Women Recruitment in Police to be increased to 33 percent

Union Home Minister inaugurates 7th National Conference on Women in Police

Women Recruitment in Police to be increased to 33 percent

Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 7th National Conference on Women in Police at CRPF Academy, Kadarpur, Gurgaon today. The three day Conference (Jan 6- 8, 2016) is being attended by about 300 women personnel of State and Central Police Forces, from the rank of Constable to the Director General.

The theme of this Conference is “Capacity Building and Leadership” and the sub themes are Role of Women in Conflict Resolution; Work and Life Balance; Creating Gender-Sensitive Work Infrastructure and Equipment; and Strategies to handle human trafficking.

Shri Rajnath Singh expressed his happiness to participate in the Conference. The Home Minister said that women represent about 50% of the population and self sustained development of the country is not possible without the participation of 50% women population of the country. He highlighted the contribution of the women in the development of the country and mentioned that India is the country where women are given special status and respect. Shri Rajnath Singh mentioned that the women in the country achieved all posts ranging from the President, the Prime Minister and many other top positions in the country.

Regarding the representation of the women in Police and Central Armed Police Force, the Home Minister said that the women’s representation is not adequate and the Government is committed to give adequate representation to them He mentioned that the Ministry of Home Affairs has already issued instructions for 33% recruitment of women in the Police in UTs and the same has been approved for the CAPF recently. Shri Rajnath Singh said that the MHA will implement 33% implementation in CRPF and CISF to begin with and 15% in border guarding forces such as BSF, SSB & ITBP.

The Home Minister said that Kerala was the first Indian state to have women in the police force beginning with the first women inducted into the then Travancore Royal Police in 1933. Thereafter recruitment of women into the police in other states began only after independence. In 1981, women accounted for 0.4% of the total police in the country. But recently the number of women in Police increased gradually and it was 6.11% in 2014. Shri Rajnath Singh hoped that the recommendations of this Conference will be useful not only to the women but to the entire police force to make it more effective. He mentioned that the women are presently heading National Police Academy and are working as Directors General of different CAPFs. Their professional excellence needs special appreciation and there is need for equity in thinking and actions, Shri Rajnath Singh added. The Home Minister said that the MHA will do its best for the welfare and promotion of professional excellence in women police officers.

Shri Rajnath Singh also hoped that the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) will set up a cell of research and development for increasing the representation of women in Police and CAPFs. The cell should attempt to underline the role of women in Police in India, to discuss and find solutions to improve their working conditions and organizational response to their increasing number in Police, to mainstream them as key players in leadership roles of the oganisation, to provide for their capacity building and plan for their career and to celebrate their contribution and achievements as agents of change in the Organisation.

Shri Prakash Mishra, DG, CRPF, Smt Vimla Mehra, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police and Conference Chairperson among senior officers from MHA were present at the Conference.

Government brings paradigm shift in the approach for faster implementation under 'Namami Gange' programme

Government brings paradigm shift in the approach for faster implementation under 'Namami Gange' programme

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for taking up Hybrid Annuity based Public Private Partnership (PPP) model under Namami Gange Programme which aims to reform the wastewater sector in India. Marking a paradigm shift in the implementation mode, Hybrid Annuity based Public Private Partnership (PPP) model will now be adopted to ensure performance, efficiency, viability and sustainability. In this model, a part of the capital investment (upto 40%) will be paid by government through construction linked milestones and the balance through an annuity over the contract duration upto 20 years.

Keeping in view the specialized nature of this model and to scale it up in future on sustainable basis, the Government is establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to plan, structure, procure concessionaires, monitor implementation of such PPP projects and develop market for treated waste water through appropriate policy advocacy under overall guidance of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). The SPV will be established under Indian Companies Act 2013 for providing required governance framework and enabling functional autonomy.

The SPV would enter into a Tripartite Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with participating State Governments and concerned Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) for taking up individual projects. These MoAs will aim at introducing reforms and regulatory measures for recovery of user charges on Polluters Pay principle, restrictions on usage of ground & fresh water for non-potable purposes through stricter monitoring and guidelines that promote re¬use of treated wastewater.

The Ministry in a first of its kind has already entered into an MoU with Ministries of Railways, for purchase of treated water from STPs wherever feasible to facilitate faster market development for treated wastewater. Similar MoUs are also being worked out with other Ministries of Power, Petroleum, Industries etc.

