A chowkidar for state banks

Narendra Modi's many passionate election speeches last year and earlier this year were punctuated by a very colourful expression. "Send me to Delhi as your chowkidar and I will protect your wealth," he claimed. This was accompanied by another colourful expression: "Na khata hoon, na khane deta hoon" (I neither make money, nor do I allow others to make money).

We hope that at some stage Mr Modi starts applying these two of his many pre-election promises where they matter the most: government-owned banks.

Public-sector banks (PSBs) dominate the Indian financial sector. They hold the bulk of people's savings. They are the main source of loans to small businesses and large projects alike. They are vehicles for his ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana. They are also inefficient, poorly governed and beset by largescale corruption.

In May, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) assessed wilful defaults worth Rs 70,300 crore in 400 PSB loan accounts. They also estimated that over the past seven years, there were fresh bad loans worth Rs 4.95 lakh crore in the PSBs - while during the same period, these banks wrote off bad debts worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) and bad loans in these banks had increased more than three times to Rs 1.64 lakh crore on March 31, 2013, from Rs 39,000 crore on March 31, 2008.

Thousands of crores of write-offs are happening without accountability. Spectacular defaults such as Deccan Chronicle and Kingfisher Airlines have led to no action against defaulters or against the senior bank officials and chairmen who allowed the loans to go far beyond enforceable collateral. This is a huge scandal, which should get the chowkidar worried, because the reasons for such massive bad loans and write-offs are deep-seated. Forget about maximum governance, even minimum governance in missing in the PSBs. And has been for decades.

In the 1970s, the government used the PSBs to mainly fund its various socially oriented loan schemes and public-sector projects, which often left a big hole in the banks' books. Throughout this period, private-sector companies also relied on government-owned banks and financial institutions for loans. Since the lenders insisted that promoters bring in substantial amounts of cash, borrowers would inflate the cost project and siphon off the money.

Therefore, contrary to all prudent norms, projects were more than fully funded by government banks, with most promoters having no skin in the game. Naturally, many projects turned sick while the promoters enriched themselves. Bankruptcy laws were weak. Nothing could curb the corrupt nexus between PSBs and their defaulting borrowers. When such poor lending weakened the banks, the government would step in and "recapitalise" them for the game to continue.

From the mid-1990s, amid the euphoria of economic liberalisation, Indian businesses expanded their capacities rapidly with the help of loans from PSBs and so the inherent weakness of the government banking system got magnified manifold. By 2001-2002, bad loans had reached an alarming 13 per cent of advances.

After 30 years of unaccountable lending, banks started complaining that they need tougher laws to enforce collaterals. In response, the government created the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (Sarfaesi) of 2002, designed to help banks in the recovery of bad loans.

One of the key provisions of the Act is for banks to be able to auction the assets of defaulting borrowers. But notice that even after getting a tougher law, banks have not been able to claw back much money from Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher or the Reddy brothers of Deccan Chronicle. The answer is obvious: bank officials have lent money without adequate collateral, as part of their nexus with promoters. Yet neither the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) nor the finance ministry is questioning the officials or directors involved.

Indeed State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, in an interview with the Financial Times last week, has called for a shake-up in the regulatory system and asked for tougher rules for defaulters, as well as "a proper bankruptcy law to help get orderly resolution of [bad] assets".

That is a smokescreen. Working with the same set of laws, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank have negligible bad loans. Why? The real issue is corruption in various forms, starting with how bank chairmen are appointed.

Appointment of PSB chairmen is an elaborate process. It starts with intense lobbying by various senior bankers. Finance-ministry bureaucrats play favourites. Selection is often influenced by quid pro quo - a promise to be pliant and sanction certain loans that are bound to go bad. The RBI usually rubber-stamps this selection process.

Who will go after a chairman when he enjoys the ministry of finance's support and the RBI is hands-off?

Mr Modi has repeatedly talked about governance. The first step in governance of PSBs is to fix responsibility on their top brass for loans that have turned bad. Right now, accountability in the PSBs is a black hole despite the fact that banks have stringent credit-appraisal process.

Small businesses complain of onerous conditions imposed by banks before loans are sanctioned. Often banks arm-twist borrowers to buy some expensive insurance as an unwritten precondition. And yet loans worth tens of thousands of crores have gone bad - something that should happen only in exceptional situation, such as a natural disaster. A loan such as that of Kingfisher goes progressively bad, not overnight. What were banks doing at each stage that Vijay Mallya's collateral was falling short? Would they extend the same courtesy to a small borrower?

