India, Japan agree on military sales, bullet train and nuclear deal

Abe says Japan’s cooperation with India in the nuclear field will be limited to peaceful objectives 

India and Japan on Saturday cemented their strategic partnership with the signing of a preliminary pact on civil nuclear cooperation, capping years of negotiations.

The two sides also signed agreements on sharing of technology, equipment and military information and announced that Japan will be a regular participant in the Malabar series of naval exercises that were held mainly between the Indian and US navies.
On the economic front, Japan said it will provide $12 billion of soft funding to build India’s first bullet train besides another $12 billion as an incentive package for Japanese companies investing in India. As part of its overseas assistance package, Japan would lend India $400 billion yen, or $3 billion, for various projects. It will also participate in big ticket infrastructure projects in India, including the $5.5 billion Chennai-Bengaluru corridor project.
The announcements come after hour-long talks between visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. Abe is in India for the annual India-Japan summit.
This is Abe’s second visit to India since his re-election in 2012.
Last year, on a visit to Japan, Modi and Abe had elevated their ties to a global and strategic partnership.
A joint statement released after the talks that laid out a vision for cooperation till 2025 said: “The two prime ministers view that imperatives of a stronger bilateral strategic partnership require deep and broad-based cooperation and concrete actions in defence, security, economic and cultural fields.”
“Our future-oriented partnership raises our collaboration to a new level in areas of infrastructure, manufacturing and high technology, including advanced transportation systems, civil nuclear energy, solar power generation, space, biotechnology, rare earths and advanced materials,” it said.
According to analysts, India and Japan are looking to strengthen relations in a bid to balance the unpredictable rise of China as Asia’s dominant power. India has an unsettled border issue with China and views its relations with Pakistan with a wary eye while Japan has territorial disputes with China apart from issues that date back to World War II. Both Modi and Abe are seen as nationalists and analysts see a parallel in the way the two leaders are trying to build up their respective economies to match China’s growing economic and political clout in the Asia-Pacific region.
In his remarks on Saturday, Modi backed the Japanese position on “ensuring freedom of navigation and over-flight, and maritime commerce”.
“We believe that disputes must be resolved peacefully and that all countries must abide by international law and norms on maritime issues,” Modi said, against the backdrop of China imposing embargos in flights and ships from flying over or sailing close to islands disputed with Japan.
Major takeaways 
One of the major takeaways from Abe’s visit has been the preliminary pact on the civil nuclear deal. A text of the pact provided by the Japanese side says “the government of Japan and the government of the republic of India have reached agreement on...cooperation in peaceful uses on nuclear energy. The two governments confirm that the agreement will be signed after the technical details are finalized, including those related to the necessary internal procedures”.
According to Indian foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, “We have achieved substantial progress as the key part of the agreement has been done”, though legal and technical experts from both the countries have to go over it and the text has to be passed by the Japanese parliament.
Agreement on the pact had been elusive for many years given Japan’s sensitivities—being the only country in the world to have suffered the consequences of being targeted by nuclear weapons. India, on its part, has stressed that it will retain its right to test atomic weapons and has refused to be bound by any international treaties limiting its options.
Yasuhisa Kawamura, spokesman in the Japanese prime minister’s office, told reporters in New Delhi that India’s self imposed moratorium on nuclear testing and its move separating its civil nuclear reactors from its military ones were seen as commitments by Japan to assuage its concerns on nuclear testing and non-proliferation. “Japan does not see any move by India to go towards testing of atomic weapons,” Kawamura said during a press conference. Japan would, however, relook at its civil nuclear cooperation pact with India if it were to test, he said.
The pact with Japan is crucial for India’s electricity generation plans as many safety and other components meant for reactors are manufactured by Japanese companies.
With India committing to steps to cut down on emissions, nuclear energy is a key component of India’s energy mix, Jaishankar said.
According to Modi, the memorandum “we signed on civil nuclear energy cooperation is more than just an agreement for commerce and clean energy, it is a shining symbol of a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership in the cause of peaceful and secure world”. Abe said Japan’s cooperation with India in the nuclear field will be limited to peaceful objectives.
The second major outcome of Abe’s visit was the deal to build a high-speed train line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The pact gives Japan a head start over China, which is conducting feasibility studies for high-speed trains on other parts of the Indian rail network. The Indian deal for Japan comes after it lost a similar deal in Indonesia to China.
“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future. It will become an engine of economic transformation in India,” Modi said in a speech.
According to Jaishankar, India will have to repay the loan over a 50 year-period which has been extended at an interest rate of 0.1%.
The 508km rail line will cost a total of Rs.97,636 crore and the travel time between the two railway stations is expected to be cut down to 2 hours from the current 7 hours.
Under the defence deals announced on Saturday, the two sides agreed to share technology, equipment and military information, but the long-awaited sale of Japanese aircraft in a deal worth about $1.1 billion was not concluded.
India and Japan have been holding talks for two years on the purchase by India of US-2 amphibious aircraft made by ShinMaywa Industries, which would be one of Japan’s first arms sales since Abe lifted a 50-year ban on weapon exports.
Modi described the defence pacts as “decisive steps in our security cooperation,” adding that they would deepen the defence relations and promote defence manufacturing in India.
The two leaders also issued a joint statement on “India and Japan Vision 2025: Special Strategic and Global Partnership Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and the World.”
The statement said India would extend visa an arrival facility for Japanese nationals, including businessmen, from 1 March 2016.
“The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed the intention to develop ‘Japan Industrial Townships (JITs),’ with investment incentive for companies that would not be lower than under the prevailing policy framework such as Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ). Moreover, both sides will work toward evolving special packages for attracting Japanese investment in the Japanese Industrial Townships in India. The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed to further deepen bilateral economic and financial cooperation,” the statement said