This is a futuristic step taken by the Government where the market development for treated waste water and structural reforms are complementing the projects. This will help taking up more number of projects with the same allocation as made available under Namami Gange programme with reduced financial liability in the initial years. Spreading the stakes of the private participant over the entire period of concession would ensure continued operations over long-term. Linking of performance standards with the annuities will ensure desired objective of treated water of appropriate standard. It would help gradual capacity building of the Urban Local Bodies by setting ground for recovery of user charges on Polluter Pays Principle. Development of the market for treated water will lead to reduced demand on riverine fresh-water and will result in enhanced flows in river Ganga. These steps would also kick-start the process of responsible use of water in general and go a long way in mitigating the projected water shortage in the country.

Background:

It had been observed that benefits accrued from substantial investments made under various past programmes (Ganga Action Plan I & II, NGRBA, Yamuna Action Plan) were less than optimal. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), almost 30% of the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) monitored in the 4 states of UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar & West Bengal were not operational and 94% were non-compliant with the prescribed effluent standards.

Cabinet's approval addresses the above issues that acted as road blocks for all previous efforts to clean river Ganga. The approval paves the road ahead for complete reform in the wastewater sector in India, implementation of projects in a fast track mode and ensure effective utilisation of funds released under 100% funded 'Namami Gange' - central sector scheme.

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Cabinet approves Stand Up India Scheme

Cabinet approves Stand Up India Scheme

A boost to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and Women

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today approved the “Stand Up India Scheme” to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, on an average one for eachcategory of entrepreneur. It is expected to benefit atleast 2.5 lakh borrowers.

The expected date of reaching the target of at least 2.5 lakh approvals is 36 months from the launch of the Scheme.

The Stand Up India Scheme provides for:

• Refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs. 10,000 crore.

• Creation of a credit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).

• Handholding support for borrowers both at the pre loan stage and during operations. This would include increasing their familiarity with factoring services, registration with online platforms and e-market places as well as sessions on best practices and problem solving.

The details of the scheme are as follows:

• Focus is on handholding support for both SC/ST and Women borrowers.

• The overall intent of the approval is to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to these under-served sectors of the population by facilitating bank loans repayable up to 7 years and between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 100 lakh for greenfield enterprises in the non farm sector set up by such SC, ST and Women borrowers.

• The loan under the scheme would be appropriately secured and backed by a credit guarantee through a credit guarantee scheme for which Department of Financial Services would be the settler and National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd. (NCGTC) would be the operating agency.

• Margin money of the composite loan would be up to 25%. Convergence with state schemes is expected to reduce the actual requirement of margin money for a number of borrowers. • Over a period of time, it is proposed that a credit history of the borrower be built up through Credit Bureaus.

Background:

The "Start up India Stand up India" initiative was announced by the PrimeMinister in his address to the nation on 15th August, 2015. The Stand up Indiacomponent is anchored by Department of Financial Services (DFS) to encouragegreenfield enterprises by SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs.

Disenfranchising the poor

The right to contest elections may not be a statutory or legal right but it definitely is the essential feature of democratic process

Last month, the Supreme Court in a far reaching judgement upheld the Haryana government’s decision to bar certain categories of citizens from contesting local elections. The judgement delivered by a two-judge bench in the Rajbala and others versus the State of Haryana maintained the constitutionality of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which listed the following categories as criteria for ineligibility to contest local elections: (i) persons against whom charges are framed in criminal cases for offences punishable with imprisonment for not less than 10 years, (ii) persons who fail to pay arrears, if any, owed by them to either a Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society or District Central Cooperative Bank or District Primary Agricultural Rural Development Bank, (iii) persons who have arrears of electricity bills, (iv) persons who do not possess the specified educational qualification and lastly (v) persons not having a functional toilet at their residence.

While there is no disagreeing with the court’s verdict on legal grounds of the supremacy of the state legislature to define criteria for eligibility to contest elections, the issue at hand is not the legality of the decision. As the judgement rightly points out, there have been various disqualifications for contesting elections at different levels and these have also been modified from time to time. The issue is not whether a certain category of citizens can be debarred from contesting, but what kind of disqualifications can be treated as valid. And it is this issue which is at the core of not only the functioning of the democracy in the country but, more importantly, the relationship between state and citizens.

