentmeeting on this issue was held in New Delhi on 18th September, 2015. There has also beenremote participation from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

(ICANN), Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and Learning Initiatives onReforms for Network Economics Asia (LIRNEasia) in these meetings. The entire Reviewprocess will be concluded by a High-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on De-cember 15-16, 2015 in New York. Currently, the United Nations is facilitating a prepara-tory process for the WSIS+10 Review in consultation with Member States and relevantstakeholders.

Swavlamban Health Insurance Scheme to provideaffordable Health Insurance to the persons withdisabilities (PwDs).

MoU inked between Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities andThe New India Assurance Company Limited, on 21.9.2015 to launch Group MediclaimPolicy for empowerment of persons with disabilities Swavlamban Health InsuranceScheme

The Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, under the Depart-ment of Empowerment of People with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empow-erment, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the The New India Assur-ance Company Limited on providing a comprehensive and affordable Health InsuranceScheme - Swavlamban Health Insurance Scheme - for the Persons with Disabilities(PwDs), here today. Shri Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Honorary Secretary, Trust Fund for

Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Ms. Neera Saxena, Deputy General Man-ager, The New India Assurance Company Limited, inked the MoU in the presence of Mr.Luv Verma, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of People with Disabilities. Healthservices and its access to persons with disabilities assume a very significant role in orderto enable and empower persons with disabilities (PwDs) to live independently and withdignity as possible. In this context, the Health Insurance facility becomes important butpresently such products are not easily available for persons with developmental disabili-ties. In such a situation, a tailor made Group Health Insurance Scheme like SwavlambanHealth Insurance Scheme has been conceived with the objective of providing affordableHealth Insurance to persons with blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impair-

ment, loco-motor Disability, mental Retardation and mental Illness. It also aims to im-prove the general Health condition & quality of life of persons with disabilities.

The scheme has been designed to deliver comprehensive cover to the beneficiary aswell as his family (PwD, Spouse & up to two children), has a single premium across age

band and can be availed by PwDs aged between 18 years and 65 years with family annualincome of less than Rs. 3,00,000 per annum. The scheme also ensures coverage of any pre-existing condition and a health Insurance cover up to Rs. 2,00,000 per annum as familyfloater. The scheme will be implemented through active participation of the NationalInstitutes and Composite Regional Centres for Persons with Disabilities (CRCs) underthe DEPwD, MOSJ&E. The registered organizations shall liaise with the Insurance Com-

pany, MOSJ&E, Health service providers, National Institutes, CRCs and all the stakehold-ers concerned for awareness generation and enrolment. Under the MoU, the New IndiaAssurance Company Limited will create a network of Hospitals, where the Insured per-sons can get cashless treatment.


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National News

SC launches portal on pendency of cases

Inviting the public to keep tabs on the burgeoning case pendency rates in their local

courts, the Supreme Court on Saturday launched the public access portal of theNational Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) district courts in a step towards demystificationof the judicial process for the ordinary citizen.

With this, the ambitious effort to digitise court system through the eCourts Projecthas reached the public, encouraging the litigants and the general public to watch thependency graphs and, may be in the future, suggest solutions against delayed justice.

The NJDG already has information of 1.94 crore pending cases out of about 2.7 crorecases in district courts, except those in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, where case datais being migrated to national version of case information software.

The public access portal, designed under the guidance of Chief Justice of India H.L.Dattu and inaugurated by Justice Madan B. Lokur, who is the apex court's eCommitteechief, will disseminate for the public national, State, district and court-wiseinformation about institution and disposal of cases on a monthly basis. It would alsoseparately provide data and details of cases filed by senior citizen and women.

Daily updates

The pendency statistics would be updated by district court complexes on a dailybasis. The pendency would be broken into civil and criminal cases segregated intoage-wise categories of up to two years, 2-5 years , 5-10 years and more than 10 years.

The NJDG page for public access will also disseminate national and State, districtand court-wise information about institution and monthly disposal of cases and alsothe cases filed by senior citizen and women in the total pendency.

The public access page also has feature of monitoring alerts like all cases listed todayacross the country and the cases where no date is updated or a date more than threemonths later is updated.

Risks grow for global sugar market as Indias cane cropwilts

Thousands of acres of Indias sugar crop are suffering severe damage from a falteringmonsoon, with some farmers in the worlds second-biggest grower forced to feedwithered cane to cattle in the top producing state.

After a string of bumper harvests created an Indian sugar glut, drought could cutsupply in the marketing year starting in October and there is a risk production willdrop below consumption for the first time in seven years in the following 2016-17season.

And even though India is still angling to boost exports in the upcoming season to cutstockpiles, this picture could swiftly turn around with a shortfall in output likely to

bolster global sugar prices languishing at seven-year lows.

Industry officials say thousands of hectares of cane have been damaged after Indiasfirst back-to-back drought in three decades, as farmers also refrain from plantingcane for the next season due to water scarcity.


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International News

U.N. report on Sri Lankan war crimes

A long-awaited United Nations report has urged Sri Lanka to establish a special

court to try the horrific abuses committed by the authorities and the rebels in thelast phase of the countrys civil war.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigationon Sri Lanka (OISL), which released the report in Geneva on Wednesday, calledupon Colombo to create the proposed court through specific legislation by integratinginternational judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.

