Abe secures big win in Japan snap polls amid low turnout

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition has secured a big election win on Sunday, but feeble turnout could weaken his claim of a mandate for policies including reflationary steps to revive the economy.

Most media exit polls showed Abe's Liberal Democratic Partyand its junior partner, the Komeito party, winning more than 317 seats in the 475-member lower house, enough to maintain its "super-majority" that smoothes parliamentary business.

But many voters, doubtful both of the premier's "Abenomics" strategy to end deflation and generate growth and the opposition's ability to come up with a better plan, stayed at home, putting turnout on track for a record low, interim figures showed. Turnout had already hit a post-war record low of 59.3 per cent in the 2012 poll that returned Abe to power for a rare second term on pledges to reboot an economy plagued by deflation and an ageing, shrinking population.

Hopes for Abe's "Three Arrows" of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms such as deregulation were tarnished after the economy slipped into recession in the third quarter following an April sales tax rise. Recent data suggest any rebound is fragile.

Abe decided last month to put off a second tax hike to 10 per cent until April 2017, raising concerns about how Japan will curb its huge public debt, the worst among advanced nations.

 

 

 

"I worry that Japan's public finances will get even worse," said 38-year-old Tokyo voter Akihiro Fujihara.

"I wish there was a party out there that would come up with actual proposals to make Japan a better place to live."

The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was unable to gain much traction, largely due to voters' memories of a 2009-2012 rule plagued by policy flip-flops, infighting and three premiers in three years.

Exit polls showed the DPJ gaining from the 62 seats it held before the vote, but falling well short of the 100 seats it had unofficially targeted.

Abe called the election in a bid to strengthen his grip on power before tackling unpopular policies such as restarting nuclear reactors taken off-line after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a security policy shift away from post-war pacifism.

The LDP-led coalition victory could make it easier for Abe to be re-elected in a party leadership race next September, boosting the chance he stays in power through 2018 and becomes one of Japan's rare long-term leaders.

Aside from local elections in April, his coalition will probably not need to face voters until a 2016 election for the upper house, where the LDP and the Komeito party now hold a majority.

Doubts, however, persist over whether Abe will knuckle down on his "third arrow" of reforms in politically sensitive areas such as labour market deregulation that would make it easier to shift workers to growth areas but also to lay off employees, and reform of the highly protected farm sector.

Critics say progress has been limited, partly due to opposition from members of Abe's own party.

"My personal assessment is that we are likely to see more of what we've seen - piecemeal reforms moving more or less in the right direction, but at a fairly slow clip and no bold breakthroughs because of this election," Columbia University professor Gerry Curtis said before the results were in.

Some experts say Abe could also turn attention away from the economy to his conservative agenda that includes laying the groundwork to revise the post-war, pacifist constitution and recasting Japan's wartime past with a less apologetic tone.

That agenda raises hackles in China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past militarism run deep.

The LDP had 295 seats and Komeito 31 in the 480-member lower house when it was dissolved for the election. Five seats were cut through electoral reform.

Establishment of Science Cities

National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), an autonomous organization under the Union Ministry of Culture is engaged in establishment of Science Centres throughout the country. NCSM is developing a Science City at Guwahati, Assam which will subsequently be handed over to the Govt. of Assam for future operation and maintenance. Proposals from various state governments have also been received for setting up of Science Cities. The Science Centres/Cities projects are taken up by NCSM in a phased manner depending upon the availability of resources, project handling capacity of NCSM and the existing level of science centre activities in that particular State. The following proposals have also been received by NCSM for establishment of Science Cities:- 1) Science City, Sampla, Govt. of Haryana 2) Science City, Bengaluru, Govt. of Karnataka 3) Science City, Navi Mumbai, Govt. of Maharashtra 4) Science City, Hyderabad, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh (before bifurcation into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). 5) Science City, Patna, Govt. of Bihar 6) Science City, Nagpur, Govt. of Maharashtra 7) Science City, Bhubaneswar, Govt. of Odishab 8) Science City, Kumhari, Govt. of Chhattisgarh Science Park is now an integral component of all Science Centres and Science Cities and hence is not set up as an independent facility. NCSM has not received any proposal from Govt. of Telangana for setting up of Science Centre/City after its creation.