There are certain categories of disqualifications which are applicable in the case of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, too. These are, apart from age restrictions, mostly on whether the candidate is of sound mental health or has any criminal convictions, both of which are individual traits—either a health condition or activities that make a person unfit to be elected. The problem lies in the judgement treating education and toilets as essential qualifications for contesting elections. In these cases, the state uses its authority to decide what kind of representatives the citizens choose, thereby subverting the very foundation of democratic polity which is built on the notion of people deciding what kind of state they want.

Both these are traits which are as much in the domain of the individual as they are the outcomes of the social and economic policies of governments. Since acquiring an educational degree is as much an outcome of the existence of proper schooling facilities, availability of teachers, cost of acquiring the educational qualifications and so on, the state has no right to disqualify a citizen for the inadequacies or inefficiencies in the proper provisioning of these. The same is true of a proper functioning toilet which is also a function of the availability of money, land and housing, most of which are lacking in rural areas for a significant section of the rural population. The fact that a substantial section of the rural population lacks even proper pucca housing despite the government’s efforts to provide these, implies that the poor can hardly be blamed for not having a proper toilet at home. It is a classic case of the state blaming the poor for not acquiring physical or moral assets which are beyond the control of the individual. The class of citizens that is most affected by these are also the ones which the state should try and protect and empower through the democratic process.

The issue is essentially one of the role of the state which instead of empowering these communities is now penalising them by disenfranchising them. And it is important to note that the process of empowerment is not just the right to vote but also to contest elections and thereby raise the voice of the marginalised. The right to contest elections may not be a statutory or legal right but it definitely is the essential feature of democratic process.

Unfortunately, such contempt for the poor is not new. A classic case is a petition filed in the Bombay high court in 2005 to take away the voting rights of slum dwellers by actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar, writer Subhash Bhende and other personalities. The arguments then were similar to those made this time which essentially defined the characteristics of a good citizen. It is worth reminding ourselves that the long history of democracy is full of such discriminations— whether against blacks, women or poor. In most developed nations, some of these categories were not allowed to be part of the democratic process as late as the 1950s.

It was these concerns which led our Constitution makers to opt for a system of universal adult franchise. It was not just limited to the right to vote but also the right to contest, where the limitations are kept to a minimum. So much so that even in the case of separate electorate for certain categories such as graduates and teachers in the case of state legislative councils, the limitation was on the constituents of the electoral college and not on the candidates.

The problem is not just these disqualifications. These are just the beginning, with many states already having passed similar laws which disqualify candidates on various attributes ranging from open defecation, education, family planning norms to being sick with leprosy or tuberculosis which are beyond the control of the individual and are certainly discriminatory. The larger issue is the state using the democratic process to cover its own inadequacies in providing basic services to the citizens. By defining these as individual traits, the state is also altering the basic foundation of the Constitution where most of these have been treated as fundamental duties of the state. By doing so, the state is not just washing its hands of protecting these basic rights but is ensuring the voices representing these communities are muted. The danger of the democratic process being usurped by the elites and the executive to penalise the poor is not just redefining the relationship between the state and citizens but is also an attack on the basic intent of the Constitution and the democratic functioning of our country.

Li-Fi: A green avatar of Wi-Fi

Li-Fi is not expected to completely replace Wi-Fi, but the two technologies could be used complementarily to create more efficient, green and future-proof access networks

Li-Fi is not expected to completely replace Wi-Fi, but the two technologies could be used complementarily to create more efficient, green and future-proof access networks.

Li-Fi, or light fidelity, invented by German physicist and professor Harald Haas, is a wireless technology that makes use of visible light in place of radio waves to transmit data at terabits per second speeds—more than 100 times the speed of Wi-Fi.

Though it was discovered in the last decade, proofs of concept to test commercial utilization started emerging only in 2015. To start with, it is being tested for indoor usage, i.e., in offices and establishments, but it is also sure to go outdoor in a big way by making use of existing infrastructure used for street and traffic lights, which are already moving towards LED lamps.

Li-Fi offers great promise to overcome the existing limitations of Wi-Fi by providing for data-heavy communication in short ranges. Since it does not pollute, it can be called a green technology for device-to-device communication in the Internet of Things (IoT).

Move towards greener wireless communication

A technical solution for wireless pollution, power shortages and unavailability at outdoor locations should meet the 3L criteria: low interference, low power and low maintenance.

