Out of my mind: Break away

In four days, we will know whether Scotland will vote for independence or to stay within the United Kingdom. It is a historic event. The entire debate has been conducted in a civilised manner. There has been little intimidation or violence except for trolls on Twitter and rotten eggs thrown occasionally.

The United Kingdom is not a federation, nor is it strictly a nation-state. It is a kingdom united under a single crown. Wales was conquered by the English in the 13th Century. When Elizabeth the First died, leaving no heirs, James, the King of the Scots, was invited to take over the throne of England.

In 1707, a union was negotiated between Scotland and England. By then, Ireland had also been conquered, so the United Kingdom of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland was born. It remained one of the most centralised polities until the late 20th Century. But Scotland had a special status. It had its own law and courts, its education system and its Church which did not owe allegiance to the Anglican Church. The Scots became a vital part of the Empire and integrated in the Union while keeping their identity distinct.

It was the advent of Margaret Thatcher which caused the first rupture. Her party failed to win a single of the 60-odd seats in Scotland in 1987. To this was added the piloting of the poll tax (a community charge) in Scotland before its introduction in England. The poll tax was Mrs Thatcher’s nemesis. It brought her down but it also gave an impetus to the Scots to ask why should they be governed by a party which they had rejected. A popular debate began which then became the Scottish Convention. All UK political parties except the Conservatives joined it along with many from the civil society.

Scotland won devolution when Labour came to power in 1997. It had freedom to decide policy in education and health. It had its own separate spending limits since the mid-Seventies. Now it had limited power to change the tax rate. Devolution was to counter the Scottish nationalist movement. Scotland was given its own Parliament. Soon, Wales followed and Northern Ireland as well. The UK became a model for devolution for the rest of Europe where there were regional nationalisms — the Basques and the Catalans in Spain, for example.

Yet, as in many colonies, conceding limited demands did not satisfy the Scots. The Scottish Nationalist Party defeated Labour Party and came to power on its own. Alex Salmond, its populist leader, has run a campaign for independence from its initial hopelessnessto its current position of smelling victory. The Referendum was conceded by David Cameron as his party is still absent from Scotland. On Thursday, the vote will be cast. Until a fortnight ago, the No Vote, which meant staying in the Union, was leading by seven to ten points. Now it is neck and neck. If the outcome is a narrow margin in favour of No, the battle will not end. If it is narrowly for Yes, the game is over. A thousand-year history will be rewritten. Even so, it has been a unique experiment. A peaceful rupture between two nations long united though never so much as to lose their separate identities. It is an example for the world to follow. During the last 25 years, two large federations have broken up. The Soviet Union dissolved into separate nations. Yugoslavia, which many considered the ideal Socialist country, dissolved in an ethnic war with inhuman cruelties. In our neighbourhood, Bangladesh is one reminder and the tragedy of Sri Lanka’s civil war another that if you neglect a region or marginalise a community, unpleasant consequences follow. A nation survives as long as it is a union of the willing. The past is no more a guarantee of solidarity than a rosy future. The past is most often an issue of disagreement when differences become unbearable. Despite proclaiming the virtue of unity in diversity, India has to be on its guard. The central fissure has not been along religious lines. It has been regional, on the borders of India, be it the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab or even Tamil Nadu. Take nothing for granted.

India has second-highest number of child marriages: Unicef

India had the highest number of unregistered children under age five between 2000 and 2012 and the second-highest number of child marriages, according to a U.N. report which said the country still needs to improve immunisation coverage and stop gender-based sex selection.



The report “Improving Children’s Lives, Transforming the Future — 25 years of child rights in South Asia” by the United Nations’ children agency, Unicef, analyses the progress made over the last quarter century on key issues that directly affect the lives of children in the region.



At 71 million, India had the largest number of children under the age of five whose births were not registered between 2000-2012.



The report said that birth registration levels in South Asia have increased since 2000, but progress has been slow.



India, along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, has been recording “significant improvements” in birth registration but about 100 million children in the region are still not registered at birth.



India has the greatest disparity between the poorest and richest households, with children in the poorest households being three times less likely to be registered than those in the richest.



Religion also appears to play a role as Muslims have the lowest level of birth registration in India (39 per cent) followed by Hindus (40 per cent) while the Jains have the highest (87 per cent).



46% of South Asian girls marry by 18



Almost half of all girls in South Asia marry before the age of 18. One in five girls are married before the age of 15. These are the highest rates in the world.



