RGUMY

The Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana (RGUMY) has been made functional throughout the country.  The scheme is implemented at all India level and not in a state-wise manner.  It seeks to provide handholding support and assistance to the potential first generation entrepreneurs who would have successfully completed mandatory entrepreneurship  development training or skill development training or vocational training ,  through the selected lead agencies i.e. `Udyami Mitras` , in the establishment and management of the new enterprise, in dealing with various procedural and legal hurdles and in completion of various formalities required for setting up and running of the enterprise.                                      The Scheme also provides information, support, guidance and assistance to first generation entrepreneurs as well as other existing entrepreneurs through an ‘Udyami Helpline’ (a Call Centre for MSMEs, 1800-180-6763 Toll Free), to guide them regarding various promotional schemes of the Government, procedural formalities required for setting up and running of the enterprise and help them in accessing Bank credit etc.

Prime Minister Approves the Constitution of the Expenditure Management Commission; Dr. Bimal Jalan, Former Governor, RBI to Head the Commission

The Prime Minister has approved the constitution of the Expenditure Management Commission. This was announced by the Finance Minister in his Budget Speech 2014-15. The Commission will be headed by Dr. Bimal Jalan, former Governor, RBI, with Shri Sumit Bose, former Finance Secretary and Dr. Subir Gokarn, Eminent Economist as members. Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, will be an ex-officio member and a senior officer with finance/expenditure experience will be Member-Secretary. The detailed Terms of Reference of the Expenditure Management Commission will be notified separately. The Commission is expected to submit its interim report before the Budget of 2015-16 and its final report before the Budget of 2016-17.

Seven qualities of highly effective judges

Judicial appointments cannot be left to the preferences of JAC members.

In the wake of recent controversies, the issue of judges’ appointments has resurfaced. Until 1993, the executive had a role in the appointment of judges in India. In fact, since the inception of the system of judicial appointments, it has always remained a prerogative of the sovereign ruler.

In ancient India, kings used to appoint judges (adhikitas) after consulting their social mentors (rishis). The British, after introducing the present judicial system in India, chose judges on the basis of advice from the chief justice of the respective high courts, who were invariably British by birth. During this period, not a single Indian was ever made a chief justice. Thus, British rulers ensured the judiciary remained loyal to the crown.

The present collegium system was introduced following the 1993 second judges’ case and the advisory opinion rendered by a nine-judge bench (decided seven to two) of the Supreme Court in 1998. The Supreme Court effectively “amended” the Constitution through judicial process, as it read “concurrence” into the term “consultation” as laid out in Article 124. The presidential reference to the Supreme Court was meant to review the second judges’ case, but the court refused to do so expressly and went on instead to strengthen judicial “concurrence” by increasing the number from three judges to five.

It failed to bring about much-needed reform by substituting the collegium with a more responsible, transparent and accountable system. The advisory opinion simply shuffled persons/ authorities to fructify individual ambitions and choices. There is now a great opportunity for the legislature to take a comprehensive view and introduce a system that is not only transparent but also ensures quality.

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha. Many experts, including Law Commission Chairman A.P. Shah and Press Council of India head Markandey Katju, have advanced their suggestions and innovative arguments on the failure of the current collegium system: ironically, they are the product of that very failed system. Interestingly, they are for the supremacy of judiciary and want a majority say for judges. At the same time, the unusual strength of the present executive has given rise to apprehensions regarding its intervention in judges’ appointments.

Other than Japan, perhaps only in India do judges appoint judges. The present system of appointment suffers from many infirmities. There is neither any scope for scrutiny nor transparency. This method of appointments also does not address the diversity in Indian society. Moreover, it leads to the appointment of judges who hold similar views and have the same broad orientation. It is also prone to encourage nepotism in the judicial system. Theneed of the hour is to strike a balance between the independence of the judiciary and ensuring its impartiality and accountability.

Given the experience of the Emergency — which saw the executive’s assertion of its role in the appointment of judges — and undue interference thereafter (including the latest one involving this government in Gopal Subramanium’s non-appointment), it is imperative to ensure that the executive does not end up with a dominant role. A mere shift of primacy cannot be the way to ensure a transparent and qualitatively sound system of appointments. No objective parameter has been set in the JAC bill to ensure the selection of an able, competent, honest and educated person as a judge. On the contrary, the scope of subjective satisfaction of persons who will recommend judicial appointments is enhanced in the bill. A broad parameter in respect of procedure for the shortlisting of candidates has to be evolved. In this context, the ancient jurist Katyayana’s observation indicating seven qualities to be considered for the appointment of judges is worth noting. Those qualities are akrurha (no ill will), madhura (politeness), snigdha (dispassionate), kshamajuto (forgiveness), bichakshana (educated, having an analytical mind), utsahabana (spirited and hard-working), and nirlobha (without greed). Unfortunately, the present bill has not indicated any such qualities. Besides ensuring fairness and transparency in the appointment of judges to the benches of the higher judiciary, the timely filling up of vacancies in the judiciary is also an important challenge.

