More cancer institutes in states planned Dr Harsh Vardhan launches “Sunita”- symbol of tobacco victimhood

Meet Sunita. This 27-year-old, whose face is disfigured by oral cancer, is today a symbol of tobacco victimhood. Like hundreds of thousands of tobacco users in India she has seen her whole family ruined because of her four-year habit of chewing the deadly material that came in two-rupee pouches. Sunita, who is a mother of two from a small town in Madhya Pradesh, has survived, but only for now. Her doctor says there is a 50 percent possibility of the disease recurring. And if that happens, chances of survival are remote. Today, she struggles through life with part of her face gone, and suffers pain whenever she tries to eat and drink. Together with members of her traumatised family, Sunita is ready to share with the world of tobacco victims her agonising story. The only message she has is –stay away from all types of tobacco. “Nobody should suffer what I have suffered”, she implores. The Ministry of Health, Government of India, on Thursday unfurled “Sunita”, a testimonial campaign highlighting the devastating effect of smokeless tobacco (‘gutka’, ‘zarda’, ‘khaini’,etc.) especially on women. A resource website,http://ntcptobaccocontrolpsa.inhosting health spots and tobacco use disclaimers in high resolution for use in films and TV shows, was also inaugurated. Sunita’sstory has been made into a 30-second film which is included in the website and will also be screened in cinema theatres across India as well as on government and private TV channels. The website has been developed by the Ministry with technical assistance from World Lung Foundation. It will be a repository of anti-tobacco health spots. All film producers, TV programmers and cinema theatre owners will be able to download the spots and HD disclaimers as mandated in the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) Rules regulating depiction of tobacco products or in their use in films and TV programmes. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, who inaugurated the website, announced that the Ministry is planning to set up modern cancer hospitals all over India. It is also working to strengthening legal controls on tobacco distribution. The Minister said that the first Budget of ShriNarendraModi government effected a 61 percent hike in tax rates on cigarettes. “Just the enhanced revenue which will flow in would be enough to fund 12 new AIIMS in the country,” Dr Harsh Vardhan remarked. The Ministry of Health has already formed two committees to recommend measures on how to address the social and legal aspects of the war against tobacco use which it has launched. “This should not remain a government agenda. I would like to involve social groups and civil society. The fight will be long and arduous, but we should not lose hope,” Dr Harsh Vardhan added.

Demand and Supply of Power

Electricity is a concurrent subject. Supply and distribution of electricity to various consumers in a State/UT is within the purview of the respective State Government/State Power Utility. The Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments by establishing power plants and transmission system in Central Sector through Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs). This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today The Minister further stated that there is overall shortage of power in the country both in terms of energy and peaking power. The energy and peaking shortage in the country during the current year (April to June, 2014) was 4.0% and 3.7% respectively. The Minister further stated that the Government is taking the following steps to mitigate the shortcomings in supply of power to the consumers : (i) Acceleration in generation capacity addition during 12th Plan with a proposed target of 88,537 MW from conventional sources and 30,000 MW from renewable energy sources. (ii) Undertaking a massive programme for strengthening of inter-state and inter-regional transmission capacity for evacuation of power. (iii) A new scheme has been announced in this year’s Budget for strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks and for segregation of agricultural feeders. (iv) Expeditiously resolving issues relating to environmental and forest clearances for power projects under implementation. (v) Bridging the gap of indigenous coal availability through coal imports for increased generation by thermal plants. (vi) Promoting energy conservation, energy efficiency and demand side management measures. (vii) Government of India is providing financial assistance to States under Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) and Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). (viii) In order to enable turnaround of State Discoms, the Central Government has approved and notified in October 2012, a Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP) of State owned Discoms. (ix) Renovation & Modernization (R&M) works are carried out by the concerned State and Central Power Utilities for improving the Plant Load Factor of power stations.

Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 Rights of Tribals and Forest Dwellers

To address the adverse living conditions of many tribal families living in forests was on account of non-recognition and vesting of pre-existing rights, a landmark legislation viz. Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, has been enacted to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation of forest land in forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been residing in such forests for generations, but whose rights could not be recorded. This Act not only recognizes the rights to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood, but also grants several other rights to ensure their control over forest resources which, inter-alia, include right of ownership, access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce, community rights such as nistar; habitat rights for primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities; right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which they have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use. The Act also provides for diversion of forest land for public utility facilities managed by the Government, such as schools, dispensaries, fair price shops, electricity and telecommunication lines, water tanks, etc. with the recommendation of Gram Sabhas. In addition, several schemes have been implemented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for the benefit of tribal people, including those in the forest areas such as "Mechanism for marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) and development of Value Chain for MFP". Funds are released out of Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub Plan for infrastructure work relating to basic services and facilities viz. approach roads, healthcare, primary education, minor irrigation, rainwater harvesting, drinking water, sanitation, community halls, etc. for development of forest villages. Under Section 3(1)(h) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the rights of settlement and conversion of all forest villages, old habitations, un-surveyed villages and other villages in forest, whether recorded, notified, or not, into revenue villages have been recognized as one of the forest rights of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on all forest lands. As per the provisions of the Act and the rules framed thereunder, the forest right related to conversion of forest villages into revenue villages is to be adjudicated by the Gram Sabha, Sub-Divisional Level Committee and the District Level Committee as per the laid down procedure, like any other forest right specified in the Act. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has issued guidelines on 8.11.2013, inter-alia, impressing upon all the State/ UT Governments to convert all such erstwhile forest villages, un-recorded settlements and old habitations into revenue villages with a sense of urgency in a time bound manner. The conversion would include the actual land use of the village in its entirety, including land required for current or future community uses, like, schools, health facilities, public spaces etc.

