The grain mountain India's foodgrain policy takes some steps forward

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a revised buffer stocking policy for foodgrain which, even while requiring holding of higher strategic food reserves than stipulated earlier, nevertheless provides a window for shedding excess stock - through domestic sales and exports. The central grain pool, according to the new norms, should have 41.1 million tonnes of rice and wheat on July 1 and 30.7 million tonnes on October 1 every year. These limits were, respectively, 32 million tonnes and 21 million tonnes earlier. The stocking norms for the quarters beginning January 1 and April 1 have been altered only marginally.

The food ministry has been authorised to dispose of any surplus stock through open sale in the domestic market or export without seeking the Union Cabinet's approval. This marks a welcome departure from the earlier practice of maintaining excessive, unmanageable and fiscally burdensome food inventories created by purchasing all the grain on offer at the minimum support price. Under this system, the government had ended up buying, on average, 33 per cent of the rice and 30.4 per cent of the wheat produced in the country between 2008-09 and 2013-14. Besides bloating the food subsidy bill to unsustainable levels - the carrying cost of each tonne of foodgrain works out to nearly Rs 5,000 at current prices - this had seriously distorted the country's food market. The new policy can iron out these distortions, restore the relevance of private trade in the food sector and rein in food inflation by augmenting grain supplies in the open market.

The old buffer limits were fixed almost a decade ago when the requirement of foodgrain for the public distribution system (PDS) was lower. However, after the enactment of the National Food Security Act, 2013, which seeks to provide 5 kg of foodgrain every month to some two-thirds of the country's entire population at highly subsidised rates, this requirement has risen sharply. When this law becomes fully operational - at present it is being implemented only in 11 states - the annual foodgrain requirement for PDS and welfare schemes may swell to over 61 million tonnes. This apart, changes in the food stocking policy and an increase in the size of the needed grain reserves have become necessary also to enable India to show better compliance with the public stockholding norms for food security laid down by the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). New Delhi is also seeking an amendment in the grain stockholding and food subsidy caps stipulated in the AoA.

However, the anticipated gains from the new policy will accrue only if it is implemented earnestly and is supported by more reforms in food management. Though the government has already taken some steps - such as discouraging states from offering bonus on top of the minimum support price - to reduce needless acquisition of foodgrain for the central grain kitty, but these alone may not suffice. The current practice of open-ended food procurement, which is the root cause for excessive stock accumulation, may need to be curbed by making a distinction between procurement and market support operations. Otherwise, food sector reforms may remain incomplete.

The promise of a presidential visit

Where India and the United States cannot agree on a given issue, it is important that they seek other avenues of cooperation

As President Barack Obama sets out for India, he will find that the same favourable winds which are driving India’s economy are also moving the U.S.-India relationship. The President will be the first American chief of state to visit India twice during his incumbency. He will also be the first President to be received as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guest at India’s Republic Day. The invitation to Mr. Obama and his decision to visit India speak volumes about prospects for the Indian-American relationship.

We have come a long way over the past two decades. Indian and American trade and investment are buoyant, defence trade has surged, and strategic consultations, intelligence sharing and counter-terror cooperation are closer than ever in history. The U.S., including our two political parties, believe that a strong India is good for this country; India believes a successful and prosperous America is good for India. This said, to achieve the potential of the relationship, we need to deepen strategic and economic cooperation and set new goals for the relationship.

Common problems

The first issues President Obama and Prime Minister Modi need to address are strategic. The U.S. and India face common problems in dealing with the rise of China. We have many friends in the region, notably Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia. These countries have similar views about China and recognise the importance of maintaining an Asian balance of power. India and the U.S. have an interest in reinforcing our respective ties to each of these powers. Our common objective should not be to confront or contain China. Rather it should be to shape the environment within which China pursues legitimate ambitions, so that China’s quest for status does not threaten its neighbourhood and the U.S.

“India and the U.S. should not confront or contain China, but shape the environment within which China pursues legitimate ambitions”

Similarly, India and the U.S. are preoccupied with Afghanistan’s future and with the deteriorating situation in Pakistan. Both questions demand close attention and frequent exchanges on strategy. The U.S. has serious issues with Russia and in the Middle East. We face a common threat from terrorism. This said, we have different points of view and must be careful not to surprise one another. Where we cannot agree on a given issue, it is important that our two countries seek other avenues of cooperation.

We have challenges ahead in coordinating our respective approaches to climate change; this subject will require hard and specialised work.