For an accountability mechanism to succeed in Sri Lanka, it will require more thana domestic mechanism, the OISL said.

This would be essential to give confidence to all Sri Lankans, in particular the victims,

in the independence and impartiality of the process, particularly given thepoliticisation and highly polarised environment in Sri Lanka.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at apress conference in Geneva that our investigation has laid bare the horrific level ofviolations and abuses that occurred in Sri Lanka.

Nepals Parliament passed a new national Constitution

Nepals Parliament passed a new national Constitution on Wednesday, weeks afterpolitical leaders reached a historic agreement to create a federal state following anearthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people.

A loud cheer went up in the House as Speaker Subash Nembang announced that thelong-delayed bill had been passed after violent protests that have killed more than40 people and shut down large swathes of the south.

In all, 507 of the young republics 598 lawmakers came out in favour of the bill in themarathon vote, which began on Sunday and continued late into Wednesday night.

The new charter will replace an interim constitution in place since the end of a decade-long civil war that led to the abolition of the Hindu monarchy, and is due to comeinto force on Sunday after a ceremony at the Constituent Assembly, or parliament.

It will divide the nation of 28 million people into seven federal provinces,Jack Ma launches rural teachers support programme

A charity fund established by Jack Ma, founder of the Alibaba Group, will offer$1.57 million (Rs. 10.39 crore) to 100 Chinese rural teachers each year to supportrural education.

Japan to let troops fight abroad, for the first time in 70years,

In a middle-of-the night vote that capped a tumultuous struggle with oppositionparties in Parliament, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan secured final passage oflegislation on Saturday authorizing overseas combat missions for his country'smilitary, overturning a decades-old policy of reserving the use of force for self-defense.


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The legislation had been expected to pass; Abe's governing coalition controls aformidable majority in the legislature. But analysts said the grinding political battleand days of demonstrations that accompanied the effort could hurt his standingwith a public already skeptical of his hawkish vision for Japan's national security.

The debate often doubled as a forum for airing views about Japan's most importantally, the United States. Many were hostile.

On Friday, Yamamoto held up the voting by taking a slow-motion "cow walk" to thepodium to cast his ballot. Other opposition groups entered symbolic censure motionsagainst Abe and officials in his Liberal Democratic Party or made long, filibuster-like speeches, often repeating the conviction that a military with expanded powerswould end up being dragged into an unjustified American war.

Taliban attack on Peshawar military base Suspected Taliban militants launched a brazen attack on a Pakistani military base on

Friday, killing 29 people including 16 who were gunned down inside a mosque

during prayers. The Pakistani army quickly blamed militants from neighboring Afghanistan, which

Islamabad routinely accuses of harboring terrorists who launch attacks across theirporous border.

The attack was a major blow to Pakistan's military, which had stepped up operationsagainst militants following a horrific Taliban attack last December at a Peshawarschool that killed 150 people, mostly children. It also underscored the ability of themilitants to stage spectacular attacks on targets linked to the country's military andgovernment.

All 13 attackers were killed after an hours-long firefight at the Badaber base on the

outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, army spokesman Gen. Asim SaleemBajwa said. In addition to the dead, another 29 people were wounded.

Burkina Faso: Military takes over after presidentialguards detain President, PM

Elements of Burkina Faso's military declared they were in control of the nation afterpresidential guards stormed a Cabinet meeting and seized the President and thePrime Minister -- days before the general elections.

Guards detained interim President Michel Kafando and other government ministersduring the raid in the capital Wednesday, the United Nations said.

It's unclear where the guards took the President, Prime Minister Isaac Zida and theother officials.

Hours after their detention, an unidentified military official took to the airwavesThursday and said the group, now calling itself the National Council for Democracy,"decided to put an end to the deviant transitional regime."

The official announced that the country's new leader would be a former general,Gilbert Diendere. He was an adviser to former President Blaise Compaore, whostepped down under pressure by protesters in 2014 after ruling for 27 years.

Britain pledges 2bn for N-plant

The British government said on Monday it will underwrite 2 billion pounds in Chinesefinancing for a new nuclear power plant in southwest England, as it encouragesmajor Chinese investment in the U.K. nuclear sector.


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British officials hope Mondays announcement will encourage Frances EDF Energywhich is backed in the project by China General Nuclear Corporation and ChinaNational Nuclear Corporation to make a final decision this year to build Britainsfirst new nuclear power station in two decades.

The plant, which had been due to start producing electricity in 2023, has been miredin delays, and critics say it is uneconomical.

Greek election, Tsipras returns in power

Greek leftist Alexis Tsipras stormed back into office with an unexpectedly decisiveelection victory on Sunday, claiming a clear mandate to steer Greece's batteredeconomy to recovery.

The vote ensured Europe's most outspoken leftist leader would remain Greece'sdominant political figure, despite having been abandoned by party radicals last monthafter he caved in to demands for austerity to win a bailout from the euro zone.

In a victory speech to cheering crowds in a central Athens square, he promised a

new phase of stability in a country that has held five general elections in six years,saying his mandate would now see him through a full term.

He made no specific reference to the 86 billion euro ($97 billion) bailout, but Syrizacampaigned on a pledge to implement it, while promising also to introduce measuresto protect vulnerable groups from some aspects of the deal.