Rangarajan Report on Poverty

The Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan to Review the Methodology for Measurement of Poverty in the country constituted by the Planning Commission in June 2012 has submitted its report on 30th June 2014. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation and Defence Shri Rao Inderjit Singh has said that as per the report, poverty line is estimated as Monthly Per Capita Expenditure of Rs. 1407 in urban areas and Rs. 972 in rural areas. The highlights of the report are: i.                     The Expert Group (Tendulkar) had used the all-India urban poverty line basket as the reference to derive state-level rural and urban poverty. This was a departure from the earlier practice of using two separate poverty line baskets for rural and urban areas. The Expert Group (Rangarajan) reverts to the practice of having separate all-India rural and urban poverty basket lines and deriving state-level rural and urban estimates from these. ii.                   The Expert Group (Tendulkar) had decided not to anchor the poverty line to the then available official calorie norms used in all poverty estimations since 1979 as it found a poor correlation between food consumed and nutrition outcomes. However , on a review of  subsequent research,  the Expert Group (Rangarajan) took a considered view that  deriving the food component of the Poverty Line Basket  by reference to the  simultaneous satisfaction of all three nutrient -norms would be appropriate when seen in conjunction with the emphasis on a full range of policies and programmes for child-nutrition support and on  public provisioning of a range of public goods and services aimed at the amelioration of  the disease-environment facing the population. iii.                  Estimates of consumption expenditure seen in the National Accounts Statistics and as inferred from the sample surveys of the National Sample Survey Organisation show a large and growing variance. The Expert Group (Rangarajan) prefers NSSO’s estimates and decides not to use the NAS estimates. This is in line with the approach taken by Expert Group (Lakdawala) and Expert Group (Tendulkar). iv.                The capture of spatial and temporal variation in prices in estimating the State-level and rural-urban poverty levels (given all-India rural and urban estimates) has undergone substantial refinement since 1979. The Expert Group (Rangarajan) agrees with the methodology adopted by the Expert Group (Tendulkar) in this regard. This overcomes the limitations of using fixed base-year weights by using a combination of unit values derived from successive NSSO’s Consumer Expenditure Surveys and price-relatives derived from the Consumer Price Indices. v.                  Public expenditure on social services has increased substantially in recent years. These expenses are not captured, by design, in the NSSO’s Consumer Expenditure Surveys and the poverty line derived from these is thus lower than the services actually consumed. vi.                The Expert Group (Rangarajan) is of the considered view that the deployment of criteria other than consumption expenditure in the measurement of poverty raises several issues regarding measurement and aggregation and that these render such exercises impractical. However, the Expert Group (Rangarajan) has considered an alternate view in estimating the poverty line by reference to the ability of households to save. 2.         The Methodology recommended by the Expert Group (Rangarajan) for estimation of poverty is as follows: i.                       The poverty line should be based on certain normative levels of adequate nourishment, clothing, house rent, conveyance and education, and a behaviorally determined level of other non-food expenses. ii.                   The Expert Group (Rangarajan) computed the average requirements of calories, proteins and fats based on ICMR norms differentiated by age, gender and activity for all-India rural and urban regions to derive the normative levels of nourishment. Accordingly, the energy requirement works out to 2,155 kcal per person per day in rural areas and 2,090 kcal per person per day in urban areas.  For reasons elaborated in the text , the Expert  Group ( Rangarajan)  views the Calorie norm not as a single number but as an average in a band of     +/- 10 per cent of these values and  with intakes even at  the lower end still being  adequate enough to not adversely affect health and work. iii.                  The protein and fat requirements have been estimated on the same lines as for energy. These requirements are 48 gms and 28 gms per capita per day, respectively, in rural areas; and 50 gms and 26 gms per capita per day in urban areas. iv.                A food basket that simultaneously meets all the normative requirements of the three nutrients defines the food component of the poverty line basket proposed by the Expert Group (Rangarajan). These nutrient norms are met for persons located in the sixth fractile (25-30%) in rural areas and for those in the fourth fractile (15-20%) in urban areas in 2011-12. The average monthly per capita consumption expenditure on food in these fractile classes is Rs.554 in rural areas and Rs.656 in urban areas (NSS 68th Round). v.                  The median fractile (45-50%) values of clothing expenses, rent, conveyance and education expenses are treated as the normative requirements of the basic non-food expenses of clothing, housing, mobility and education of a poverty line basket. This works out to Rs.141 per capita per month in rural areas and Rs.407 in urban areas. The observed expenses of all other non-food expenses of the fractile classes that meet the nutrition requirements are considered as part of the poverty line basket. This works out to Rs.277 per capita per month in rural areas and Rs.344 in urban areas. vi.                The new poverty line thus work out to monthly per capita consumption expenditure of Rs.972 in rural areas and Rs.1,407 in urban areas in 2011-12. For a family of five, this translates into a monthly consumption expenditure of Rs.4,860 in rural areas and Rs.7,035 in urban areas. vii.               Estimations of the poverty line made for the Expert Group (Rangarajan) based on an independent large survey of households by CMIE and using a different methodology wherein a household is considered poor if it is unable to save, yields results that are remarkably close to those derived using the NSSO data. This provides additional evidence in support of the poverty line derived by the Expert Group (Rangarajan). viii.             Compared to the poverty lines based on the methodology of the Expert Group (Tendulkar), the poverty lines estimated by the Expert Group (Rangarajan) are 19% and 41% higher in rural and urban areas, respectively. The Expert Group (Rangarajan) uses the Modified Mixed Recall Period consumption expenditure data of the NSSO as these are considered to be more precise compared to the MRP, which was used by the Expert Group (Tendulkar) and the URP, which was used by earlier estimations. 67% of the increase in the rural poverty line and 28% of the increase in the urban poverty line is because of the shift from MRP to MMRP. ix.                 The national rural and urban poverty lines computed as above were used to derive the state-wise poverty lines by using the implicit price derived from the quantity and value of consumption observed in the NSSO’s 68th Round of Consumer Expenditure Survey (2011-12) to estimate state relative to all-India Fisher price indices. Using these and the state-specific distribution of persons by expenditure groups (NSS), state-specific ratios of rural and urban poverty were estimated. State-level poverty ratio was estimated as weighted average of the rural and urban poverty ratios and the national poverty ratio was computed again as the population-weighted average of state-wise poverty ratios. x.                  The Expert Group (Rangarajan) therefore estimates that the 30.9% of the rural population and 26.4% of the urban population was below the poverty line in 2011-12. The all-India ratio was 29.5%. In rural India, 260.5 million individuals were below poverty and in urban India 102.5 million were under poverty. Totally, 363 million were below poverty in 2011-12. xi.                 The poverty ratio has declined from 39.6% in 2009-10 to 30.9% in 2011-12 in rural India and from 35.1% to 26.4% in urban India. The decline was thus a uniform 8.7 percentage points over the two years. The all-India poverty ratio fell from 38.2% to 29.5%. Totally, 91.6 million individuals were lifted out of poverty during this period. xii.               The Expert Group (Rangarajan) recommends the updation of the poverty line in the future using the Fisher Index. The weighting diagram for this effort can be drawn from the NSSO’s Consumer Expenditure Survey. For the Food –group, the Expert Group (Rangarajan) recommends that the current practice of relying on the unit values derivable from the NSSO Consumer Expenditure Surveys should continue till such time a new CPI of CSO with a weighting diagram based on the 2011-12 pattern of consumption becomes available. In respect of non-food- items, the price indices available in the exiting CSO Consumer Price Indices can be used in the construction of   requisite Fisher indices. Once the new series of Consumer Price Index numbers (with 2011-12 as the base year) become available, it may be used if the extent of change in the structure of consumption at that point in time relative to the 2011-12 structure of consumption is not very different.