We can’t afford to see the appointments of judges in isolation. While making the process more transparent, broad-based and impartial, we must ensure that justice is made available and affordable to the vast population. There is no need for a separate body for judicial standards and accountability. The proposal for a national judicial commission (NJC), with representatives from three organs of the state — the executive, legislature and judiciary — must be acted upon.

It should be vested with powers to conduct inquiries into the misbehaviour of judges and to impose minor punishment. To make it more democratic, transparent and participatory, even representatives from the Bar Association of India and the general public can be inducted. This would facilitate wider consultations on assessing the suitability and integrity of potential appointees.

The NJC should comprise the Chief Justice of India as ex-officio chairperson with one other judge of the Supreme Court, nominated by the collegium of all judges of the Supreme Court, the chief justice of one of the high courts, nominated by the collegium of chief justices of all high courts, the Union minister for law and justice as ex-officio member along with two eminent persons to be nominated by a collegium consisting of the prime minister and leader of the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha and, finally, a nominee of the Bar Association of India. It should be ensured that at least one member is a woman and one eminent person is from the SC/ ST/ OBC/ minority communities, preferably by rotation.

Accountability and independence

Transparency in the appointments of judges can be ensured without government representatives serving as members in the Judicial Appointments Commission

The debates surrounding the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Bill, 2013 for the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, is a critical matter that impinges on the future of the Indian judiciary. Some of the provisions of the draft bill raise serious questions of constitutional importance that must be carefully examined by the government before any constitutional amendment is made.

It will not be in the government's interests if the provisions are taken up for judicial adjudication for potential violation of the Constitution, especially thebasic structure doctrine. It is possible that even after constitutional amendments, there may be a challenge to these provisions. It is important for the government to formulate a more rigorous set of guiding principles on the basis of which a constitutional amendment can be formulated.

It will be a mistake to assume that a replacement and change of the body that is playing a dominant role in this process will ensure fair and transparent appointments. There is enough evidence to suggest that appointments made by governments have been marred by controversies and have been questioned for their lack of transparency, impartiality and integrity. Institutionalised forms of nepotism, and biases and prejudices, have been infused into the appointment process, even when appointment were made by high-powered committees comprising the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Reforms in appointment process

Under these circumstances, it is important for the country to have a genuine debate as to what parameters need to be adopted while seeking reforms in the appointment process. The process of appointments has evolved since the passing of the Constitution. Even though three major decisions by the Supreme Court settled the matter on the primacy of the judiciary in the form of its collegium deciding matters relating to the appointment of judges, there is little doubt that the existing collegium-based system needs reform. Many judges of the higher judiciary have themselves acknowledged that this system needs greater transparency, inclusiveness, participation and consultation at a broader level. But how do we establish a system in which the people who exercise powers do so in a responsible manner?

Before any attempt is made to draft a legislation, there is an urgent need for the government to have a broad-based consultation with lawyers, judges, academics, civil society and the media as to how we can balance judicial accountability on the one hand and the independence of the judiciary as an institution on the other. The following parameters may be considered for this.

Whatever procedures are formulated for the appointment of judges, there must be a broad-based consultative process in which all stakeholders are involved. One of the sharpest criticisms of the existing collegium model is that the entire process of appointments of judges to the Supreme Court is dependent on the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and the four senior most judges of the apex Court. In the case of the High Courts, it is the CJI and the collegium comprising two senior most judges of the Supreme Court who decide appointments. Unfortunately, while it is true that this process requires re-examination, the process envisaged in the proposed collegium under the new legislation — that two eminent persons will be selected by the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of the Opposition — is equally arbitrary and lacks transparency.

Further, most appointment processes in India do not have any information on how competence and suitability of candidates is measured, necessitating a need for parameters to measure both.

Nearly a decade ago, the U.K. significantly revamped the process relating to judicial appointments. The JAC was constituted as an independent body which selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland. The creation of the JAC was one of the significant changes brought about by the Constitutional Reform Act, 2005, which also reformed the office of the Lord Chancellor and established the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary of England and Wales. The qualities and abilities being used by the JAC for selection of judges in the U.K. may be of relevance in the Indian context as well. Intellectual capacity, personal qualities, the ability to understand and deal fairly, authority and communication skills, efficiency, leadership and management skills are the basis on which candidates are selected. There are detailed explanations as to how these qualities will be identified among candidates.