In addition, it has to support the three Hs of high data rates, high reliability and high affordability. Since Li-Fi relies on visual light and not radio waves as the carrier, it has potential for the first two Hs, but the last one—high affordability—may be achieved only when volumes increase, as it has in the case of Wi-Fi.

The above characteristics can be met by an all-IP (packetized) Li-Fi system utilizing existing LED lamps which are ruggedized, have a high MTBF (mean time between failure) and consume less power, therefore replacing conventional lamps on existing structures in both indoor as well as outdoor without need for any additional power supply.

To make LED lamps capable of working as an access point as in Wi-Fi, a kind of media converter is required to convert the electrical data signal into photons (light), and a light detector which converts light into electricity is required on the receiving device end.

Potential applications

Li-Fi is still in its infancy, but some fields where it seems eminently usable are street and traffic lights. Traffic lights can communicate to the vehicles and with each other. Vehicles having LED-based headlights and tail lamps can communicate with each other and prevent accidents by exchanging information. Also, through the use of Li-Fi, traffic control can be made intelligent and real-time adaptable. Actually, each traffic and street light post can be converted into access points to convert roadsides into wireless hot spots.

Visible light being safer, they can also be used in places where radio waves can’t be used such as petrochemical and nuclear plants and hospitals. Similarly, in aircraft, where most of the control communication is performed through radio waves, there are restrictions on passenger communication using the same media, which can be easily handled through use of Li-Fi.

Li-Fi can also easily work underwater, where Wi-Fi fails completely, thereby throwing open endless opportunities for military and navigational operations. Still, the technology comes with some limitations.

As visual light can’t pass through opaque objects and needs line of sight for communication, its range will remain very restricted to start with. Also, it is likely to face interference from external light sources, such as sunlight and bulbs, and obstructions in the path of transmission, and hence may cause interruptions in communication.

Also, initially, there will be high installation costs of visual light communication systems as an add-on to lighting systems. Li-Fi receiving devices will require adapters to transmit data back to the transmitter.

Challenges and opportunity in India

The lack of ubiquitous broadband access, which thereby restricts data access, and chaotic traffic management leading to traffic jams and pollution are just two of the many problems in India. Li-Fi has scope to help with both. By converting traffic lights into LED-based access points, traffic management can be made intelligent, adaptive and real-time—and so, more efficient and effective. In the same way, street lights can also be converted into Li-Fi access points, making them broadband access transmitters to mobile Li-Fi enabled smartphones, converting areas into seamless hot spots.

The main challenge is to create a Li-Fi ecosystem, which will need the conversion of existing smartphones into Li-Fi enabled ones by the use of a converter/adapter. Also, an integrated chip that has both light-to-electrical conversion and data-processing capability (Wi-Fi/Bluetooth) combined into one needs to be developed and manufactured in the millions. This is one opportunity where the country can capture the initial lead advantage, making up for earlier missed cases.

If Li-Fi can be put into practical use, every LED lamp (indoor as well as outdoor) can be converted into something like a hot spot to transmit data to every mobile device to achieve universal broadband communication between devices. Also, it presents another unique possibility: transmitting power wirelessly, wherein the smartphone will not only receive data through Li-Fi, but will also receive power to charge itself.

Is the Internet a public good?

As an enabler of development, its primary value is for providing access to other basic goods and services

The growth of the Internet in the 1990s led to the fear of a new kind of social inequity in the form of the digital divide. A contrary view was that the new technology had the potential to overcome previously existing divides, provided government support was available in order to overcome the challenges of ICT (information and communications technology) in under-served areas. A view not examined enough is the relevance of the Internet in the context of the need to balance the allocation of scarce public money among different urgent priorities.

The European Union Universal Service Directive of 2002 suggested that a necessary condition for a service to be included within the ambit of universal service is that, in the light of social, economic and technological developments, the ability to use the service has become critical for social inclusion—that is, it is a consumption norm.

Some governments have tried to operationalize the notion by setting a trigger mechanism in the form of a minimum number of users of a service that would need to be crossed before provision of subsidies for its universalization is considered. While the number of Internet users in India has multiplied, the number of active users is still too low for the Internet to be considered a “consumption norm” that a government is obligated to provide.