Swachh Bharat: Centre to spend Rs 2 lakh cr in 5 yrs

The Centre would spend around Rs 2,00,000 crore over the next five years for the Swachh Bharat Mission, said M Venkaiah Naidu, Union minister for urban development.

The minister also said the government would set up a 'Swachh Bharat Kosh' to provide tax and fiscal incentives. The minister said urban India generates about 68.8 million tonnes of municipal solid waste per year, which means about 1.88 lakh tonnes every day. It is estimated to touch 160 mt per year by 2041.

Solid waste generated in rural areas is around 0.4 mt per day. Nearly one-third of garbage in urban areas is not treated. About 14 mt of garbage is left to rot in the open.

About 38 billion litres of sewage is generated every day by 498 tier-I cities in 2009. About 26 bl of sewage is let out in the open untreated.

Quoting a UN report, the Union minister said India leads the countries where open defecation is prevalent and 68 per cent of rural households have no access to toilets, 88 per cent of total diseases in rural areas is due to lack of clean water, sanitation and improper solid waste management.

He said the government proposes to spend Rs 1.34 lakh crore to construct toilets (11.11 crore toilets in rural areas) and about Rs 62,000 crore will be spent in 4,041 cities. He added 2.47 lakh panchayats will be given Rs 20 lakh each for the next five years to keep their villages clean.

The backbone of all financial transactions

I beg to move that the Payment and Settlement System (Amendment) Bill, 2014 be taken into consideration.

I have gone through the provisions of the Amendment and I have a written note which is ready and I could read out to explain what the amendment is about.

Sir, the payment and settlement system in commercial transactions is the backbone of all financial transactions. I issue a cheque in favour of somebody. It goes through a clearing house from my banker to the recipient bankers and, therefore, there is a payment and settlement system involved in this. Prior to 2007, this was all being managed through an executive notification and authorities created under that.

In 2007, the government at that time, and rightly so, enacted the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. I would just read from the preamble of that Act one sentence. It will be clear as to what the purpose of that Act was. "An Act to provide for regulation and supervision of payment systems in India and to designate the Reserve Bank of Indiaas the authority, for that purpose and for the matters connected therewith and incidental thereto."

So, the payment systems are to be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. Now, what does the Act say? The principal Act after definition says that it is only the Reserve Bank and whoever has an authorisation from the Reserve Bank, can run a payment system. In a payment system, you can have two kinds of actors involved. One is a system participant. My bank will be a system participant. In a private transaction, just as for instance today, this radio taxi service controversy is going on, how does a consumer pay for these radio taxies that are currently in controversy? These are not governmental transactions or banking transactions.

Earlier, the system was that he would register himself with the private taxi company and he would come on their WhatsApp. He would give his credit card number. Once he gave his credit card number, every time he wanted to hire a taxi, he would just press the WhatsApp of that taxi. They would locate where the passenger is and then they would pick him up. When he would leave the taxi, he would not pay, but it will be credited to his account.

Now, a violation was discovered that the payment gateway was outside India. So, the Reserve Bank told them to bring it within India. So, from December 1 this year, it appeared in the newspapers that Paytm, a local wallet has been created by one of these companies, which is in controversy. The payment is deposited in advance through a credit card or cash into that wallet. Every time you use the service, you have already paid in rupees. So that wallet becomes the service provider.

When this original Act was enacted, there is a provision that under Section 7, the Reserve Bank will permit an authorisation to any person. It could be a state agency; it could be a non-state agency. But without the authorisation of the Reserve Bank, you cannot become a service provider. That is a designated authority. That is how the commerce in this area is evolved. If you default, what are the consequences etc… the Act provides for it.