Role of lawyers in appointments

The Bill its current form has not envisaged any role for lawyers who are in many ways important in the process of appointment of judges. In many jurisdictions, lawyers are involved significantly in all stages in the process of appointment. There is a need to reconsider the current provisions to include lawyers and law professors as members of the JAC.

One of the important reforms in the U.K. was to diversify the commission. The JAC in the U.K. is a 15-member commission and the Chairman is always a lay member. Of the 14 other commissioners, it is mandatory that five are judicial members, two are professional members, five are lay members, one is a tribunal judge and another is a non-legally qualified judicial member. The current JAC in the U.K. has two professors in it. The commissioners are appointed in their own right and are not representatives of the professions they come from. The diversity of the commission makes it inclusive and enables each member to bring the knowledge, expertise, and most importantly, the independence of mind and the versatility of experience to the selection process.

Over the last few decades, different forms of biases and prejudices have infused the selection processes and the working of committees. The role of government representatives in the appointment of judges should be eliminated or at least significantly reduced. There are a number of legal, constitutional and policy reasons for this, but the most important is the changing dimensions of constitutional governance. Today, the government is the largest litigant in the courts. Every law, rule, regulation, policy and decision of the government has come into sharper legal and constitutional scrutiny. This change is not just a marginal change in the way India is governed, but a substantive one which has wide-ranging consequences for constitutional governance. The influence of the government in any form in the appointment process of the judges affects the independence of the judiciary. If the purpose of the government and society is to ensure accountability of the judiciary and provide a greater degree of transparency in the appointments of judges, this can be ensured even without government representatives and political actors serving as members in the JAC.

The way forward

There is a great opportunity for the new government to recognise the importance of the judiciary as an institution that safeguards the character of our democracy. If constitutionalism and democratic governance are going to the basis for measuring the effectiveness of institutions, then the JAC should reflect that vision. In its current form in the draft legislation, it does not. Hence, a wider degree of consultation and participation of all stakeholders is needed.

Major mathematics awards to two Indian origin scientists

Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot, are among the eight winners of the prestigious International Mathematical Union awards

Two mathematicians of Indian origin, Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot, are among the eight winners of the prestigious awards of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) that were announced at the inaugural of the 9-day International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) which began today at Seoul, Republic of Korea. The President of Korea, Park Geun-hye, gave away the awards.

The ICM is held every four years and, traditionally, the IMU awards are presented at this quadrennial event. The awards include the Fields Medal, the highest award in mathematics, the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize and the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize. At the last ICM held at Hyderabad, India, two new awards, the Chern Medal and the Leelavati Prize, were added to the existing three awards.

The 40 year-old Canadian-American Manjul Bhargava, a number theorist from Princeton University, is one of the four Fields Medalists chosen for the ICM2014 awards. The Fields Medal is awarded “to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”. A minimum of two and a maximum of four Fields Medals are given to mathematicians under the age of 40 on January 1 of the year of the Congress.

“Manjul Bhargava has developed powerful new methods in the geometry of numbers and applied them to count rings of small rank and to bound the average rank of elliptic curves,” said the IMU citation for the award. More...

The other three Fields Medalists are:

The Brazilian mathematician Arthur Avila (35) of the Paris Diderot University-Paris 7 and Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, who has been awarded “for his profound contributions to dynamical systems theory, which have changed the face of the field, using the powerful idea of renormalizations as a unifying principle”; the British mathematician Martin Hairer (39) of the University of Warwick “for his outstanding contributions to stochastic partial differential equations, and in particular for the creation of a theory of regularity structures for such equations”; and, the Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (37) of Stanford University “for her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their modulii spaces”.

The 36 year-old IIT Bombay alumnus Subhash Khot, an Indian-American theoretical computer scientist at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University has been chosen for the ICM2014 Rolf Nevanlinna Prize. The Nevanlinna Prize is awarded “for outstanding contributions in mathematical aspects of information sciences”.

“Subhash Khot's prescient definition of the "Unique Games" problem, and his leadership in the effort to understand its complexity and its pivotal role in the study of efficient approximation of optimization problems, have produced breakthroughs in algorithmic design and approximation hardness, and new exciting interactions between computational complexity, analysis and geometry,” the award citation said. More….

The Gauss Prize in Applied Mathematics is awarded “to honor scientists whose mathematical research has had an impact outside mathematics – either in technology, in business, or simply in people's everyday lives”.