“These figures confirm that child marriage is rooted in gender norms and in expectations about the value and roles of girls,” the report added.



In India, 43 per cent of women aged 20-24 were first married by the age of 18 between 2005-2013. Girls with no education are 5.5 times more likely to marry or enter into union as those with at least 10 years of education.



On gender-biased sex selection, the report said the practice is more prevalent in the west and northwest part of the country. The child sex ratio, which is the number of girls per 1,000 boys, among children aged 0-4 in India was 924.



On immunisation coverage, it said some countries in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, have made significant improvements since 1990 but coverage is still far too low in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.



The report was released to commemorate 25 years since the 1989 U.N. adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. It pointed to some improvements over the past two decades as South Asian government adopted policies to protect child rights.



The prevalence of children with stunted growth in the region dropped from more than 60 per cent in 1990 to 38 per cent in 2012 as nutrition improved, the report said. Still, the report said regional averages mask disparities, with stunting far more pervasive among children from poor families, rural areas and oppressed ethnicities.



It said more than 2 million South Asian children die before their fifth birthday of preventable causes, and nearly 38 per cent of children have chronic malnutrition.

Vice President Inaugurates International Seminar on ‘Europe and Emerging Asia’ Organized by University of Calcutta

Following is the text of the inaugural address by the Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari at the “International Seminar on ‘Europe and Emerging Asia’ organized by Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta” in Kolkata (West Bengal) today :  “I thank the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta, for inviting me today to inaugurate this seminar and commend the organizers for choosing a weighty and relevant theme. The distinguished participants would perhaps have noted this city’s own linkages to Europe over the past three centuries. Some facts bear reiteration. The Eurasian landmass, historically considered as two continents, represents over 60% of the world`s population, 52% of the global GDP and close to 70% of world trade. The story of their interaction has deep roots in recorded history. Europe was for long familiar with Asian lands, Asian military prowess and grandeur of Asian empires, Asian manufactures, and expensive Asian exotica. It was an acquaintance of unequals. The next phase of the relationship commenced around the year 1500 when the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese and the opening of the sea route to India and the East was considered important enough to make an addition to the regal titles of the king of Portugal: ‘Lord of the conquest, navigation and commerce of India, Ethiopia, Arabia and Persia’. The principal objective at that stage was disruption of the monopoly of spice trade in Asian hands. In subsequent centuries, other European powers joined the race for Asian trade; this continued till the end of the 18th century when naked colonialism took over from trading companies. The primacy of the trading objective nevertheless remained intact and political power was used ‘with unwavering resolution and fatal success to strangle competition emanating from the manufacturing sector’, as Romesh Chander Dutt put it in his classic work on economic history of the early British period. Political incapacity together with social and intellectual immobility did the rest. The global political balance began to change in the second half of the 20th century and with it the economic imbalance inherited from the age of imperialism. In recent decades, both Asia and Europe have undergone momentous political, economic and social changes. The process continues and new equations are emerging in economics and strategy. The direction and pace of these developments would be critical determinants in shaping the future. It is, therefore, important that we understand better the internal and external dynamics in the two continents, the challenges and opportunities that confront them, and together chart a viable course of mutually beneficial cooperation not just for Asia and Europe, but for the entire world. II The historian Niall Ferguson has identified six qualities that contributed to the rise of the West, namely competition, science, property rights, medicine, consumer society and work ethic. These are no longer a monopoly of the West and have been imbibed in varying measure by many societies in Asia. The Asian success models – Japan, China, the Asian Tigers, India in some measure, demonstrate this clearly. According to an Asian Development Bank study, if Asia’s current rate of economic growth continues, by 2050, it would account for around half of the global product output, trade and investment. The study shows that by mid-century, Asia can match per capita income enjoyed by the Europeans today and make about three billion people affluent by current standards. If these trends continue, Asia`s political influence in regional and global affairs would increase and it would regain the dominant economic position it held some 250 years ago, before the industrial revolution. The 19th century was the century of Europe and the 20th became the American century. Some believe that the 21st could be the ‘Asian Century.’ This, at best, could be work in progress; definitive labels in any case are not likely to be helpful in the era of globalization. This audience knows too well the complexities that characterize the local and regional scenes in our two continents. Given Asia’s diversity and complexity, its rise also opens up potential risks which, if not mitigated in time, can affect social cohesiveness thereby undermine the transformational processes. The continent needs to sustain high growth rates, address widening inequities, mitigate environmental degradation due to global warming and climate change, compete for finite natural resources, such as energy, water, fertile land etc. and ensure food security. Most Asian countries also face the overarching challenge of governance and institutional capacity. These challenges are not mutually exclusive. They impact one another and can increase existing tensions, unrest, and conflicts, even create new flashpoints within and across Asia, which may threaten its growth, stability, and security. The interdependence among rising and traditional powers, regional and global powers, and among rising powers themselves, may also hasten or delay in the ushering of the Asian century. Nevertheless, the economic dynamism of Asia is bringing the economic hegemony of the West to an end. It has created some anxiety in the West, including in Europe, about the political implications of the loss of