The fact is, borrowers have repeatedly siphoned off money from the banking system in connivance with bankers, no matter what kind of regulatory system and process we have had.

The previous prime ministers did not claim to be chowkidars. Mr Modi has. For the first time in 45 years, can taxpayers hope that accountability in the PSBs will be fixed?

Make for India, not just in India

he government’s policies have unwittingly tilted the balance in favour of innovating for the world rather than creating conditions that encourage innovations for India’s own needs

With a large engineering workforce and links with the English language, India already has some natural advantages in providing knowledge workers to global corporations. In addition, government policies that have made foreign investment increasingly easy, coupled with tax holidays in Special Economic Zones that only large corporations can afford to move into, have provided excellent incentives for setting up export-oriented captives in India.

In the last 10 years, the number of global research and development (R&D) captives in India has been progressively increasing. A recent study by Zinnov Consulting found that nearly half of the top 500 global R&D spenders have set up shop in India. These captives and their service providers together have created a globally exposed and competent workforce in India in addition to a new wealthy class of a few white collared professionals. The positive impact that this has made to the country is significant and real, even if it is limited to a small percentage of the population. To replicate this success in manufacturing seems a worthy objective, but with lessons from the past, we can and should aim higher.

Innovation has two beneficiaries — producers and consumers. For example, creating the light bulb was a profitable venture for Thomas Alva Edison but it also benefitted millions of consumers with the innovation.

Sharing value

In most cases, the knowledge workers seem to be pursuing problems of their employers in western countries. The output of their work often tends to be irrelevant in India. Thus in this increasingly interconnected world, one can effectively create islands of producers and consumers that are far removed from each other. The value created is shared by a few producers in India and a lot of consumers in western countries. The recent ‘Make in India’ campaign is trying to extend this trend into manufacturing from services.

There is a silver lining to this approach. While the output of what workers create is removed from the needs of their country of residence, the skills and capacity that they develop in the process are transferable. For example, workers from the very same pool, using similar tools and processes, created the first of its kind Unique Identification project in India. Aadhar aims to give a billion unique biometric IDs to Indian residents and has already achieved half of its target within a few years.

However, where government policies in attracting more FDI and in encouraging the Indian outsourcing industry have been a success, the track record in encouraging companies to innovate and make in India and for India has been poor. With a dismal rank in the ease of doing business index, there is a systemic advantage that existing businesses enjoy versus the problems that new innovative companies seeking to disrupt them have to face. However, improving the country’s rank on this well-established score doesn’t seem to be an important priority for the Indian government. Apart from the many sound bites, no concrete action is forthcoming.

 The track record in encouraging companies to make in India and for India has been poor 

The initiative of implementing a uniform Goods and Services Tax will do more to create an integrated domestic market than anything else. Equally important is to be able to move goods across state borders without being subjected to harassment.

However, an export-oriented manufacturing policy sidesteps this issue since the goods produced will mostly go out. Another key issue in India is a broken credit system that makes it difficult for new businesses to raise debt. The ‘Make in India’ initiative will even further tilt the balance in favour of large domestic firms that hog all credit and can also tap international markets or foreign firms that have better access to capital in their home country. These are barely two in a long list of reforms that India awaits.

Software as a service

We can already see examples that frustrate businesses trying to make for India in the software sector. The recent trend of delivering software as a service has proved to be an ideal solution for a capital-scarce country where consumers and small businesses are happier with a pay-as-you-go system rather than investing upfront for using software tools. However, the one thing that such businesses need — an ability to easily collect recurring payments online — is tedious in India. This makes it is easier for an Indian company to serve customers in the U.S. than in India. This is tragic, apart from being strange.

The collateral advantage of learning from exposure to western markets also comes with the inherent bias for creating products and services more relevant for the richer countries. Innovations perfected in India on that scale would also find relevance in emerging economies all over the world.