Sisi swears in new Egyptian govt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi swore in a new government on Saturdaythat included 16 new ministers, a week after the previous administration resigned

following a corruption scandal. Sharif Ismail, who served as petroleum minister in the last cabinet, was sworn in as

prime minister in a ceremony shown on state television.

The ministers of foreign affairs, defence, interior, justice and finance have kept theirpositions in the new cabinet.

Former premier Ibrahim Mahlabs government resigned on Sept 12 days after thearrest of agriculture minister Salah Helal as part of a corruption probe.

Refugees Blocked From Entering Austria's Southern

Border Austrian police have started denying entry to some migrants trying to cross its

southern border with Slovenia, a police spokesman in Styria province said Sunday.

About 100 people were not let in from Slovenia during the night because they neitherclaimed asylum nor presented proper travel documents at the Spielfeld bordercrossing, the spokesman said.

The move came after Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said Saturdaythat she had no sympathy for refugees who did not apply for asylum in the Balkansand instead were trying to reach more prosperous countries.

Under EU rules, refugees are to submit their asylum claims in the first EU countrythey enter. The rules have often been ignored this summer as the numbers of migrantshave swelled, overwhelming EU border and security officials and politicians alike.


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Business and Economy

RBI allows 10 companies to set up small finance banks

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted in-principle approval for 10 companies

to set up small finance banks.

The approval will be valid for 18 months to enable the applicants to comply with therequirements.

The central bank said that it selected the applicants after three different committeescontributed to the final decision, backed by a detailed case study of each applicant.

The scrutiny involved assessment of financial soundness, proposed business plan,fit and proper status based on due diligence reports received from the regulators,investigative agencies and banks, said RBI.

Roll out of Equitas Bank Equitas Holdings Pvt. is the only Chennai-based NBFC-microfinance institution to

have won the RBIs nod to start a small finance bank. Talking to The Hindu , EquitasManaging Director, P.N. Vasudevan said: RBI has given us 18-months time to startthe banking operations.

We will start thinking now about our next step.

We are not going to stop microfinance business, but we will be adding liability sideto our lending activity. We want to start it as soon as possible.

Sebi,asks PACL to pay up Rs 7,269 cr for duping investors In its biggest ever fine, regulator Sebi today imposed a penalty of Rs 7,269.5 crore on

PACL Ltd and its four directors for illegal and fraudulent mobilisation of fundsfrom the public, saying the company deserves "maximum penalty" for such large-scale duping of the common man.

The penalty follows another order by Sebi last year wherein PACL was asked torefund Rs 49,100 crore it had collected through illicit schemes over a 15-year period.

The refund order was also upheld last month by the Securities Appellate Tribunal,where PACL had filed an appeal.

In its latest order today, Sebi said that PACL made huge illegal mobilisation of money,leading to consequent profit to the tune of over Rs 2,423 crore in a short span of lessthan one year.

Seeking to send a strong message to the securities market at large that such violationswould not be viewed lightly, Sebi said, "In the recent past, the country has suffereda lot in the hands of entities who indulge in such illegal money mobilisation undervarious schemes, wherein hard earned money of the common man has been duped".

This is the biggest-ever amount, as also the largest number of investors, so far involvedin a case found to be running illegal money pooling scheme.

In August last year, Sebi had ordered the immediate closure of unauthorised collectiveinvestment schemes run by PACL and refund investors' money within three months.


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India & the world

U.S. upbeat on India as economic partner

The India U.S. Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S and CD) is beginning in

Washington from September 21 to 22. It would be co chaired by External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from the Indianside and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Commerce Secretary PennyPritzker from the U.S. side.

Ease of doing business in India will be part of the discussion areas. Mr. Arun Kumarsaid there are a number of areas where the U.S. can collaborate with India especiallyin infrastructure and information highways which would link up Indian villagesand is in line with PM Modis Economic Vision.

High-level sources said that the Indian tax regime would also be a topic of discussion

as that directly impacts upon ease of doing business. The Vodaphone retrospective tax issue continues to concern American companies

and this is an issue on which a clarification is likely to be sought from the Indianside.

U.S. private industry sources said that of all the bottlenecks in India it is taxationwhich is of primary concern as there are many areas of grey and American corporatesare uneasy in working in that environment, said one source.

The mood in Washington on the eve of this important Economic Dialogue is verypositive. Observers say while it would be early days to bring in the China examplethe fact of the matter is that Prime Minister Modi is committed to making India anattractive investor destination and American companies should be the first in thedoor to reap benefits.

Overtly, there is no mention of China in this dialogue but some things are bestconveyed unsaid, said a well-informed U.S. source

India, US, ink MoU on energy security and climatechange

India and the United States have signed a significant MoU on energy security, climatechange and clean energy which Secretary of State John Kerry said reflects the

commitment of the two countries to make the Paris summit later this year a success.

Indias commitment to reach 175 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022 is the worldsmost ambitious target in the area of renewable, Kerry said referring to the goal set byPrime Minister Narendra Modi.

American companies and research institutions are committed to help India achievethat goal, he said.

Kerry said both India and the United States are firmly committed to reaching atruly meaningful, truly comprehensive and truly ambitious climate agreement inParis later this year..