economic dominance. There is apprehension that Europe is going to wind up on the loser`s side of globalization. Europe’s problems of economic slowdown, high unemployment, a debt crisis, and financial paralysis gives rise to the view that the continent’s future is dim, if urgent correctives are not forthcoming. The demographic crisis aggravates it. A declining population and reduction in a productive work force can in the long term present challenges. Add to this Europe’s energy dependency, lack of natural resources and declining military clout. European societies have not been very successful in integrating their minority groups and immigrants whose presence in the workforce is seen as essential. Whether Europe can resolve these deficiencies and bring forth a collective approach to the rest of the world remains to be seen. Despite these, Europe and particularly the European Union remains an important player in global affairs. The EU is the largest economy and the largest trading block in the world. Its 28 members account for 16% of world imports and exports. The EU is the world’s largest trader of manufactured goods and services. It ranks first in both inbound and outbound international investments. UK, France and Germany also wield significant political and military clout in international affairs, the first two being permanent members of the UN Security Council. The NATO, backed by US military might, remains world’s most powerful politico-military alliance. Thus located, Europe and an emerging Asia are not necessarily involved in a zero-sum game. The relationship between the two continents in the 21st Century will have to be one of an equal partnership for global peace, security and prosperity. Asia needs technology and specialized skills; Europe needs markets, workforce and investments. Getting its relations right with the diverse and dynamic Asian region is one of the major challenges facing Europe. Towards this end, Europe is already deepening its strategic partnerships with China, India and Japan and seeking to develop new partnership and free trade agreements with South Korea and with other south-east Asian countries besides intensifying its cooperation with regional groupings in Asia. In these, development cooperation is high on the European agenda. Asia-Europe economic interdependence has grown. With total Asia-Europe trade in 2012 estimated at 1.37 trillion Euros, Asia has become the European Union’s main trading partner, accounting for one-third of total trade. More than one-quarter of European investments are destined for Asia while Asian multinational corporations are seeking out business deals in Europe. European exports to Asia and investments in the region are critical in ensuring a sustainable European economic recovery while European Union’s market attracts goods, investments and people from across the world, helping Asian countries to maintain growth and development. European technology is much sought after across Asia. Discussions on security issues are an important part of the political dialogue between Asia and Europe, with leaders of the two continents regularly exchanging views on regional and global flashpoints. Apprehension about the dangerous political and security fault lines that run across the Asian continent and the absence of a robust security architecture has encouraged several Asian countries to take a closer look at Europe’s experience in ensuring peace, lessening tensions and managing conflicts. India and EU are two of the world’s largest democracies that share common values. India is therefore committed to working with the European Union as a reliable partner to contribute to world peace, stability and security. III It goes without saying that the world today is an interdependent one. Nations cannot live in isolation. Interaction and cooperation is a dire necessity. Equity and equitable benefit is a pre-requisite for such cooperation. This in fact has been the overarching theme of the Asia-Europe (ASEM) meetings, an informal dialogue of 49 states and 2 organizations of Asia and Europe which addresses political, economic and cultural issues, with the objective of strengthening the relationship between our two regions, in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership. It is broadly representative of many of the issues on the bilateral agenda of the participants. Amidst the questions of concern on ASEM’s agenda, those pertaining to Non-Traditional Security Challenges deserve particular attention. The documents list terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and cyber crimes amongst them along with climate change, cooperation in disaster risk reduction, food, water and energy security. A more specific threat is of pandemics. The ambit of these challenges can perhaps be enlarged to cover all threats to human security that allows people to exercise their options and choices safely and freely with regard to developmental goals. Such an approach transcends national frontiers and suggests that solutions have to be sought in a multilateral framework of equals and have to be equitable. It goes beyond governmental efforts, involve civil society and eventually become a movement for justice. There are other ingredients of human security that have political overtones that impede or prevent governmental solutions. I refer to human freedoms and human rights. Prescriptive models are unlikely to be welcomed. However, the continents of Asia and Europe cover between them a significant portion of human history and can come forth with models of human dignity and security that can be suggested to all societies within the framework of their own commitments to contemporary international norms. Beyond this, a set of questions need to be addressed: ·                    How does a largely cohesive Europe engage effectively with a diverse Asian continent in which highly industrialized developed countries coexist with some of the least developed countries on one hand and emerging giants are placed with small island developing states on the other, each having different, and at time conflicting, priorities and positions on issues such climate change, trade, disarmament, social affairs etc? ·                    How will Europe evolve if the desperately required economic recovery takes longer than expected and what will be the impact on its engagement with Asia? ·                    What will be the effect of tensions on Europe’s borders with Russia and European dependence on Russian energy supplies? ·                    What could be the consequences for regional and global security of the territorial disputes in Asia-Pacific region? ·                    How will the ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy of the United States impact both the continents? In the final analysis, the quest for intellectual and policy responses to emerging challenges is unending. For this reason, conclaves such as today’s remain integral to the effort. I wish you all success in your deliberations. I thank Professor Suranjan Das for inviting me. ”