However, that is an unlikely scenario given the current policies we are pursuing. Right now, we are trying to encourage creation of figurative islands in India with a red carpet for setting up factories and exporting those goods. We have done that successfully in services and seen the limitations. A focus on ‘Make for India’ will spur ‘Make in India’ export-oriented businesses too but the reverse doesn’t happen automatically. We have the opportunity to get it right this time

Series of power project clearances for Uttarakhand

While, the Supreme Court continues its stay on 24 hydroelectric power projects in the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi Basins with an installed capacity of 3,065 MW, the Uttarakhand Government has shifted focus on getting clearances from the Centre for other projects across the State.

In a major step towards restarting work on stalled projects, work on the 5,600 MW Pancheshwar multipurpose project, which was stalled for over 18 years, started after the proposal to restart work was discussed during the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala, in August.

The proposed 5,600 MW dam is to be built on the Indo-Nepal border in Champawat district.

The 300-MW Lakhwar project, which is located in the Upper Yamuna River Basin in Dehradun district, is another project for which the State government has been striving to attain clearance. However, after being delayed under the Congress regime at the Centre, the project is set to attain final clearance after which the project work would begin.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said: “The investment clearance for the Lakhwar project is expected within two to three weeks after which we could begin construction work at the project site.”

The project had received clearance in 1986 when it was under Uttar Pradesh’s Irrigation Department. Work continued till about 1992. The project work was later transferred to the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL). A change in the authority undertaking the project required a new clearance, which is what the State Government was trying to seek.

The project work was stalled even after 30 per cent work was already complete.

Work on a project proposed on the Tons river – 660 MW Kishau multi-purpose dam – was caught in disputes which were recently resolved by the Centre. The Centre agreed to bear 90 percent cost of power component of the project. The Centre also dismissed Himachal’s demand of a 50 per cent share in the enhanced power that would be generated in the existing downstream projects due to the project.

In another development, the State government has proposed to restart work on the 600 MW Loharinag Pala HEP on the Bhagirathi river in Uttarkashi district. The project was scrapped in the year 2010. The State government has suggested for the project to be a joint venture between the State government and the NTPC Limited – the agency that was undertaking constructing of the project before it got scrapped.

Mr. Kumar said the Centre had not cleared the Loharinag Pala project for reconstruction but, talks were underway.

Clearance for the 300-MW Bawla Nandprayag project on the Alaknanda in Chamoli district would soon be attained, Mr. Kumar said, adding that public hearing had been conducted for the project and the locals had given their approval for it.

National Air Quality Index (AQI) launched

The Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar today launched ‘The National Air Quality Index’ (AQI) in New Delhi.Speaking on the occasion, Shri Javadekar outlined the AQI, as ‘One Number- One Colour-One Description’ for the common man to judge the air quality within his vicinity. The formulation of the index was a continuation of the initiatives under Swachh Bharat Mission envisioned by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi.

Elaborating further, the Minister stated that the index constituted part of the Government’s mission to introduce the culture of cleanliness. Institutional and infrastructural measures were being undertaken in order to ensure that the mandate of cleanliness was fulfilled across the country. As a part of the process, he mentioned that clean air would be a part of Peoples’ campaignto take up the issue in a mission mode. In order to widen the ambit of the culture of cleanliness, the Ministry proposed to discuss the issues concerned regarding quality of air with the Ministry of Human Resource Development in order to include this issue as part of the sensitizationprogramme in the course curriculum.

Under the new measurement process, Shri Javadekar stated that an effort had been made to include a comprehensive set of parameters. While the earlier measuring index was limited to three indicators, the current measurement index had been made quite comprehensive by the addition of five additional parameters. Under the current measurement of air quality, 8 parameters. The initiatives undertaken by the Ministry recently aimed at balancing environment and conservation and development.

Air pollution has been a matter of environmental and health concerns,particularly in urban areas. Central Pollution Control Board along with State Pollution Control Boards has been operating National Air Monitoring Program (NAMP) covering 240 cities of the country. In addition, continuous monitoring systems that provide data on near real-time basis are also installed in a few cities.

Traditionally, air quality status has been reported through voluminous data. Thus, it was important that information on air quality is put up in public domain in simple linguistic terms that is easily understood by a common person. Air Quality Index (AQI) is one such tool for effective dissemination of air quality information to people. An Expert Group comprising medical professionals, air quality experts, academia, advocacy groups, and SPCBs was constitutedand a technical study was awarded to IIT Kanpur. IIT Kanpur and the Expert Group recommended an AQI scheme.