In Power Push for India at UN, PM Narendra Modi toHost Big Meet in New York


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In the first summit of its kind in more than ten years, Prime Minister Narendra Modiwill hold a power-packed special summit on the sidelines of the United NationsGeneral Assembly in US to push for a permanent seat for India on the global body'sSecurity Council.

On Saturday morning, just before he leaves for the West Coast, PM Modi will hostGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Brazilian PresidentDilma Rousseff at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York at a summit of what isknown as the G-4 group. All four countries back each other's bid for permanent seatsat the UN Security Council.

The high-octane summit hosted by India will come against the backdrop of abreakthrough agreement at the United Nations last week on a text that will form thebasis for all future negotiations on UN reforms and the expansion of the SecurityCouncil, in particular.

Over the years, the meetings of the G-4 have normally been attended by the foreignministers of the four countries. The decision to elevate it to the heads of state this

time was taken by PM Modi in consultation with Japanese PM Abe.


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Sports

Paes joins the squad It has been 26 years since Leander Paes made his Davis Cup debut, but he was quite

the enthusiastic participant as he joined the Indian team for the training sessionahead of the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against the Czech Republic.

Under floodlights, the 42-year-old had a hit with doubles partner Rohan Bopannaafter reaching the Capital on Wednesday evening from Mumbai where he had arrivedfrom New York in the early hours.

Cometh the hour

Paes said he was happy to lend his support to the team against high-quality oppositionthe likes of who populate the World Group and the World Group play-off ties.

Having run Serbia close in the last World Group play-off in Bengaluru thanks tothe inspiring performances of Paes and Bopanna who turned the tide from two setsand a break down after the opening singles rubbers had been lost and followed up

by Somdev Dev varman India has shown its ability to make a fight of it againststrong teams.

Veterans wisdom

With an 89-32 win-loss record in 51 ties many of which he won singlehandedly speaking for his rich experience, Paes said matches were often decided by just oneshot.

Davis Cup: Somdev Devvarman pulls one back

Somdev Indias Somdev Devvarman returns to Czech Republics Jiri Vesely at theRK Khanna stadium in New Delhi on Friday Manit Balmiki dna

A small group of supporters crying pojdme Cesk (lets go, Czech) and prijde naCesk (come on, Czech) simply couldn't stop the rampaging Somdev Devvarmanfrom taming Jir Vesel to help India draw level on Day One of the World Groupplay-off tie at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

Ajinkya Rahane honoured with life membership by CCI

Ajinkya Rahane, with his wife Radhika, after being conferred with the lifemembership by Cricket Club of India in Mumbai on Friday G Krishnan dna

Ajinkya Rahane, India's most consistent batsman in the last couple of years, has beenconferred with the honorary life membership by the Cricket Club of India (CCI) hereon Friday.

Honouring the top-order batsman was CCI president Kekoo Nicholson in the presenceof past president Sevanti Parikh and other members.

Rahane joins an illustrious list of sportspersons, not just cricketers, to be conferredwith the CCI membership and these include Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Geet Sethi,Michael Ferreira, Muttiah Muralitharan and MS Dhoni, to name a few.

The timing of the membership could not have been better as it came eight daysbefore Rahane's first wedding anniversary. Rahane will be in Bengaluru attending


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Indian team's camp ahead of the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Series on hiswedding day (September 26). He will travel to Bengaluru on Sunday for the seven-day camp that begins the next day.

The 27-year-old right-handed batsman who has risen from humble background, whohas come a long way from his early life in Dombivli to making centuries at the Homeof Cricket, Lord's, has been looked upon by the club as the flag-bearer of Mumbaicricket at the world stage.

Dhoni to lead India in T20s and ODIs against SouthAfrica

MS Dhoni will lead India in three T20 matches and the first three One-DayInternationals against South Africa in a series beginning October, the BCCI announcedon Sunday.

Young Punjab all-rounder Gurkeerat Singh today earned his maiden call-up into theIndian ODI team while Karnataka left-arm seamer Srinath Aravind was a surprise

inclusion in the T20 squad picked by the selectors for the limited-overs leg againstthe Proteas.

The notable omissions from the ODI squad were left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadejaand pacer Dhawal Kulkarni, who were part of the team that had toured Bangladeshin June this year.

Richardson inducted into Elite Panel of match referees

Former West Indies captain Richie Richardson was inducted into the Elite Panel ofICC Match Referees, replacing Sri Lankas Roshan Mahanama who stepped down

last week. Following his appointment, Richardson said he was excited and honoured to have

been selected for one of the most important jobs in cricket.

Richardson, 53, represented the West Indies in 86 Tests and 224 One-Day Internationalsfrom 1983 to 1996 in which he scored 5,949 and 6,248 runs, respectively. He captainedhis side in 24 Tests and 87 ODIs. He played in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1987,1992 and 1996.

Mix

Eco-tourism: Taiwan takes sustainability to a new level Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively

undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternativeto standard commercial tourism.

Taiwan is the perfect destination for eco-tourism as it is distinguished for its steepmountains, beaches, national parks, lush forests and hot springs.

The country features a full range of climates and terrains from the tropical to thefrigid. The variations in weather, geology, and elevation also give Taiwan a richnessof flora and fauna.