An additional word on terrorism is in order. The use of terror affects India, the U.S., Europe, Russia and China, among many other nations. It springs from deep political and cultural causes and has no single point of origin. It cannot be dealt with by military means alone; in fact the use of military force can be counterproductive.

To deal with terror, we need to use the full box of tools available to governments — political, intelligence, religious messaging, and police cooperation. Prime Minister Modi and President Obama should give U.S.-Indian cooperation in counter terror the highest priority.

Expanding defence cooperation is an especially promising area in the Indian-American relationship. While our two countries will not be “allies” as the term is classically defined, the security of our two nations is enhanced by the closest possible cooperation.

No two countries exercise their military forces more frequently than India and the U.S. We are not, however, cooperating as we should in preparing India’s industrial base to provide the systems it will need to cope with the security challenges of the future. Modern warfare is increasingly about intelligence systems communications and electronic warfare. India needs to strengthen its capabilities in these fields as it continues its defence modernisation. Other than the U.S., no nation offers as extensive a range of high-tech defence capabilities. Furthermore, to be able to work together in moments of crises, India and the U.S. should aim to have common defence platforms. To build these platforms, India must reach an agreement with the U.S. on the protection of defence information. Without it, the U.S. cannot share its defence “crown jewels.” The President and the Prime Minister would be well advised to reach agreement on this important question.

Prime Minister Modi is determined to grow India’s economy. He wishes to expand rapidly India’s manufacturing base, and he welcomes American and foreign investment as key drivers in India’s economic performance. To attract foreign and mobilised domestic investment, the Prime Minister, India’s government and its Chief Ministers must tackle key growth impediments. These include infrastructural inadequacies, as well as tax, land, labour and Intellectual Property Rights questions, and India’s financial services regime.

The landscape of U.S.-India economic cooperation is crowded with investment disputes, which undermine confidence in India as an investment destination. Our 2005 civil nuclear agreement has yet to produce the first investment.

The upcoming budget session of Parliament gives the Indian government an important opportunity to lay out an economic reform agenda. American investors will be watching closely the promises which the Indian government makes, and more importantly, its ability to put those promises into practice.

India can reasonably look to President Obama to set out his administration’s policy on high-tech immigration and other irksome issues like social security totalisation. India can also look forward to the President’s help in securing early passage of GSP, the trade enhancing regime that has long facilitated India’s exports to the U.S.

Setting bold goals

Finally, we need to look ahead and set bold goals for the relationship. These goals must serve Indian and American interests. For ‘Make in India’ to succeed, India must sell at home and have markets abroad. To assure foreign markets, India must be competitive and able to trade without impediment. India has yet to complete a bilateral investment treaty with the U.S., and it is not party to current WTO negotiations on subjects as important as IT services and government procurement. More importantly, India is not a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and is not in consideration for membership in Trans-Pacific trade negotiations. President Obama will shortly seek Trade Promotion Authority to permit the U.S. to advance these new super-trade regimes for the Atlantic area and the Pacific. India risks falling between two stools and being excluded from the world’s most potentially dynamic market areas. Securing India’s trade future requires tough negotiations, and a willingness by India to become a competitive world-class economy. This subject is worth discussion between President Obama and Prime Minister Modi. It is reasonable to expect the U.S. to be India’s friend and sponsor if India decides to refocus its trade policy and go global. Expanding India’s trade horizon is central to building Indian strategic strength and in consolidating the U.S.-India relationship. The most promising days of that relationship lie ahead. Prime Minister Modi and President Obama have the opportunity later this month to align our policies and give our very promising relationship a fresh impulse.

Odds of escaping poverty in India, U.S. same: World Bank

A World Bank report has challenged the conventional understanding of India’s inequality. The report, “Addressing inequality in South Asia,” has found that the probability of a poor person moving out of poverty in India in 2014 was as good as that in the U.S.

“There is good news — India is no longer the land of extremes and there are some bright spots,” said Martin Rama, one of the authors of the report and World Bank Chief Economist for South Asia.

The report has found that sons from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households are no longer stuck in the jobs done by their fathers. Across generations, mobility of occupational profiles among Muslims has been similar to that of higher caste Hindus, whereas mobility among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes has become higher than that of upper caste Hindus over time.

The report shows that one of the main drivers of upward mobility is the increase in number of non-farm jobs in rural India.

Urbanisation reducing inequality: World Bank report

A World Bank report has found that between 2004-05 and 2009-10, 15 per cent of India’s population, or 40 per cent of the poor, moved above the poverty line. In the same period, a sizeable portion of the poor and the vulnerable — over 9 per cent of the total population or about 11 per cent of the poor and vulnerable — moved into the middle class.