Government funds can also be deployed to correct market failures and realize positive externalities. Since the 1980s, sophisticated statistical techniques have been used to establish cause-effect relationships between the adoption of new technologies—the mobile phone, the Internet and broadband—and gross domestic product (GDP) growth. In India, for example, such studies show that a 10% increase in Internet penetration can increase the GDP by 1.6% in the presence of a minimum penetration level of 25%. These studies have become the basis for calls for the use of public money for Internet access and broadband expansion.

However, there are three major conceptual issues with such policy conclusions. First, these studies do not claim that the new technologies will yield positive spillovers prior to the threshold level of penetration being reached. Many under-served areas lie far below the threshold. Second, these studies do not establish that the bang per buck of the new technology is greater than that for other basic inputs such as education, roads or health. Third, these econometric studies are typically carried out with either a country or a province within a country as the unit of analysis. Given the immense size and heterogeneity of the unit, the claims do not automatically extend to the sub-unit level—for example, to rural areas within a province.

Indeed, there are reasons to believe that the externalities may not accrue in many rural areas at their present level of development. Unlike roads, the provision of digital connectivity is not sufficient to ensure empowerment or even equitable inclusion of the target population. The reaping of benefits requires the ability and willingness to use the new technology on the part of the intended beneficiaries, relevant content and applications, and affordability. Mere access without a host of complementary inputs is unlikely to lead to positive spillovers.

As per the “enabler of development” rationale, the Internet has value not in and of itself but rather as a medium that gives access to other basic goods and services. Indeed, ICT for development projects cover many domains including healthcare, education, online government services and the provision of commodity price information to small producers.

Two implications emerge from this. First, the level of provision of the basic goods and services facilitated via ICT should adhere to some consumption norm. In the case of the provision of health services, for example, the government needs to aim for a level that at the minimum achieves the targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Second, since the provision of basic services using ICT is dependent on the availability of other complementary inputs, the decision on the level of a particular ICT service that is to be provided cannot be made without reference to the presence of other complementary inputs. Continuing with the healthcare example, the ICT network should develop in rough alignment with the complementary institutions, processes and skills needed to provide remote medical services.

The provision of connectivity can to some extent substitute for the other inputs. However, the substitutability peters out beyond a point and then the provision of advanced connectivity amounts to wastage of social resources.

There is also the view that the provision of connectivity will trigger the provision of complementary inputs and the development of ability to use (“build it and they will come”). However, the experience of several government schemes in India shows that there are limits to this rationale for advance build-out of connectivity.

The conclusions from this exploration are that “universal access” to the Internet need not be interpreted as “uniform access” and the build-out of networks should be aligned to the absorptive capacity of a region. The deliberations on the national optic fibre network and “free basics” could benefit from such a nuanced approach.

Ministry of Railways Prepares Concept Paper On Rail Development Authority of India

Ministry of Railways Prepares Concept Paper On Rail Development Authority of India

The Concept Paper Has Been Uploaded On The Railway Ministry’s Website www.indianrailways.gov.in

Comments and Suggestions Invited From The Public About This Authority

The Comments Can Be Submitted By 30^th January, 2016

            Ministry of Railways has prepared a concept paper on Rail Development authority of India which has been uploaded on the Indian Railway website namely www.indianrailways.gov.in. The salient features of the Note are:

·         Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in his speech for Rail Budget 2015-16 had said that for orderly development of infrastructure services, enabling competition and protection of customer interest, it is important to have a regulation mechanism independent of the service provider. The concept paper has been prepared in line with the vision presented by the Minister of Railways.

·         National Transport Development Policy Committee (NTDPC) Report of 2014 had recommended that a Rail Tariff Authority should be set up which should become the overall regulator. Later Bibek Debroy Committee Report had also recommended a regulator with overarching functions.

·         Many of the countries like U.K, Russia, US, Australia, Germany have regulatory structure in some form or the other.

·         The Authority will discharge functions in a manner to protect the interest of consumers, ensuring quality of service, promoting competition, encouraging market development, efficient allocation of resources, provide non-discriminatory open access specially on DFC and to benchmark service levels for ensuring quality, continuity and reliability of service.

·         The Authority will undertake four key functions:

o   Fixing tariff.

o   Ensuring fair play and level playing field for private investment in railways.

o   Determination of efficiency and performance standards.

o   Dissemination of information. 

·         The Authority can initially be set up through an executive order and can be subsequently strengthen through a legislation process.

·         The Authority will consist of Chairman and four other members who have experience and knowledge in railways, infrastructure, finance, law, management and consumer affairs.