Subsequently, Taiwan has embarked on an ambitious plan to become a green jewelfor Asia. Today, Taiwan boasts one of the worlds highest recycling rates (45.49pc in2009), an efficient waste management system, and a wide range of wildlife refugesand national parks that help to attract millions of nature tourists each year.


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Taiwan has some of the highest peaks in East Asia, which collectively have created agreat network of hiking and skiing trails.

Additional ecotourism activities for this versatile nation include bird watching,kayaking, whale watching, C, scuba diving, and snorkeling.

Broadband Has Become a 'Core Utility' White House

Report Says

A new report from the White House's Broadband Opportunity Council says thatbroadband "has steadily shifted from an optional amenity to a core utility forhouseholds, businesses and community institutions," and recommends further federalsupport for those who lack access.

"Today, broadband is taking its place alongside water, sewer and electricity as essentialinfrastructure for communities," the report reads.

The council, created by President Obama and co-chaired by the secretaries of

Commerce and Agriculture, went over broadband access data from 2013. It produceda report summarizing the state of the industry and what can be done to improve it.In general, access is improving, but a few stubborn problems remain, according tothe report.

For one thing, rural and tribal areas are underserved, often having only limited-speed options. Low-income families are also far less likely to use broadband,suggesting the cost is still too high for many. And perhaps at the root of both, lack ofcompetition in many regions means many Americans have little or no choice in whatservice they get and how much they pay.

The report goes on to recommend that federal programs be updated to include

investment in or other support of deploying broadband the idea being thatimproved access to the Internet advances many of such programs' goals. It also saysfederal assets should also be selectively used to foster competition between providers,and more data should be collected for studies like this one.


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Science & Tech

ISRO set to launch first space observatory satelliteASTROSAT

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch Indias first fullydedicated astronomical satellite ASTROSAT. The satellite will be launched fromthe Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 10 am on September 28, revealedISRO chief A S Kiran. It is a 1.5 ton satellite that will blast off into space by a PSLV C-30 rocket.

Indias first space observatory Astrosat will be accompanied by six foreign co-satellitesincluding one micro satellite each from Canada and Indonesia and four nano satellitesfrom the US.

According to an ISRO official, The mission envisages an earth orbiting scientific

satellite with payloads capable of simultaneously observing the universe in the visible,ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The satellite has the capability to observe multiple wavelengths including ultravioletand X-rays which will help scientists in studying distant star, white dwarfs andpulsars. In addition, it will also study the super massive black hole situated at thecentre of our galaxy Milky Way. According to ISRO, equipments of satellite aredesigned to train itself while observing the black hole.

While explaining about the ASTROSAT, ISRO chief said that the satellite will belaunched into a 650 km orbit and is equipped with one UV telescope, a charge particlemonitor and will carry four X-ray payloads. Canadian Space Agency and Universityof Leicester, UK have helped in designing two of the payloads.

Payload of the satellite was developed by ISRO along with four other Indianinstitutions Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute ofAstrophysics, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics and RamanResearch Institute.

NASA building space shotgun to blast asteroids

NASA is developing the worlds first space shotgun that can blast asteroids intosmall pieces for collection as samples when a robotic spacecraft reaches near one

such space rock in the near future. Along with a Brooklyn-based company Honeybee Robotics, the US space agency is

working on a shotgun as part of its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) that willtest the strength of an asteroid to determine if it is sturdy enough for sampling, NewYork Post reported on Sunday.

The ARM aims to chop off a massive chunk of an asteroid and shift it into the Moonsorbit. Then, a manned spacecraft will collect samples and send these back to theEarth for further examination.

The US space agency plans to launch the unmanned ARM in early 2020s. As part of

it, the scientists will use a robotic spacecraft to capture a large boulder from thesurface of a near-Earth asteroid and move it into a stable orbit around the moon forexploration by astronauts.


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Following its rendezvous and touchdown with the target asteroid, the unscrewedARM spacecraft will deploy robotic arms to capture a boulder from its surface.

With the shotgun, firing a bullet at an asteroids surface will enable physicists towork out the solidity of the rock by measuring its rebound speed.


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Selected Articles from variousNewspaper & Magazines

Give the RBI its independenceA new era in monetary policy formulation is set to start with the Union FinanceMinistry releasing the revised draft of the Indian Financial Code (IFC). It provides for thesetting up of a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to debate on monetary affairs anddecide the policy rate. This move is in line with practices in many of the developingcountries where the central banks have pursued the committee approach to address mon-etary policy issues. Currently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the monetary policy regu-lator, goes by the views of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on such issues. TheTAC comprises officials from the RBI besides a few external experts. It advises the central

banker on the monetary policy stance based on macro-economic and monetary develop-

ments. However, the RBI Governor has the last word, and the right to veto any decision ofthe TAC. The draft IFC, submitted by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commis-sion (FSLRC) headed by former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna, has suggested thatthe MPC members be appointed after due consultations between the government and theRBI. It has also recommended that the government have three nominees in the seven-member MPC. The FSLRC, however, has recommended veto power for the RBI Governor.The revised draft circulated for public discussion by the Finance Ministry, however, seeksto vest in the government the power to nominate four members to the MPC. It proposesthat no veto power be given to the Governor, and that at best he be allowed a casting voteto use in the event of a tie.