Locating caste in India’s farm economy A NSSO report shows there are significant caste-based differences in economic status of agricultural households in India

Locating caste in India’s farm economy

A NSSO report shows there are significant caste-based differences in economic status of agricultural households in India 

 Social divisions in India’s countryside are a well-established fact. A National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) report released last week shows there are significant caste-based differences in economic status of agricultural households in India. Unsurprisingly, lower castes are the worst-off by most yardsticks.

A large majority of India’s farmers are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Around 70% of agricultural households report a deficit situation, where average monthly income was less than the sum of average monthly consumption and net investment in productive assets.
Agricultural households have been defined as those who received not less than Rs.3,000 of produce from farm activities in the preceding 365 days. The survey was conducted over two rounds in July-December 2012 and January-June 2013. The two survey periods broadly capture India’s two agricultural seasons.
An analysis by social groups shows scheduled caste (SC) farm households have the highest share among those running a deficit, followed by other backward classes (OBC).
As expected, ownership of land is an important factor of well-being in the farm economy. Deficit households have lower land holdings. The threshold of being an economically viable agricultural household among all social groups is 1 hectare.
Given the dominance of upper castes in the farm economy thanks to largest relative land ownership (share of land owned divided by share in population), they have the highest share of earnings from cultivation and non-farm incomes among all social groups. SCs have the highest share of income from wage employment, which makes them more vulnerable to unemployment.
The report also suggests a reversal in social fortunes might be in making. Currently, upper castes are the only social group that enjoys a more than proportionate share in total income and consumption than their share in population. Once again, SCs are the worst-off.
However, other backward castes have an equal share in income and consumption, but a much higher share in total expenditure on net investment in productive assets. Interestingly, the upper castes have the lowest share in investment expenditure relative to their share in population. These shares have been calculated by multiplying average income, consumption and investment expenditure with expected number of agricultural households in each social group.
According to Himanshu, an associate professor of economics at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, OBCs are becoming the biggest stakeholders in agricultural activities. They have close to 45% share in population and land ownership—the highest in both categories—in rural areas. The disproportionate share in investment might be because they are actively engaged in farming, while upper castes are holding on to land for speculative purposes after having migrated in pursuit of better opportunities outside villages, he added.

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic drug resistance is developed in the micro-organisms. ICMR is carrying out surveillance of drug resistance to antibiotics through its Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Research Network (AMRSN) in six pathogenic groups (i) Diarrhoeagenic bacterial organisms (ii) Enteric fever pathogens (iii) Enterobacteriaceae causing sepsis (iv) Gram negative Non-fermenters (v) Gram positives including MRSA (vi) Fungal infections. The data is being collected from CMC, Vellore, JIPMER, Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh and AIIMS, New Delhi. The significant findings from last 2 years indicate that Salmonella typhi multidrug resistance (MDR) to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole is showing a downward trend. However, more than 50% of bacterial isolates of Klebsiella spp. and E. coli were found to be resistant to the currently used 3^rd generation cephalosporins, but they are sensitive to carbapenams and colistin. There is no data available regarding fatalities reported due to antibiotic resistance.

As informed by ICMR, according to a WHO survey, public health awareness about antimicrobial resistance is very low. The Government’s Programme on containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) includes the component of increasing awareness on rational use of antibiotics.

Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding/Agreement for cooperation in health with several countries. AMR has been identified as one of the areas of cooperation in Agreements/ MOUS with some of these countries including Sweden, Netherland and U.K.

During the World Health Assembly in May 2015, the Member States have adopted a Global plan for action on AMR. Further, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Research Council of Norway (RCN), and also initiated collaboration with National Institute of Health, USA (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA (CDC) regarding antimicrobial resistance.