There is a provision under Section 23. Section 23 says and since Saugata Roy was raising a point of order, I could quite anticipate what he wanted to say. The amendment is very simple, though it is couched in a very complicated phraseology and unless you understand this commerce, it looks a little complicated. I myself yesterday had spent a lot of time before I could understand it simply. ... (Interruptions)

Mallikarjun Kharge: If we read the Objects and Reasons, we will not be able to understand it.

Jaitley: So far, I think, I am putting very simply. Our lady colleague and I just discussed along with Deepinder Singh Hooda. It took them two and a half to three minutes to follow as to what it is all about.

Section 23 says: "What if the system participant..." That is, suppose, I have to give money to somebody. What happens if either the recipient or I become insolvent? Now the sanctity of commercial transaction is to be respected. So, either of us becomes insolvent under ordinary law of the land and those for whose behalf we are transacting, that is, the bank becomes insolvent. Then under the Banking Regulations Act or the Companies Act, they owe money to me. I will have to stand in a queue. The old Companies Act had a provision under Section 529. First, the taxation authorities get the money after insolvency and liquidation. Thereafter, the workmen will get the money; thereafter, the secured creditors will get the money and in the last, the unsecured creditors will come. So, they are holding my money but I will stand last in the queue. So, the original Act has a provision under Section 23. If a system participant became insolvent, then Companies Act and the Banking Regulations Act will not apply. Under this Act, you first pay to the person on whose behalf you are holding the money. If anything else is left, then that procedure for the rest of the land will apply.

So, the Act in 2007 envisaged this. But the Act did not envisage a situation where not the participant but what if the system provider itself becomes insolvent. If the system provider becomes insolvent, the Companies Act will apply; if the system provider is a bank, the Banking Regulation Act will apply. So, we go back to the same problem. This amendment entirely is that even if the service provider, which is the clearing house, becomes insolvent, then first pay the money to those whose money you were clearing, and if anything is left, then the rest of the procedure will apply. This is entirely the amendment in simple language.

There are some editorial corrections in the original Bill in the language of this section. And then Section 23 is being replaced with those editorial language corrections to say that the procedure of insolvency, which applies to the system participants will also apply to the system provider. That is entirely the Bill.

With these few comments, Sir, I commend this Bill to this House for consideration.

ICRISAT research yields rich dividends

In a 2014 impact assessment study of ICRISAT’s highly successful breakthrough innovations, Jewels of ICRISAT have yielded a return on investment of US$ 43 for every dollar invested with an internal rate of return of 41 percent

The research taken up in the past four decades in the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) under Agriculture Research for Development (AR4D) in this mandal headquarters town has transformed thousands of lives in dry-lands in Asia and Africa.

“In a 2014 impact assessment study of ICRISAT’s highly successful breakthrough innovations – Jewels of ICRISAT- have yielded a return on investment of US$ 43 for every dollar invested with an internal rate of return of 41 percent. Average return on every dollar invested stood at US$ 70 if we include innovations spanning for four decades with an internal rate of 35 per cent return,” said William D. Dar, Director General, ICRISAT, while speaking to reporters here on Friday along with Deputy Director General C.L.L Gowda.

ICRISAT’s 42 anniversary celebrations concluded on Friday. The organisation also held a grand farewell function for Mr. Dar, who was retiring this month end and returning to Philippines . He has completed three five-years term as DG for ICIRSAT. Stating that they were able to improve the lives of lakhs of farmers from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Dar said that the investments into ICIRSAT by development partners have increased from US$22 million in 2000 to US$85 million in 2014. ICRISAT’s three top donors include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID) and CGIAR, a consortium of global agricultural research.

To a question, Mr. Dar said that they had already held discussions with Andhra Pradesh Government which has promised to implement ‘Bhuchetana’. “We have asked the government to prepare preliminary section strategy based on which we will prepare translation of strategy into action plan,” he said. 