In the context of the continuing uneasy relationship between the fiscal and monetary

bosses and in light of the changing dynamics of the domestic economy owing to assortedfactors falling outside policy controls, the importance of a cohesive action plan should not

be underestimated. Given this, it is not incorrect to allow the government a say in mattersof monetary policy. The revised draft, however, seems to be trying to push too much ofgovernment into monetary matters. Seen in tandem with its earlier bid to remove fromthe RBI the public debt management function, this move only appears intended to under-mine the RBIs autonomy, which had actually succeeded in insuring the Indian economyagainst the profligate policies of successive governments, and the financial shenanigansin other economies. If the government is to have majority control in the MPC, what is thepoint of giving the RBI Governor the right to a casting vote? Fiscal bosses have fixed

tenures, unlike institutions such as the RBI that are not subject to electoral cycles. Pru-dence suggests that RBI and like institutions must be allowed to function independently.

A subsidy and some questionsThe Central governments decision this week to extend the interest subvention scheme

on bank loans given to land-owning farmers at 7 per cent is essentially a welcome move.This is especially so in a context where there is no real clarity on how the current monsoonwill turn out to be, running at a deficit of 7 per cent as it does currently. With an additionalsubvention component of 3 per cent to encourage timely repayment, farmers can effec-tively avail themselves of up to Rs. 3 lakh at just 4 per cent interest. This scheme, basically

offering a sort of agricultural subsidy, has been in place since 2006-07, with the subven-tion component fluctuating between 1.5 and 3 per cent. With agricultural yield levels andincomes per acre falling or languishing, the need to extend such loans to farmers at lowinterest levels admittedly exists.


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However, what is less clear is the purpose for which many of these loans are beingput to. The Reserve Bank of India recently initiated an investigation into the apparentdiversion of agricultural loans for unintended purposes. It would appear that farmersexisting debts to money-lenders, weak supervision of credit utilisation and thecategorisation of gold loans as agricultural loans are creating significant grey areas andavenues for loan amounts to be used for purposes other than farming. At certain points of

the cropping cycle farmers need large amounts of money and they turn to money-lenders,who charge high rates of interest and often insist on their loans being re-paid first which forces farmers to divert a part of the subsidised bank loans to repay them. Somefarmers put the amounts in fixed deposit accounts to earn higher interest than what theypay. Most farmers do not earn enough to meet their needs, including consumption expen-diture, and so these loans serve as an auxiliary source of income. The government needsto recognise the fact that the system of interest subvention will increasingly finance con-sumption rather than farming, and take one of two steps. It could instruct banks to stepup scrutiny on the use the loan is being put to. Or it could rethink the manner in which itwants to subsidise farmers. Implementing direct transfers to bank accounts and investing

in research and development to bolster crop yields should serve the same purpose thatthe low-interest loans currently serve. This step will have the added advantage of poten-tially improving the plight of farmers. The soft loans are a good idea that needs to bemanaged and supervised well in order to ensure that the intended outcomes are ensured,and that they help address actual distress in the field.

Left stranded on strange shores

According to the latest World Bank figures, India continues to be the leading coun-try in remittances, drawing in $70 billion to the countrys economy from its global mi-grant workforce in 2014. China doesnt lag far behind, pulling in $64 billion. The Philip-

pines, ranked third, gets less than half of what India does ($28 billion) from its migrantpopulation. This gives an idea of how much remittances contribute to Indias foreignexchange reserve, to society, and to families in India. And this figure is only expected togrow, with the International Organization of Migration predicting that India will alsosoon emerge as one of the largest migrant-sending countries of the world. Ironically, how-ever, although we have data on the number of shoes or cars exported from India, we haveno clear idea of the number of Indian migrants. The first holistic attempt to estimate thenumber of migrants was made during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance-Igovernment. Its High-Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora reported that there were16 million Indian diaspora. The number increased in the foreword of the report to 20

million. Later, the United Progressive Alliance government-I, which set up the Ministryof Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), estimated the number to be 25 million.

As members of the Committee set up by the MOIA to draft a migration policy, wesubmitted a draft about five years ago. But the Emigration Management Bill is still wait-ing to be placed in the public domain for debate. There are three stages in a migrants lifecycle: the time before departure, the time spent in the new country, and the rehabilitationprocess after return. A look at the governing structure at each stage shows that India isprobably the only country in the world where migration is managed by three differentMinistries: the passport is issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), emigrationclearance for Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports comes under the MOIA, and

departures are managed by the Bureau of Migration of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA). So, how do we coordinate migration? A major drawback of the existing system isthe application of the Emigration Act of 1983. Till 1983, emigration flows took place with-out a proper administrative or legal framework, though certain provisions of the Emigra-


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tion Act of 1922, which did not cover the emigration of people with technical qualifica-tions and professional expertise, were invoked at times, as a matter of convenience. Un-fortunately, the 1983 Act also brought into force a new system of emigration clearanceunder which no citizen of India was permitted to emigrate without PGE authorisation.Subsequently, subscribing to the logic of protection by exception, two kinds of pass-ports were created: Emigration Check Required (ECR) and Emigration Check Not Re-

quired (ECNR). Though the Passports Act 1967 talks of only three types of passports,ordinary, official and diplomatic, in practice there are two classes of ordinary passports:ECR and ECNR. This system needs to be abolished at the earliest because ECR passportscan be imaginatively interpreted as Exploitation Compulsorily Recommended. Thesepassport holders are exploited at every stage of migration: at passport offices, by theprotector of emigrants officers, recruitment agencies, travel agents, airports, and emigra-tion and customs officials. An inclusive approach that recognises just one category irrespective of their educational qualifications who might emigrate safely and throughlegal channels, is urgently required.