3% quota must for disabled in all govt jobs including IAS: SC

The Supreme Court today held that three percent reservation for differently-abled persons be given in all category of government jobs including in appointments and promotions to IAS while pulling up the Centre for "frustrating" the very purpose of empowering legislation by opposing it.
A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha said the disabled persons have not got their due in the last 19 years after framing of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation)  Act, which was passed in 1995.
Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, appearing for the Centre, contended that reservation cannot be given in case of promotion to Group A and Group B officers category as it is not a case of appointment.
The bench, however, observed that appointment is a broader concept and the Centre is giving a narrow interpretation of it.
"You are frustating the very reservation policy and cause of class for which Parliament passed the law," the bench said.
"For the last 19 years it is not being implemented and the class, for which the legislation was made, had not got benefited as it should have," the bench said.
The court dismissed the petition of Centre challenging order of Bombay High Court which had directed the Centre and the Union Public Service Commission to implement a 3 percent quota in direct recruitments and promotions for the disabled in the IAS.

India is ranked 14th in Creative Productivity Index (CPI)

Singapore: India is ranked 14th out of 24 countries in the Creative Productivity Index (CPI), reflecting the need for further investments in physical infrastructure and human capital, says a joint report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Economist Intelligence Unit today.
Despite recent productivity gains, India still lags behind in terms of output, with a low agriculture productivity indicating the need for further rural innovations, the report said.
The report also highlighted several challenges, including labour laws, lower rate of urbanisation considering the years of schooling, and technical and vocational enrolment of students in secondary school.
It stressed on the need to have larger productivity gains in the agricultural sector.
Overall, India’s solid pool of skilled, English-speaking graduates would aid in expansion of the country’s services sector, said the report.
ADB also highlighted “considerable barriers to doing business and high tariffs impeding trade” in India in another study on knowledge-based economy.
“The limited trade diversification in terms of both a narrow export basket and geographic trade partners has constrained progress in international markets,” said ADB in the study “Innovative Asia: Advancing the Knowledge-based Economy”.
India has built pockets of knowledge-based growth, but have not yet translated this into a broader economic model, said the report.
Meanwhile, the CPI ranked Japan and South Korea most efficient Asia Pacific countries at turning creative inputs into tangible innovations.
Myanmar, Pakistan and Cambodia were rated as the least efficient innovators.
“As countries seek to innovate to avoid middle-income traps, all governments, especially those with limited resources, need to be sure that their investments boost both efficiency and productivity, benefiting their economies and people, and move to a knowledge-based economy,” said Bindu N Lohani, vice president for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development at ADB.

VVPAT used first time in Maharashtra

The election commission will use the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on experimental basis for the first time in the Maharashtra state assembly elections to be held on October 15.
According to state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Nitin Gadre, the VVPAT will be used to avoid any conflict possibly arising over the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). The VVPAT will be used in the 13 assembly constituencies.
According to Mr. Gadre, an EVM will have a small attachment to it which after pressing the button for a desired candidate, will print that name on a paper. "It will be stored inside the machine and can be used in case of any controversy over the final result from that constituency," he said, in a press conference held in Mumbai after the announcement of state poll dates.
Mr. Gadre said that the technique has previously been used in Karnataka and some other places.
Referring to the controversy that erupted during the Lok Sabha polls, over the deleted names of voters from electoral roll, Mr. Gadre said that only 1 lakh voters out of deleted 26 lakh voters have applied for the re-inclusion of their names.
"We sent 26 lakh letters along with voter registration forms after the general elections," he said, adding that new voters can still register till September 17.