There are six AQI categories, namely Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe.  The proposed AQI will consider eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3, and Pb) for which short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

Based on the measured ambient concentrations, corresponding standards and likely health impact, a sub-index is calculated for each of these pollutants. The worst sub-index reflects overall AQI. Associated likely health impacts for different AQI categories and pollutants have been also been suggested, with primary inputs from the medical expert members of the group.

India's participation in the development of Chahbahar port in Iran

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for the framework inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that is to be finalised by the Government of India with the Government of Iran.  This inter-Governmental MoU will have the following main elements:-          i.            An Indian Joint Venture (JV) company will lease two fully constructed berths in Chahbahar port’s Phase-I project for a period of ten years, which could be renewed by “mutual agreement”.        ii.            The JV company will invest US $ 85.21 million for equipping the two berths within 12 months as a container terminal and the second as a multi-purpose cargo terminal.       iii.            The Indian side will transfer ownership of the equipment to be provided through the investment to Iran’s port and Maritime Organisation (P&MO) without any payment at the end of the tenth year.      iv.            The Indian side can form a JV that could include one or more Iranian companies subject to the approval of the P&MO.         v.            The Indian and Iranian sides could enter into subsequent negotiations for participation in the construction, equipping and operating of terminals in Phase-II on BOT basis, subject to the Indian side’s satisfactory performance in Phase-I.      vi.            The Iranian side will make efforts to provide Free Trade Zone conditions and facilities at the port. The Cabinet also approved to constitute a JV or other appropriate Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) comprising the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and the Kandla Port Trust (KPT) and if required a local Iranian partner and/or an Indian private sector partner to serve as the vehicle for India’s participation in the development of the port.  Approval was also given for incurring annual revenue expenditure of US$ 22.95 million to support operational activities of the Indian JV. India’s presence at the Chahbahar port would give it a sea-land access route into Afghanistan through Iran’s eastern borders. Background Iran's Chahbahar port located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Iran's south-eastern coast is a port of great strategic utility for India. It lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India's western coast. From Chahbahar port using the existing Iranian road network, one can link up to Zaranj in Afghanistan which is at a distance of 883 km from the port and then using the Zaranj-Delaram road constructed by India in 2009, one can access Afghanistan's garland highway thereby establishing road access to four of the major cities of Afghanistan; Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. Approval for Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project Phase-1 The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project Phase-1 covering a length of 35.96 km at a total project cost of Rs. 10,773 crore.  The details are given below:-          i.            Phase-1 will cover a length of 35.96km along two corridors viz. North-South Corridor covering 15.42 km from APMC to Motera Stadium and East-West Corridor covering 20.54 km from Thaltej Gam to Vastral Gam.        ii.            Total project cost of Rs.10,773 crore with Govt. of India contribution of Rs. 1,990 crore in the form of equity and subordinate debt.       iii.            Project to be implemented by Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd., which will be converted into a 50:50 jointly owned company of the Government of India and Govt. of Gujarat.      iv.            Project to be covered under the legal framework of the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978; the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002; and the Railways Act, 1989, as amended from time to time. The proposed two alignments are expected to provide much needed connectivity to the commuters and would traverse through some of the densest and traffic congested areas of Ahmedabad. It will considerably reduce traffic congestion and will bring in fast, comfortable, safe, pollution-free and affordable mass transportation system for the people of Ahmedabad. This would in turn contribute to further development and prosperity of the area. Development and prosperity of Ahmedabad will also contribute to the prosperity and development of the nation. The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 6.3 million will be benefitted. Out of the total project cost of Rs.10,773 crore, the Government of India will contribute  Rs. 1,990 crore in the form of equity and subordinate debt. Background: Ahmedabad is the seventh largest metropolis in India and accounts for 12 percent of the population of Gujarat.  The region has witnessed a growth rate of 2.25 percent over the last decade. At present, Ahmedabad is the district headquarters and the High Court and many offices of the Central Government are also located there. The future forecast of population based on the projections done as a part of the Integrated Mobility Plan for the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Region, 2031 projects the population as 1.1 crore for the horizon year of 2043. About 70 percent of this population will be residing in the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Corporation (AMC) area. Bus augmentation will not be able to cater to the increased public transit load and passengers will shift to private modes which is already evident from the high vehicle ownership trend in the region. This would not only aggravate congestion on the streets but also increase pollution. Hence, a Metro Rail System in Ahmedabad has become essential.

Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security for All – A priority Agenda for the Nation

From a grain deficit country to a surplus producer of wheat and rice within a span of four decades or so, India notwithstanding its huge population has managed to feed them without resorting to imports.

As the World Food Day is being celebrated today, it would be fascinating to trace incredible journey of India from a food importing country to a surplus one within a span of around four decades.

Since independence from the British-rule in 1947, India, having the second biggest population in the world, faced two key economic challenges: achieving food security and alleviating poverty.

In a country which relies predominantly on agriculture, the focus was to promote growth in agricultural sector to meet both of these challenges. Agricultural promotion programmes were initiated to increase food production for feeding close to 30 crore people in the 1950s. It was the time (1950s and 60’s) when India faced huge food shortage and had to receive food under PL 480, a programme initiated by the United States for providing assistance to countries.

Dependence on agricultural imports till early 1960s convinced planners that India's growing population, as well as concerns about national independence, security, and political stability, required self-sufficiency in food production. This led to formulation of measures such as agricultural improvement called the Green Revolution, the public distribution system and price supports system for farmers

From a net importer of food since 1950s, India has transformed itself in the production of food grains (mainly rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses) during the last few decades. From a mere 50 million tonne of annual food grain production in 1950s, India last year (2013-14) has produced an all-time record 264 million tonne of food grains, mainly attributed to the significant jump in rice and wheat output.

In the last few years, India has also emerged as the world’s biggest exporters of rice after shipping more than 10 million tonne of grain annually.

The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation under the 'Green Revolution' initiative in late 1960s resulted in rapid expansion of agricultural land and boost in agricultural production. The Green Revolution continued with the policy of expanding cultivable land. The striking feature of green revolution was taking up of double-cropping which implies planting two crops per year on the same agricultural land.

The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture played a crucial role in the Green Revolution era of the late 1960s. ICAR developed new strains of high yield value seeds, mainly wheat and rice, millet and corn. The most noteworthy seed was the K68 variety for wheat which pushed up food grain production significantly during the subsequent decade.

The ‘Green Revolution’ resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tons during 1978-79.  This established India as one of the world's biggest agricultural producers. No other country in the world which attempted the Green Revolution recorded such levels of success. India also became an exporter of food grains during the same time.

Public Distribution System (PDS): a key instrument in poverty alleviation

Public Distribution of essential commodities had been in existence in India since independence. PDS, with its focus on distribution of foodgrains in urban scarcity areas, had emanated from the critical food shortages of the 1960s. The distribution of subsidised foodgrains through PDS had substantially contributed to the containment of rise in foodgrains prices and ensured access of food to urban consumers. As the national agricultural production had grown in the aftermath of Green Revolution, the outreach of PDS was extended to tribal blocks and areas of high incidence of poverty in the 1970s and 1980s.

PDS, till 1992, was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target. The Revamped Public Distribution System was launched in June 1992 in 1775 blocks throughout the country. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) was introduced with effect from June, 1997.

The scheme when introduced, was intended to benefit about 6 crore poor families, for whom a quantity of about 7.2 million tonne of food grains was earmarked annually. TPDS also envisaged subsidized distribution of food grains to poor families -- classified in India as Below Poverty Line, Above Poverty and poorest of poor families identified as Antyodaya Anna Yojana - AAY.

Since 1997, the scale of issue of the BPL families has been gradually increased from 10 kg to 35 kg. per family per month. The quantum of allocation of foodgrains to BPL families was increased from 10 kg to 20 kg per family per month with effect from 1st April, 2000. The allocation of foodgrains for the BPL families was further increased from 20 kg. to 25 kg. per family per month with effect from July, 2001. 

Initially, the Antyodaya families were provided 25 kg of food grains per family per month at the time of launch of the scheme in December, 2000. The scale of issue of foodgrains under APL, BPL and AAY has been revised to 35 kg per family from the beginning of fiscal year 2002-3 with a view to enhancing the food security at the household level.

The central issue price for rice to be distributed under TPDS for BPL and APL families in the states was fixed at Rs 5.65 and Rs 8.3 per kg respectively while in the case of wheat it had been fixed at Rs 4.15 and Rs 6.10 per kg respectively. 

The Antyodaya families get the rice and wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 a kg respectively. However the state governments have prerogatives to provide cheaper foodgrains below the central issue price under TPDS by contributing their own financial resources.