Emigration clearance is managed from just nine locations across India, with an ap-

proved 1,439 recruitment agencies as of 2012. Of these, about 58 per cent exist only onpaper. The administrative apparatus itself has accentuated corruption as a result of thenexus formed between erring government officials and recruiting agencies, said the MOIAin Parliament in September 2007. The governance structure needs a complete revamp tomake migration easy. Equally bad is the cost of migration. According to the Kerala Migra-tion Survey 2008, a person migrating from Kerala to Saudi Arabia spent Rs.74,606 almost four times more than the PGE-approved service charges of Rs. 20,000 for unskilledworkers. Nurses report that they pay about Rs. 3 lakh at the time of recruitment. As In-dian workers, both skilled and unskilled, are in demand everywhere, the costs of migra-tion should be brought down to a minimum or to zero cost of migration. Another prob-

lem is at the destination where workers depend on the Indian Embassies. For instance, inboth Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which host about 20 lakh Indian mi-grants each, the direct contact for most workers on any issue is the labour attaches affili-ated to the Indian Embassy. In both countries, only two labour attaches are available in

both the embassies and the consulates. Assuming that each attache has 20 workers to helpthem handle labour issues, 40 aides per 20 lakh people is not only meagre, but unaccept-able to take care of the workers problems. The third problem is the lack of a rehabilitationpolicy when migrants return. An effective rehabilitation policy will help migrants usetheir enhanced skills when they return home. Take for instance, migrants who have workedin the construction sector for about 10 years in Dubai where they would have acquired

skills that will be in demand in fast-growing cities such as Kochi. Do we encourage andoffer them re-employment? Do we even know the exact numbers of those who return toIndia?

It is high time India gave its migrants their share of rights in return for the amountwe receive in remittances. A strong migration policy is the only way forward.

Winds of change in West AsiaThere has been no dearth of hyperbole on the nuclear agreement signed last week in

Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China,Russia and Germany along with the European Union). U.S. President Barack Obama

was the most restrained when he said that the deal offers an opportunity to move in anew direction; Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called it a good agreement when heannounce(d) to our people that our prayers have come true. On July 20, the Agreement


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was submitted to the U.S. Congress for a mandatory 60-day review. U.S. Speaker JohnBoehner slammed it as a bad deal that paves the way for a nuclear Iran and vowedto do everything possible to scuttle it even as Mr. Obama warned that he would veto anegative decision by Congress. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential can-didate, described it as a most dangerous irresponsible step, while a group of 60 formersecretaries, national security advisers, military generals and ambassadors, led by former

secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former secretary of defence William Perry is-sued a statement welcoming it as a landmark agreement unprecedented in its impor-tance... Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the world heaved a sigh of reliefwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it a hugely important success.

The nuclear dimension of the agreement is relatively straightforward. Two yearsago, Iran was perceived to be just a few months away from acquiring enough highlyenriched uranium to produce a bomb. A covert cyber operation, widely believed to be a

joint U.S.-Israeli effort, using the worm, Stuxnet, damaged a number of centrifuges in2009-10 but the programme has rebounded since then. There was no certainty that a U.S.-

backed military strike would succeed in taking out Irans entire nuclear capability. Col-

lective economic sanctions had worked up to a point because these were intended to givediplomacy a chance. The U.S. was convinced that under the circumstances, negotiationswere the only way forward. Iran had to step back from the nuclear threshold, from a leadtime of months to a year plus. Further, it had to accept intrusive inspections to give out thereassurance that it was not cheating. The U.S. needed to be certain that sanctions couldsnap back into place in case Iran tried a breakout. It was not an ideal solution but the bestunder the circumstances.

While Iran could still sustain the sanctions and survive, sanctions relief was neces-sary for higher growth. Equally important for Iran was the narrative that it was within itsrights as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to build an enrichment capa-

bility for peaceful purposes. Iran could accept more intrusive verification provided thisright was conceded. That meant retaining the capability while accepting constraints onexercising it for a period of time, which could be negotiated. A deal would also bolsterIrans standing regionally. Under the JCPOA, the number of centrifuges has been reduced

by more than two thirds and enrichment will be restricted to a single facility at Natanz.The remaining centrifuges will be mothballed and the Fordow enrichment facility will beconverted into a nuclear, physics, technology, research centre where no fissile materialcan be introduced. From its existing stockpile of nearly 10 MT of partially enriched ura-nium, Iran will retain only 300 kg of uranium enriched to a level of 3.6 per cent; the restwill be shipped out. The Arak heavy water reactor will be redesigned and Iran will notundertake any reprocessing activity. While the duration of the agreement is 10 years, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency verification provisions will remain in effect for anadditional five years. Restrictions on designing and the production of new centrifugeswill remain in force for 20 years while monitoring of uranium mining and milling willcontinue for 25 years and verification covers the supply chain of nuclear related compo-nents. While defence related sites like Parchin have been kept out of the nuclear relatedfacilities, there is a provision for seeking inspections if treaty violating activity is sus-pected. In case of a dispute, a 24-day time frame is provided for adjudication by a jointcommission to be set up under the JCPOA. Nuclear-related imports are permitted butwill be channelled through a designated procurement channel.