However, over 9 per cent of the total population, or about 14 per cent of the non-poor group, slipped back into poverty, revealing the greater risks faced by the vulnerable and even the middle class than in other countries, the report, “Addressing inequality in South Asia,” said.

The third finding of the report that challenges the conventional understanding of inequality in India, said Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director in India, is that urbanisation is reducing inequality, not increasing it.

Mr. Ruhl said the policy takeaways from the report for Prime Minister Narendra Modi included “strive for universal health and sanitation; leverage the opportunity for urbanisation; and create jobs for all and build skills not just through technical training but also with servicing the population with primary and secondary education and nutrition.”

Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new version of Windows and a new wearable 3D gadget it calls the HoloLens.

Microsoft is making a big bet that Windows 10 will help it regain ground the company has lost to the mobile computing boom

Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new version of Windows and a new wearable 3D gadget it calls the HoloLens.

The company showed the new headset, which lets users view and interact with three-dimensional images, at an event where it also revealed new features coming to the company’s flagship operating software.

Executives said Windows 10 is designed to embrace the way people use computers today, offering a familiar experience as they switch back and forth from personal computers to tablets, smartphones and other gadgets such as gaming consoles or even holographic projectors.

While it’s designed to let apps work in similar fashion on all those devices, Windows 10 will also come with a new Web browser that will be closely integrated with Cortana, the company’s voice-activated answer to Siri.

Microsoft is expanding Cortana to serve as a search engine and personal assistant, capable of answering questions and responding to commands such as “Play music” on desktop and laptop computers, as well as mobile devices.

And in a break from past practice, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will be released later this year as a free upgrade for anyone owning a computer or gadget that’s currently running Windows 8.1 or 7, the two previous versions of the software.

Microsoft is making a big bet that Windows 10 will help it regain ground the company has lost to the mobile computing boom.

Windows has long been the dominating operating software for desktop and laptop computers, but that business has suffered as more people have begun using smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft tried to reach those users by emphasizing touch-screen features in its last update, Windows 8, but many traditional PC users found it jarring and difficult to navigate.

Hoping to win back a larger audience, Microsoft is promising Windows 10 will provide a familiar experience to users on across devices, and a common platform for software developers to create apps that work on all of them.

“Windows 10 is built for a world in which there are going to be more devices on the planet than people,” CEO Satya Nadella told reporters and industry analysts at Microsoft’s headquarters.

He said Microsoft wants to “enable that seamless cross-over, across devices as you move around at home and at work.”

IISc: Repurposing existing drugs to fight TB

Small changes to the molecules can turn them into effective TB drugs

A proof-of-concept study has successfully identified two small molecules (imipramine and norclomipramine) that can arrest the growth of TB bacteria and hence have the potential to be used as anti-TB drugs once the chemical properties are altered to make it more effective. 

Interestingly, one of the small molecules (imipramine) is already in clinical use as an antidepressant while other is a metabolite of antidepressant clomipramine.  But, they have never been used as antibacterials.

The two small molecules work by targeting the Topoisomerase I enzyme of the TB bacteria. This enzyme is essential for controlling the coiling (winding) and uncoiling (unwinding) of the bacterial DNA. The results of the study were published recently in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

“We have for the first time found the inhibitors that prevent the enzyme from functioning. The inhibition of the enzyme arrests the growth/division of the bacteria and eventually causes death,” Prof. V. Nagaraja of the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru and the senior author of the paper told this Correspondent. He led the team that identified the inhibitors.

Though the two molecules inhibited cell growth by preventing DNA coiling, the potency was not high enough. “The inhibition is not as effective as drugs that are already being used as anti-TB drugs,” he said.

He has been working on this enzyme for a long time. This class of enzyme is found in all bacteria and even in higher organisms like mammals and humans. But human Topoisomerase I enzyme has properties and functions that are very different from that of bacteria. And inhibitors for human Topoisomerase I enzyme have already been identified and successfully exploited, as in the case of cancer drugs. “But there has been no such progress in the case of bacteria, as inhibitors of bacterial Topoisomerase I enzyme were not identified so far,” Prof. Nagaraja said.

Even in the case of bacterial Topoisomerase II enzyme, inhibitors have long been identified and clinically-validated drugs such as ciprofloxacin and other members of the fluoroquinolones are widely in use today. Since the small molecules studied are being routinely used as antidepressants, it may not be possible to use them as anti-TB drugs in the current form.