The government currently allocates grain to 6.52 crore BPL families besides 2.43 crore chronic-poverty-affected families under the Antyodaya families under TPDS. The TPDS also covers around 8 crore APL families

For ensuring uninterrupted supplies of foodgrains mostly consisting of wheat and rice and ensuring sufficient buffer stocks, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was setup under an act in 1964. The key objective of the FCI was to also ensure effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers through providing Minimum 

Support Price (MSP) to farmers. Since its inception, FCI has played a significant role in India's success in transforming the crisis management oriented food security into a stable security system.

However since last few years, the government was contemplating providing legal status to the food security to large mass of people. After debate and deliberations in and outside parliament, the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 was passed last year. Under the NFSA, each person in identified households will get the 5 kg of grain a month at heavily subsidised prices — Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 for wheat and Rs 1 for coarse grains.

NFSA will expand the base of TPDS to around 84 crore population from the current coverage of around 48 crore population. The government is expected to incur an expenditure of more than Rs 1.2 lakh crore annually after NFSA is rolled out nationally.

Meanwhile, the government has asked states to roll out NFSA by April, 2015. Till now eleven states and union territories – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh have so far implemented the Act — some of them fully and others partially.

However, many of the larger states, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, with a substantial poor population, have yet to take the plunge.

“We want whole supply chain management of Foodgrains under NFSA to be digitized and many states have been rather slow in their work,” a food minister Ram Vilas Pawan said.

Due to increase in Foodgrains production and procurement by FCI, the government agencies have huge foodgrain stocks which far exceed the requirement. On October 1^st this year FCI along with state government owned agencies had a grain stocks of more than 52.3 million tonne (32.2 million tonne wheat and 20.1 million of rice). These huge grains stocks are against buffer stocks and strategic reserve norms of 21.2 million tonne.

“Huge grains stocks have not only helped uninterrupted supplies of grains to TPDS, it has also ensured that domestic prices remain stable,” Shri Paswan said.

Impact on poverty reduction:

As far as India is concerned, it has taken a substantial leap on the Global Hunger Index. According to a recent report, India has gone up to the 55th position as compared to last year's 63rd. This means that there has been significantly lesser number of hungry and malnourished people across the country. The credit goes to the several government programmes including TPDS that were rolled out to tackle malnutrition.

Experts say that the government must in collaboration with states plug loopholes in the TPDS so that grains reach the targeted population. Computerization of TPDS and beneficiaries lists have been going on a fast pace.

The government at present has its task cut out for creating huge modern infrastructure for storing and transporting food grains. More than 15 million ton of food grains storage capacity would have to be added during next few years. For saving food grains from vagaries of weather, the government needs to take up food grains storage creation in a mission mode so that access to the food grains could be improved. Better stocks management would also lead to keeping prices under control and ensure smooth supply of grain under NFSA.

Nirbhay all set to take off today

The range of the long-range subsonic missile missile, which can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, can be extended up to 1,000 km. The low-altitude-flying Nirbhay has high manoeuvring capability and will follow various pre-commanded way points during the development trial on Friday.

The stage is set for the test-firing of India’s long-range (800 km) subsonic missile ‘Nirbhay’ (Fearless) on Friday from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) here.

This will be the second flight trial of the country’s first long-range subsonic cruise missile, as its maiden experiment was terminated midway after it deviated from the trajectory in March last year.

The range of the missile, which can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, can be extended up to 1,000 km. Meanwhile, missile technologists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) completed pre-launch checks and range integration with Nirbhay on Thursday. They also fuelled the missile and charged the battery, besides carrying out helicopter sorties to check the effectiveness of a network of radars, telemetry stations and electro-optical tracking systems.

People living within the radius of 1 km of the ITR have been advised to remain indoors till the completion of the launch window time on Friday. After taking off, the missile’s first stage booster will get separated, and it will fly like aircraft with wings getting deployed. Also, the turbo prop engine will be ignited to give thrust to the missile, as it cruises at a speed of 0.7 mach. The low-altitude-flying Nirbhay has high manoeuvring capability and will follow various pre-commanded way points during the development trial on Friday.

A unique feature of Nirbhay is that it can search its targets after the launch and take them out. A DRDO official said Nirbhay would make significant addition to India’s strategic deterrence capability. DRDO is also planning to develop land, air, ship and underwater variants of the missile, he added.