The winner of the ICM2014 Gauss Prize is Stanley Osher (72) of University of California, Los Angeles, who has been awarded the Prize “for his influential contributions to several fields in applied mathematics, and for far reaching inventions that have changed our conception of physical, perceptual and mathematical concepts, giving us new tools to apprehend the world.”

The Chern Medal is given “to an individual whose accomplishments warrant the highest level of recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of mathematics”.

The Chern Medal this time goes to the American algebraic geometer Phillip Griffiths (76) “for his groundbreaking and transformative development of transcendental methods in complex geometry, particularly his seminal work in Hodge theory and periods of algebraic varieties”.

Unlike the other awards, the Leelavati Prize is not given for achievements in mathematics research but for outstanding public outreach work in mathematics. Proposed by India, it was originally intended as a one-time award using the grant from the Norwegian Abel Foundation. Thanks to the efforts by Indian mathematicians in finding a sponsor to make it a regular affair, it has now been instituted as a recurring four-yearly award under the IMU charter to be given away at the closing ceremony of the ICM. The award is now being sponsored by Infosys, the Indian IT major.

The ICM2014 Leelavati Prize has been given to the Argentine Adrián Paenza (65) “for his decisive contributions to changing the mind of a whole country about the way it perceives mathematics in daily life, and in particular for his books, his TV programmes, and his unique gift of enthusiasm and passion in communicating the beauty and joy of mathematics”.

ICAR- Spearheading Tricolor Revolution in Agriculture

This year 29^th July was the momentous day for the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the agricultural scientists on the occasion of 86^th Foundation Day and ICAR Award Ceremony. In his inspiring, motivating and suggestive address, Prime Minister called upon agricultural scientists to work for making farming community more empowered and prosperous through new science and technology interventions. He reiterated that we must make adequate improvements in technology options in sync with fast changing climate scenario in different agro climatic zones. Emphasizing on the need for conservation and efficient use of water resources, he said ‘More Crop, Per Drop’ should be our mantra. Prime Minister was apprised of some of the key initiatives of ICAR primarily in the areas of climate resilience, natural resource management, input use efficiency, secondary agriculture and economic transformation of farming community through innovations and interventions.

The wide network of ICAR is functioning and synchronizing its array of activities to realize its mission, ‘harness power of science and education with a human touch for higher and sustainable agricultural production’. Indian agriculture being a monsoon dependent activity, late onset and deficient monsoon posed a serious challenge to farmers vis-à-vis food production of the country. Over 520 district level Contingency Plans under National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) developed and demonstrated at locations. Interface meetings were organized with state officials and other stakeholders for smooth implementation and mobilization of various inputs to the farmers. Facilitations were provided to ensure timely delivery of seeds to farmers of the short duration varieties of crops and contingent/alternate crops. Various measures of water harvesting at farms and efficient use of water were demonstrated to farmers along with organization of awareness camps to mitigate the climate adversity. Council has also prepared the climatic vulnerability atlas of the country to help develop a road map for sustained mitigation interventions. More thrust in being given to develop drought resistant, flood/water logging tolerant, salt tolerant, short duration varieties and multiple disease resistant varieties of major crops.

Technology led and knowledge driven innovations and interventions are spearheading the country towards tricolor revolution having significant increase in overall food production. This year, a record 263 million tonnes production of food grains and 269 million tonnes in horticultural produce ensured sustainable food and nutritional security for the countrymen. National level technology demonstration on pulse production in 6,000 villages along with use of improved varieties resulted in all time high production of 19.5 million tonnes. Continuous efforts to raise productivity of pulses from 750 to 1,000 kg per hectare are being made with horizontal expansion in area up to three million hectare by 2020. In oil seeds new varieties are being developed having high oil content and production potential. Oil palm has been recognized as an alternative and effective oil crop having potential oil yield of 3-4 tonnes per hectare. Tissue culture protocols for mass multiplication of oil palm have been developed to quickly raise its area.

In commercial crops, India emerged as second largest producer of cotton with production of 35.3 million bales during the year. New production, management and crop protection technologies, especially developed for Bt cotton, helped expansion of its area up to 90% of the cotton belt. In sugarcane, production reached to approximately 361 million tonnes with productivity peaking at 70 tonnes per hectare.