Futuristic Energy Scenerios

The Planning Commission has developed, the “India Energy Security Scenarios 2047”(IESS-2047), an Excel based web tool which explores a range of potential future energy scenarios for India, for several energy demand and supply sectors leading up to 2047. In a statement in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation and Defence Shri Rao Inderjit Singh has said that this tool is available to the public through an interactive, web interface as well as an Excel-based model with extensive sector-wise documentation. It is hosted on the website of the Planning Commission. The IESS 2047 explores India’s energy future across energy supply sectors such as solar, wind, biofuels, oil, gas, coal, and nuclear, and energy demand sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, cooking, and lighting and appliances. The model allows users to interactively make energy choices, and explore a range of possible outcomes for the country – from carbon dioxide emissions and import dependence to land-use. The details of various scenarios developed are projected in terms of four levels as:- Level-1: Least Effort Scenario The ‘Least Effort’ scenario in the demand sector (Level 1) offers projections assuming past trends continue. Similarly, in supply sectors, the ‘Least Effort’ scenario (Level 1) is of poor domestic output of energy, and is likely to follow the past trends, should there not be any major policy announcement, or any other trigger in generating energy supply.  Level 2, the ‘Determined Effort’ scenario Level 2, the ‘Determined Effort’ scenario describes the level of effort which is deemed most achievable by the implementation of current policies and programmes of the government. This scenario indicates that existing and committed policies maintain the same trend in future also. Level 3, the ‘Aggressive Effort scenario Level 3, the ‘Aggressive Effort’ scenario describes the level of effort needing significant change which is hard but deliverable. Level 4, the `Heroic Effort` scenario Level 4, the `Heroic Effort` scenario describes the level of effort equivalent to the `world`s best` scenario which has been realised in some countries. On the demand side, the `Heroic Effort` scenario, (Level 4) indicates heightened efficiency numbers, leading up to the physically best attainable in due course.  On the other hand, on the supply side, the `Heroic Effort` scenario gives us the physical limits, which would guide the growth of that particular energy supply up to the year 2047.  There are also projections on the demand side and the consumption side in various sectors for the least effort and the heroic effort made by us as:- Units in are in Tera Watt hours Demand Sector Baseline 2012 `Least Effort` Scenario (2047) `Herioc Effort` Scenario (2047) Domestic Lighting & appliances 169.7 2,204.5 1,121.4 Commercial Lighting & Appliances 69.8 970.6 761.6 Lighting & Appliances 239.5 3,174.6 1,805.9 Industry 2,278.8 11,326.4 7,960.7 Road transport 787.1 5,691.6 2,790.6 Rail transport 40.5 128.8 125.8 Domestic aviation 20.3 264.9 118.6 Transport 847.9 6,085.3 3,035.0 Green Building Design & Envelope Savings (0.0) (0.4) (77.1) Agriculture 237.2 1,047.8 533.1 Telecom 82.7 237.0 101.0 Household Cooking 1,153.7 1,069.2 616.0 Commercial Cooking 64.8 739.0 680.4 Cooking 1,218.5 1,808.2 1,296.5 Total 4,905 23,679 14,732 Supply Sector Baseline (2012) `Least Effort` Scenario (2047) `Heroic Effort` Scenario (2047) Nuclear fission 94 168 990 Solar 2 107 1,663 Wind 19 161 1,462 Hydro 156 207 641 Bioenergy 959 993 3045 Coal reserves 2,704 2,878 7,306 Oil reserves 443 401 907 Gas reserves 449 769 2,115 According to the statement the IESS-2047 calculator launched in February, 2014 by Planning Commission, doesn’t include the cost parameter in various scenarios.

text of Shri Prakash Javadekar’s Welcome Address at the 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

It gives me immense pleasure to welcome my BASIC colleagues here. Its rare that all four BASIC Ministers are able to get together – I thank all of you for joining us here today.