However, small changes in the chemical entity of the molecules can change the properties and activities dramatically. “This has to be done in this case,” he said. “The current study only highlights the potential of repurposing or redesigning existing drugs that are not antibacterials as anit-TB drugs.”

As no X-ray crystal structure and, hence, atomic details of the enzyme is available, a 3D structure of the enzyme was modeled by the co-author Dr. Sean Ekins of Collaborative Drug Discovery, a company based in California.

The molecules that can be likely candidates were first identified through virtual screening of many compound libraries. Further studies were then carried out in the laboratory of Prof. Nagaraja to find their inhibiting properties.

The identification of the two small molecules was part of the TB consortium project  “More Medicine for TB’s” (MM4TB) with the larger goal of screening small molecules as potential anti-TB drugs. The MM4TB is an international consortium that has been assembled by the EU to discover new treatment methods to combat TB.

Why stars feast and fast partly resolved

Supergiant fast x-ray transients (SGXT) are in the news. SGXT is the name for a certain type of binary star — a pair of stars revolving around each other.

To be specific, they are a pair in which one partner is a big bright star and the other is a highly condensed dark companion — a black hole or a neutron star — which attracts mass from the bright star.

As the material spirals into the dark star, it emits x-rays. Hence, it appears to the onlooker that they are shining brightly in x-rays.

Suddenly, without warning, the pair dims to a fraction of its brightness within minutes. This behaviour of shining and dimming, called “fasting” and “feasting” has puzzled astronomers for a decade now.

This puzzle has now been partly resolved by means of a breakthrough, thanks to the work of an international team led by Varun Bhalerao of the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune. The results were published recently in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

There were several competing theories as to why the fasting and feasting behaviour happens. One is that the large star gives out a clumpy wind, and when this wind hits the dense star, it would glow.

The other theory is that the dense star has a high magnetic field and this served as a barrier that would dam the wind until the pressure built up and broke the “dam” and the matter carried by the wind would suddenly fall into the compact star, causing a glow.

Varun Bhalerao’s team observed the magnetic field of the dark companion and actually measured it, finding it to be too weak for the damming mechanism to work. “We knew that the key to the puzzle was to measure the neutron star's magnetic field,” he says.

Dr. Bhalerao’s team observed the binary using a space x-ray telescope known as NuStar, a NASA space mission. It is the first x-ray space telescope that can focus on very high energy x-rays.

“NuSTAR is used to study the most extreme environments in the universe, which emit x-rays.

“The x-rays that NuSTAR is sensitive to are similar to the x-rays used in hospitals for diagnoses. Astronomers call them ‘Hard x-rays’. During my Ph.D at Caltech [California Institute of Technology], I was part of the team that built NuSTAR's detectors,” he says.

The actual star-pair they observed, IGR J17544-2619, is an example of such an SGXT. It is a binary located about 12,000 light years away from the earth. It contains a supergiant star, about 25 times as massive as our Sun, and a compressed dead partner, about twice as massive as the Sun but compressed to a diameter of just about 30 km. the stars orbit around each other in 4.9 days.

The binary shines in x-rays and over a period of months can sporadically become bright or faint. The brightest known state was about one lakh times brighter than the dim state.

The discovery of the mechanism of fasting and feasting process is the breakthrough that many were looking forward to and has given important inputs for further theoretical understanding of these binaries. Says Dr Bhalerao: “This allows us to better understand how massive stars form, to study how binaries evolve and to calculate details of supernova explosions, where a neutron star is born in the death of a massive star.”

Uttarakhand becomes No. 2 in tiger population

Uttarakhand with 340 tigers is second only to Karnataka, which has 406.

Tiger population in Uttarakhand has risen from 227 to 340 since the last census, becoming the second State in the country after Karnataka with the highest number of tigers.

“There has been an encouraging rise in tiger population in Uttarakhand. It has risen from 227 to 340 since the last census. This is all the more creditable given the fact that the hill State has just one tiger reserve,” Corbett Tiger Reserve Director Samir Sinha told PTI.

There was a time when Madhya Pradesh had the highest tiger population in the country but then it had six tiger reserves, he said.

Uttarakhand is now second only to Karnataka in terms of tiger population. Karnataka figures at the top of the list with 406 tigers, he said.

As per the latest census, Corbett Tiger Reserve has also improved its position on conservation assessment trajectory going up from good to very good, the official said.

According to the latest census released on Tuesday, the tiger population in the country is estimated to be around 2,226, a rise of over 30 per cent since the last count in 2010.