In return, all nuclear related sanctions will be lifted. This will gradually permit nearly$100 billion of blocked funds to be released and, more significantly, permit Iranian banksand financial institutions to resume their international engagement. A number of institu-tions and individuals will be taken off the sanctions list.


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Signals from gold prices

The yellow metal dominated the world market scene all of last week. Gold slumpedto a five-year low, slipping to an intra-day low-point of $1,072.30 by Friday. A late rallythat day, however, pushed prices back to around $1,100 an ounce. At best, it helped parelosses from last Monday when the price slid to its lowest since March 2009, to $1,088.05 an

ounce. The Comex gold futures for August still ended their fifth consecutive week innegative territory. Though the rally suggests that there could be an improvement in mar-ket sentiment, the bearish undertone persists among retail investors. At the moment, ev-eryone in the international marketplace is wary of gold. Indeed, price movement is set foran uncertain phase, at least in the near-term. The reasons behind the slipping interest ingold is not difficult to fathom. A looming rise in the U.S. interest rate, for the first time innearly a decade, is playing the villain. At the moment, a stronger dollar remains the topicthat dominates discussions in the marketplace. An inadvertent release on a rate forecaston the website of the Federal Reserve, though it was subsequently withdrawn, only helpedto confound the confusion. Understandably, all eyes are now on the Federal Reserve. Will

it pull the trigger on rate hikes? Nevertheless, the dipping global oil prices hold hope forinvestors in gold. A protracted oversupply situation, weak demand, the Greek crisis andthe Chinese market fall have all come together to pull oil prices down. The fall of oil couldyet prove a rescuer for gold. If there is a serious consequential fallout on U.S. domesticinflation, the oil price fall could slow the Feds tightening policy. A sustained recovery ingold prices, it appears, is inversely related to the growth prospects of the U.S. economy.

What does the fall in gold prices portend for India? The country consumes 800 to 900tonnes of the metal annually, and depends on imports to meet its entire demand. Goldand oil comprise a large part of Indias imports in terms of value, and consequently theyare major contributors to the countrys trade deficit. To an extent, the fall in gold prices

could moderate the import bill in the near-term. There is a flip-side to this, though. Astrengthening dollar could nullify the impact of the fall in gold prices. Indians have tradi-tionally attached a sentimental value to gold. Given this, the government has to go theextra mile to coax them to park idle gold in banks and earn interest. The situation is tailor-made for the Central government to exploit this to its advantage. The proposed goldmonetisation scheme, for example, must be made a lot more simpler and common man-friendly to aid this process.

All eyes on Pluto

The enhanced images of Pluto that were recently released by Nasas New Horizons

team were truly dazzling, showing red and orange shades of the dwarf planet, flowingice in its heart-shaped feature, some smooth plains and some mountains and craters. Plutowas observed with ground and space-based telescopes, and its best images showingan immense dark band called the Whale, a bright heart-shaped feature, evenly spaceddark spots stretching for approximately 1,600 kilometres across the equator, and a re-cently found polygonal feature were taken using the Hubble Space telescope. BeforePlutos fly-by on July 14, interest in existence of life beyond Earth was rekindled by thefindings from the Mars rover Curiosity and Asteroid Mission Rosetta. IndiasChandrayaan-1 and the Mars Orbiter Mission, both demonstrating technological prow-ess and generating scientific interest, also inspired the younger generation in the country

to choose a career in science. But why is there such increased interest among scientists inPluto, located 5.8 billion kilometers from the Sun and at the edge of the solar system? Partof the excitement stems from the fact that space is an ideal laboratory for scientists. Itsvastness enables fundamental experiments, orders of magnitude more accurate than on


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Earth, eliminating the influence of gravity, atmosphere, seismic noise and other interac-tions. These astronomical observations help us learn about the microscopic and macro-scopic structure of the universe. Lunar and planetary missions, over the years, have pro-vided extremely valuable scientific data on the formation and evolution of planets andtheir moons.

That Pluto was discovered in 1930 as the ninth planet of the Solar system is well-known. Twenty years after its discovery, astronomers postulated the presence of the KuiperBelt, comprising a vast collection of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune, in whichPluto itself was a member. The first Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) was discovered in 1992 throwing doubt over Plutos status as planet and since then observers have found morethan 1,000 KBOs, with diameters ranging from 50 kms to almost 2,400 kms. The Interna-tional Astronomical Union in 2006 chose to classify Pluto and the recently discoveredlarge Kuiper Belt Objects as dwarf planets. The Kuiper Belt contains a sizable supply ofancient, icy and organic material that are held in deep freeze, and that were left over fromthe birth pangs of the planets, containing evidences of the distant past. Because of this,planetary scientists are keen to learn more about Pluto and its moons, Charon (the larg-

est), Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra, and other objects in the Kuiper Belt.

vol 94 17th september 2015 to 23rd september 2015

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