We are at a very critical stage in our efforts to combat climate change. While science prompts us towards greater action, we find that response of countries is not adequate. We must incentivise action- the first step in this regard is enhanced action by developing countries.

1. In India, a democratic transition has occurred very recently. As the world's largest democracy, we will play an active role in tackling the Climate Change. We are committed to sustainable development and efficient use and development of all resources including energy.
2. In our Union Budget for the financial year 2014-15, some important initiatives relevant to climate change have been taken such as:

Ø Clean Energy Cess on coal has been increased form Rs.50/ton to Rs.100/ton, to raise more revenue for Clean energy and cross-subsidizing solar and other renewable energy and research in the field of clean energy technologies.
Ø Rs 100 crores has been allocated for the "National Adaptation Fund" for climate change.
Ø Rs. 500 crores has been allocated for Setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh to promote the Renewable energy.
Ø Allocation Rs.100 crores for new scheme “Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology”.
Ø Allocation of Rs. 500 crores for strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas under the ‘Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna’.
Ø Allocation of Rs. 400 Crore for launching a scheme for solar power driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations.
Ø Allocation of Rs. 100 crore for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals.
3. We have also encouraged states to prepare their own State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) to take the fight against climate change to local level. 27 states and 4 Union Territories have already done it.

4. We firmly believe that the issue of climate change and global warming is not country-specific but is inter-dependent in nature and requires cooperation among nations. India has already taken a number of actions on a voluntary basis with its own resources in pursuance of a sustainable development strategy. India has announced a voluntary 2020 mitigation goal of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25% over 2005 levels by 2020. Towards this, India has formulated its National Climate change Action Plan with eight missions, which are being strengthened. We have designed a low carbon strategy for growth and have set up ambitious renewable energy targets.

Govt changes rules for IAS, IPS

Officers needs to be responsive to the public, particularly to the weaker section, ensure courtesy and good behaviour with the public and take decisions solely in public interest and use, the new rules said.

The All India Services (Conduct) Amendment Rules, 2014, notified by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), makes it mandatory for officers to declare any private interests relating to his public duties and take steps to resolve conflicts in a way that protects the public interest.

The officers should not place himself under any financial or other obligations to any individual or organisation which may influence him in the performance of his official duties, the rules said.

Every member of the service shall not misuse his position as civil servant and not take decisions in order to derive financial or material benefits for himself, his family or his friends, it said.

The rules cast a compulsory obligation on officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) to maintain confidentiality in the performance of his official duties.

The officers shall also guard those information, disclosure of which may prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of state, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, friendly relation with foreign countries or lead to incitement of an offense or illegal or unlawful gains to any person.

"Every member of the Service shall maintain high ethical standards, integrity and honesty, political neutrality; promoting of the principles of merit, fairness and impartiality in the discharge of duties and accountability and transparency," the rules said.

The officers have also been given freedom to take decision and make suggestions. "Make choices, take decisions and make recommendations on merit alone."

They should act with fairness and impartiality and not discriminate against anyone, particularly the poor and the under-privileged sections of society, and refrain from doing anything which is or may be contrary to any law, rules, regulations and established practices.

The officers should use public resources efficiently, effectively and economically and act with fairness and impartiality and not discriminate against anyone, particularly the poor and the under-privileged sections of society.

They should maintain discipline in the discharge of his duties and be liable to implement the lawful orders duly communicated to him and, perform and discharge his duties with the highest degree of professionalism and dedication to the best of his abilities.

The All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 had limited mention of the role of IAS, IPS and IFoS officers.

"The rules have been amended to give officers more freedom to work, make them efficient and more responsive to the public," a senior DoPT officer said.

The present authorised strength of IAS, IPS and IFoS officers are 6,270, 4,728 and 3,131 respectively.