In order to strengthen the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has set up a National Anti-Microbial Resistance Research and Surveillance Network (AMRRSN) to enable compilation of National Data of AMR at different levels of Health Care.

The Drugs and Cosmetic Rule, 1945 were amended in 2013 to incorporate a new Schedule H1 under the said rules containing 46 drugs which include IIIrd and IVth generation antibiotics, anti TB drugs and certain habit forming drugs for having strict control over the sale of these drugs. The Drugs falling under Schedule H1 are required to be sold in the country with the following conditions:

(1)   The supply of a drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be recorded in a separate register at the time of the supply giving the name and address of the prescriber, the name of the patient, the name of the drug and the quantity supplied and such records shall be maintained for three years and be open for inspection.

(2)   The drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be labeled with the symbol Rx which shall be in red and conspicuously displayed on the left top corner of the label, and shall also be labeled with the following words in a box with a red border:-

“Schedule H1 Drug-Warning: -It is dangerous to take this preparation except in accordance with the medical advice. -Not to be sold by retail without the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner.”

Further, Government of India has formulated a national policy for containment of antimicrobial resistance in 2011. A National Programme for Containment of AMR has also been initiated in 12th Five Year Plan with the following objectives:-

§  To establish a laboratory based surveillance system by strengthening laboratories for AMR in the country and to generate quality data on antimicrobial resistance for pathogens of public health importance.

§  To generate awareness among healthcare providers and in the community regarding rational use of antibiotics.

§  To strengthen infection control guidelines and practices and promote rational use of antibiotics.

Consumer Price Index and Whole Sale Price Index

Consumer Price Index and Whole Sale Price Index

In an emerging and developing economy moderate inflation is desirable to spur growth impulses and sustained deflation is a challenge as it generally lowers aggregate demand and economic activity.

In the Indian economy inflation as per the Consumer Price Index-New Series (CPI) and other inflation indices has been in low positive territory while Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is in the negative zone, since November 2014. Under the Monetary Policy Framework Agreement signed between the Government and the Reserve Bank of India, year on year change in CPI has been accepted as the anchor for inflation in the Indian economy.

The behavior of WPI is influenced by the prices of international commodities including crude oil, which have been declining in the recent past while CPI inflation affects the ultimate consumers and includes consumer goods and services.

In view of movement in CPI inflation and growth in GDP, the Indian economy cannot be characterized as the one undergoing a deflationary situation.

To address the challenges posed to the Indian economy, the Government has undertaken a series of sectoral and macroeconomic reforms and is boosting aggregate demand through public investment in roads, railways and irrigation; liberalizing FDI flows; unblocking large number of stalled projects etc. Further, RBI has reduced the repo rates by 125 basis points since January 2015 which have impacted a reduction in interest rates and would spur investment and growth in the economy.

Financial Impact on Employees Under National Pension Scheme (NPS)

Financial Impact on Employees Under National Pension Scheme (NPS)

The National Pension System (NPS) has been designed giving utmost importance to the welfare of the subscribers under NPS. There are a number of benefits available to the employees under NPS. Some of the benefits are enlisted below:

• NPS is a well designed pension system managed through an unbundled architecture involving intermediaries appointed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) viz, pension funds, custodian, central record keeping and accounting agency, National Pension System Trust, trustee bank, points of presence and annuity service providers. It is prudently regulated by PFRDA which is a statutory regulatory body established to promote old age income security and to protect the interests of subscribers of NPS.

• Dual benefit of low cost and power of compounding – The pension wealth which accumulates over a period of time till retirement grows with a compounding effect. The all-in-costs of the institutional architecture of NPS are among the lowest in the world.

• Tax Benefits – The tax benefits are available to the NPS subscribers under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. These were further increased in the Finance Bill, 2015.

• Transparency and Portability is ensured through online access on the pension account by the NPS subscribers, across all geographical locations and portability of employments.

• Partial withdrawal – subscribers can withdraw upto 25% of their own contributions before attaining superannuation age, subject to certain conditions.

Some representations have been received from certain quarters against the implementation of the NPS. The main demand in these representations is that NPS may be scrapped and the Government may revert to old defined benefit system. But the Government does not propose to reimplement the old pension scheme by doing away with NPS.

Social Security Scheme for Farmers

Social Security Scheme for Farmers

The Government is implementing a number of schemes to help the farmers in increasing their productivity by reducing cost of cultivation, achieving higher yield per unit and by realizing remunerative prices. Some of the important new initiatives in this context are:

(i) Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme by which the farmers can know the major and minor nutrients available in their soils which will ensure judicious use of fertiliser application and thus save money of farmers. The balanced use of fertiliser will also enhance productivity and ensure higher returns to the farmers.

(ii) Neem Coated Urea is being promoted to regulate urea use, enhance its availability to the crop and reduce cost of fertilizers application. The entire quantity of domestically manufactured urea is now neem coated.