Testing times for India-Russia ties

With 20 agreements worth billions of dollars signed in one day, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India was a productive one. The deals touched most of the fields India and Russia cooperate on, from oil, energy and infrastructure to military training, even as the two countries set a bilateral trade target of $30 billion between them by the year 2025. What is more, the opening of India’s rough-diamond procurement policy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will mean Mumbai can dream of becoming a worldwide hub for the industry. Finally, President Putin’s offer of 12 nuclear reactors is the clearest and most welcome indicator yet that Russia does not share the concerns of other suppliers about India’s liability laws. However, there is no denying that the old lustre of the India-Russia friendship has dimmed somewhat, and many of the affirmations in the “Druzba-Dosti” joint statement of friendship they issued seem problematic. Even before his arrival in Delhi, President Putin’s decision to decline the offer to address a joint session of Parliament indicated that all is not well in the relationship. The problems seem evident: Russia has watched with displeasure as India has diversified its military imports, especially when it comes to helicopter and aircraft purchases.

The slide is not recent, and last year a senior Russian official had made the country’s displeasure clear when he demanded India treat Russia as an “old partner”, calling the decision to buy fighter aircraft and missiles from France, the U.S. and Israel “illogical and unfair”. For its part, India was outraged by the Russian decision to lift its embargo on defence sales to Pakistan, and the first-ever Russia-Pakistan framework agreement that was finalised last month. Given that India still maintains about 70 per cent of its defence inventory from Russian hardware, and is one of Russia’s biggest buyers, the unhappiness on both sides may not change the equations of dependence between them, but it must be addressed. In this context, it is significant that Mr. Modi said the relationship with Russia would remain India’s “closest relationship” and it would be the “most important defence partner”. It is increasingly important for New Delhi and Moscow to reassure each other in spheres other than the commercial ones of defence, energy and trade. Given Russia’s growing isolation from the West, and India’s growing closeness to the U.S. — President Barack Obama’s visit is coming up in January 2015 — their relationship is bound to be challenged in many ways. The U.S. State Department’s statement criticising the India-Russia deals gives a glimpse of those challenges already, and the assurance in Mr. Modi’s tweet will likely be tested further in the coming months: “Times have changed, our friendship has not...”

Generic drug makers get a boost from SC ruling

In a significant development for the pharmaceutical industry, the Supreme Court has rejected multinational Bayer’s appeal to block production and sales of the low cost version of its kidney cancer drug, sorafenib tosylate (branded as Nexavar), by Natco Pharmaceuticals.

Hyderabad-based Natco was granted the first and to date only compulsory licence (CL) by the government in 2012 to make and sell a patented drug at a fraction of the price at which it was sold by the patent holder, Bayer.

Since 2012, Natco has been selling the drug at Rs.8,880 a pack of 120 against Bayer’s selling price of Rs.2.84 lakh. Natco pays Bayer a royalty fee. Bayer has challenged the order before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and then the Bombay High Court unsuccessfully.

“It is a landmark decision in the patent history of India,’’ was how a senior industry source described the decision.

“It vindicates the stand taken by us keeping in mind the low per capita income levels in the country. The intention is to have wide reach, accessibility and affordability for medicines,’’ a spokesperson from Natco told this correspondent.

Since 2012, Natco treated more than 20,000 cancer patients with the drug, of which 2,000 were treated free of cost, the spokesperson said.

Leena Menghaney, Regional Head (South Asia), MSF Access Campaign, said, “MSF is encouraged by this particularly strategic win for public health and access to medicines, whereby the Supreme Court has worked to ensure continued patient access to affordable versions of this lifesaving cancer drug, in spite of a multi-year campaign by Bayer to reverse the decision.’’

“Today, we applaud this heartening news, which reaffirms India’s critical role in forging a new and progressive path in balancing intellectual property and public health,’’ she said.

“The development will act as a fillip for generic manufacturers and encourage manufacture of affordable drugs to increase accessibility. Being the first and only CL granted by the government to date, it is definitely a positive development for Indian generic drug manufacturers,’’ S. V. Veeramani, President, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), said.