Recent advances in livestock production and management practices led to record production of 136 million tonnes of milk, which is highest in the world, as against nearly 128 million tonnes during 2012-13. In poultry, an impressive 70 billion eggs were produced gaining from scientific practices. Gramapriya and Vanaraja breeds of chicken have become most sought after breeds for backyard poultry due to their high performance under rural conditions. Improved breeds of quail, duck, turkey and guinea fowl were introduced and popularized to enhance the poultry basket of the country. This year, fish production reached to 9.45 million tonnes banking upon diversified fish farming system. Popular fish Rohu was improved through selection for better productivity gains.

Dissemination of user friendly technologies at ground level is undertaken by a wide network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) having direct interface with farmers. With the establishment of new KVKs during the year, now the number stands at 639 making it the largest network of technology assessment, refinement and transfer. As part of regional cooperation, the ICAR also organized ASEAN-India Farmers’ Exchange programme and also facilitated the study visit of Nigerian delegation that came to familiarize with Indian agricultural research and extension system in general and KVKs in particular. Under the Tribal Sub Plan, ICAR closely worked with tribal farmers to enhance their livelihood security in different parts of the country. Council also demonstrated technology-led agriculture innovation systems for improving livelihood security in 91 backward districts of the country to about 1.43 lakh poor farming families. Intensive efforts resulted in adoption of sea cage farming by families of Sidi African tribes, living on Veravel coast, Gujarat as a highly profitable vocation. Integrated farm interventions in Bali island of Sunderbans, West Bengal enhanced livelihood of the tribal residents. Location-specific integrated farming systems were designed for small and marginal farm households in different states with farmers’ participation.

Among some milestone achievements, contribution of the ICAR scientists in decoding of wheat genome is the most promising and latest one. As a part of the international consortium, Chromosome ‘2A’ was decoded helping identification of 1, 25,000 genes. The research got prominent coverage in the top international research journal ‘Science’ (18^th July, 2014). Under the ambitious programme of cloning of Murrah Buffaloes, a male calf named ‘Rajat’ was produced through the Hand-guided Cloning Technique. The new born calf is a clone of Proven Buffalo Bull (MU-4393) whose frozen semen was available in the institutional semen bank. The donor cell was taken from the frozen semen of this bull. Female cloned calves named ‘Lalima’ and ‘Purnima’ were produced by taking the donor cell from the ear of elite buffaloes.

To facilitate the advancement of genomics in the country, ‘ASHOKA’ (Advanced Supercomputing Hub for OMICS Knowledge in Agriculture) was dedicated to the nation which is a state-of–art facility, first of its kind devoted exclusively for Indian agricultural research. The supercomputing hub is poised to bridge the gap between genomic information and knowledge by utilizing statistical and computational sciences.

A step forward has been taken for securing India’s crop genetic diversity by joining the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV). India deposited 25 accessions of pigeon pea as ‘safety duplicates’ in the global gene bank on 9 April, 2014. The global gene bank is jointly maintained and managed by the Norway’s Department of Agriculture and the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) under the international Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).

Indian Council of Agricultural Research has geared up to face social-economic challenges before agriculture as a profession. Business partnership has been developed with companies for commercialization of technologies through AgrInnovate India Limited which is a registered company owned by DARE/ICAR. Seeds, farm implements & machinery, diagnostics & vaccines and value added products are the major areas identified for business enterprises. All out efforts are being made to raise profitability of agriculture for making it a really attractive occupation, especially for youth.

Food Processing Industries

Food Processing Sector forms an important segment of the Indian economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment and investment. The sector contributes 9.0 to 10.0 per cent of GDP in Agriculture and Manufacturing sector. During the last 5 years ending 2012-13, FPI sector has been growing at an Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) of around 8.6 per cent as compared to 3.8 per cent in Agriculture and 6.6 per cent in Manufacturing. In a developing economy like India, where growth with equity is a primary policy thrust, the optimum development of the food processing sector will contribute significantly in tackling several developmental concerns such as rural poverty, food security, food inflation, improved nutrition, prevention of wastage of food etc. By serving as a bridge between Agriculture and Manufacturing and by dealing with the basic needs of all Indian citizens-the assured supply of healthy and affordable food at all locations in the country, this sector has the potential to be a major driver in India’s growth in the coming years. A network of food testing labs is required to ensure compliance with food standards. There are 151 Food Testing Laboratories under the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for testing food products as per standards prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulation, 2011. The standards for imported food products are prescribed in Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011 & Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants Toxins and Residues) Regulation, 2011. Further, FSSAI is in the process of harmonizing the existing Indian Standards with Codex Alimentarius(International Food Standards). Food Safety Standards set up by EU countries, are based on risk assessment and all exporters are mandatorily complying with these standards for export of products which are administered through APEDA. Testing of such products is done in APEDA approved laboratories.