(iii) Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) is being implemented with a view to promoting organic farming in the country. This will improve soil health and organic matter content and increase net income of the farmer so as to realise premium prices.

(iv) The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) is being implemented to expand cultivated area with assured irrigation, reduce wastage of water and improve water use efficiency.

(v) In addition, the Government is also implementing several Centrally Sponsored Schemes - National Food Security Mission (NFSM); Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH); National Mission on Oilseeds & Oilpalm (NMOOP); National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA); National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET); National Crop Insurance Programme (NCIP); Unified National Agriculture Markets; and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

(vi) The Government undertakes procurement of wheat and paddy under its ‘MSP operations’. In addition, Government implements Market Intervention Scheme

(MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities not covered under the Minimum Price Support Scheme on the request of State/UT Government. The MIS is implemented in order to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of bumper crop when the prices tend to fall below the economic level/cost of production. Losses, if any, incurred by the procuring agencies are shared by the Central Government and the concerned State Government on 50:50 basis (75:25 in case of North-Eastern States). Profit, if any, earned by the procuring agencies is retained by them.

It is a priority of the Government to work towards enabling social security protection for citizens, especially from the economically weaker and vulnerable sections. In accordance with this priority, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) were recently launched to address the areas of life and accident risk, and old age income security. The Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY) is also operational to provide health insurance cover to persons living below the poverty line etc. The Central Government has also initiated creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare Fund through the use of certain unclaimed amounts under various specified schemes. This fund will be used to subsidize the premiums of vulnerable groups such as old age pensioners, BPL card-holders, small and marginal farmers and others.

The proposed new National Crop Insurance Scheme will protect the interest of farmers with a broader coverage towards crop losses and other such natural calamities. This is an intervention to cover the risks involved in farming.

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI), through its various schemes, has been providing assistance to various agriculture related industries.

8 States Heed PM's Call on Competitive Federalism

8 States Heed PM's Call on Competitive Federalism

Four states want to replicate Karnataka's Vehicles Database Management System, while three others want Gujarat's `Suraksha Setu Project' aimed at crime prevention

Eight states have heeded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for “cooperative and competitive federalism“ and expressed willingness to replicate some of the award-winning egovernance initiatives implemented in other parts of the country.Prime Minister's home state Gujarat and Congress-ruled Karnataka head the list of states whose projects are most popular, details accessed by ET show.While four states want to replicate Karnataka's `Effective Vehicles Database Management System', three states want to copy Gujarat's `Suraksha Setu Project' aimed at crime prevention.Gujarat, which has won two dozen national e-governance awards since 2008, has found takers for its other projects too.
The PM had given the call in February and on the Civil Services Day in April further exhorted state governments to send their teams to study the award-winning initiatives of other states and identify which they would like to replicate.
Officials said the Prime Minister's Office is keeping an eye on the exercise. “At the next Civil Services Day, the PM could be briefed on the award-winning e-governance initiatives as well as those awarded for excellence in public administration that have been picked for replication by other states,“ a senior government official said.
Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland want to replicate the project implemented by Kar nataka in Mandya to trace the owners of unclaimed vehicles lying in police stations. Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Assam also want to replicate Suraksha Setu project, under which 604 CCTV cameras, connected to a control room through a 200-km long underground optical fibre network, have been installed at 113 strategic locations, leading to a reduction in crime rate by a third.
Besides, Maharashtra and Jharkhand want to replicate Gujarat's `Barcoded Ration Card' project and `Biometric Food Coupon' project, which won a national award last year for ensuring there is no leakage in public distribution system. Chhattisgarh, on the oth er hand, is replicating `Gujarat's Mineral Administration and Governance through ICT (MAGIC)' project.
Modi, while addressing civil servants in April, had suggested that teams of officers from each state visit the districts in states which had won awards for their initiatives. “See how the project was conceptualised, what were the resources, how the infrastructure was created, what difficulties were faced...you can come back to your state and see if it can be replicated or suitably modified to be implemented in your district.This process should be institutionalised. Let's begin it...it's not enough to just print a booklet on the award-winning initiatives,“ he had said.
Earlier, in February, while addressing chief ministers at the first governing council meeting of NITI Aayog, the PM had said that he saw great scope for states to share their best practices and create a portal for state functionaries to share their experiences.
ET VIEW
First, Make More Spectrum Available
Competition among states to serve people better using technology is healthy. Hopefully, the Centre's Digital India initiative will also help prevent corruption in government services by making most things available online.For e-governance projects to be successful, and citizens to transact online, the ability of the telecom infrastructure to carry data needs to grow manifold. That, in turn, depends on the availability of spectrum. The Centre must have policies to ensure that more spectrum is made available cheap. Only then can states replicate e-governance initiatives.