Catalyse, don’t control,pc

The future of India’s 64-year-old Planning Commission is a hot topic. The prime minister has declared it dead. He says the country needs another institution, with new capabilities and a new orientation, to set the country in a new direction. What should the shape of this institution be? Its name? He has invited suggestions from the people of India.

A small group within the last Planning Commission (which demitted office in June 2014) had looked around the world for insights that India could apply to a new institution, to processes that other countries are using and have used to accelerate the growth of industry, jobs and infrastructure.

These countries range from Japan in the 1960s and ’70s to Korea in the ’80s and China in the ’90s and early 2000s. They also include the US today, especially the state of California, an entrepreneurial state that is the antithesis of the Soviet Union, from which India adopted the architecture of its central planning systems. Californians have felt an urgent need to improve public infrastructure, such as education, urban and transport infrastructure and the management of water resources. A bipartisan “Think Long Commission” examined the planning practices of other countries, including China, to devise a structure to guide the development of California.

The new institution replacing the Planning Commission cannot carry on trying to coordinate the states and industry with a control mindset and with the (diminishing) authority to allocate money as its source of power. It must play a catalytic role instead. It must learn to deploy processes that spur a system of independent actors — states, private enterprises, civil society — to take a course that will benefit the nation.

A systematic analysis of what India needs today and international best practices suggests that four functions must be the core of the new institution to catalyse development and growth.

One, scenario planning must supplement, perhaps even substitute, five-year resource allocation plans. Scenario planning, based on disciplines of systems thinking, enables all forces, including non-quantifiable social and political forces, to be included in an analysis of the economy. Scenarios are dynamic in the guidance they provide. They are not predictive of precise outcomes but explain the actions stakeholders should take to produce the outcomes they desire.

Two, platforms must be created to connect stakeholders so that they can learn from and coordinate with each other. For example, the states must meet each other in well-designed and well-conducted meetings, in which the Centre plays the role of active facilitator rather than issuer of money and instructions. Similarly, platforms must be created for inter-city learning and for the exchange of ideas between states and regions on how industrial relations can be improved, therebyenhancing the productivity of all enterprises in the region. Three, the best methods for systematically turning contention among stakeholders into collaboration, and confusion into coordination must be injected into the system. Such methods, introduced through the Total Quality Movement, were the accelerators of Japan’s rapid development. Such methods for stakeholder collaboration are institutionalised in Germany and Sweden, and explain the ability of these countries to steer through economic crises and maintain strong manufacturing industries even with high wages and strong currencies. Malaysia’s Pemandu methodology and Germany’s Capacity Works methodology, both for large-scale sectoral improvement with the systematic involvement of all stakeholders, were brought into India recently by the India Backbone Implementation Network, an innovative solution conceived by the Planning Commission. It is interesting to note that even in China, citizen participation in city planning has been introduced. And China has disseminated disciplines of project planning across the country. Four, the new institution for reforming systems must be a node that induces faster learning and implementation in a large network of thinking and acting institutions. It need not be — must not be — a large bunch of experts in the domains in which the country needs to improve. The solutions need not come from the expertise within the nodal institution. They will be more robust when they come from the intelligence of the entire system, in which there will be many “experts”, some with theoretical knowledge and some with practical knowledge. The role of the new institution must be to stimulate the use of this knowledge to address the challenges of the country. Its expertise must be in the design and facilitation of processes required for large “learning enterprises”. These are the four core architectural requirements for an institution to accelerate the advance of the Indian flotilla of states, private enterprises and citizens. The new institution may perform other functions too. However, it must not drift from its core purpose, which is to “guide” the progress of the country and to “catalyse” faster learning, better coordination and faster implementation. This is what an aspirational, richly diverse and democratic India needs in a Planning Commission replacement. States, Central ministries and others should go to this institution not because it has the power to give them money (which it will not) or because it has the authority to withhold and grant permissions (which it should not have, this being the prerogative of the executive). They should respect the institution because they value its foresight and the guidance it gives them for improving their own strategies and building capabilities.