PM asks NITI Aayog to create a vision for transformational change

PM: The time for incremental change is long over

PM asks NITI Aayog to create a vision for transformational change

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today called upon NITI Aayog to create a vision document that would, chart a roadmap for India’s development for the next fifteen years, and also lay the foundation for the country’s growth over the next decades of the 21st century.

Interacting with members of the NITI Aayog, the Prime Minister said the time for incremental change, that was the norm across the world for quite some time, is now over. He said the current age is one that requires transformational change. He highlighted the importance of technology as an emerging driver of change over the last three decades, and asserted that this pace of change would not slacken. The Prime Minister asserted that the Union Government has the courage and the ability to deliver transformational change for bettering the lives of the people.

He pointed out that, historically, Indian policy-makers had tended to lament its constraints rather than play to its strengths. Laying out the broad contours of India’s development path, the Prime Minister said that judicious and intelligent application of India’s natural resources and human resources, would be at the heart of this change. Giving several illustrations of this theme, he mentioned use of available land, the country’s mineral wealth, and vast untapped solar energy potential. In a similar way, he said India has made sub-optimal use so far of its vast coastline.

Talking about human resource development, the Prime Minister said focused skill development is vital, as India has the potential to fulfil the global requirement of human resources in the future. The Prime Minister stressed on the need to develop India’s tourism potential. He said partnership with States for promoting development and boosting exports is not just an element of cooperative federalism, but also the need of the hour.

Turning to Agriculture, the Prime Minister said the focus cannot be on increasing agricultural productivity alone, but should be on the overall development of a vibrant rural economy. He emphasized the importance of the food processing sector, warehouse development, and technology inputs, in this sector.

The Prime Minister said that the intentions (niyat) of the policy-makers are even more important than the policies (niti) themselves. Stressing on the need to build capacities for good governance, he highlighted the importance of real-time data availability.

He urged the NITI Aayog to take inspiration from events such as the success of the Give-it-Up campaign, and the widespread positive response from the people to the Swachhta Abhiyan. This experience disproves the assumption commonly made by experts that people are only interested in benefits for themselves; it shows that people are motivated by the larger public good.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for Planning, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, the Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog Shri Arvind Panagariya, and Members of the NITI Aayog, besides senior officers from the NITI Aayog, PMO and Cabinet Secretariat.

ambiguous territorial claims over South China Sea

China has been trying to assert its ambiguous territorial claims over South China Sea since years by building up its navy and constructing artificial islands.
People’s Republic of China claims Nine-dash line area, which covers most of the South China sea and overlaps exclusive economic zone claims of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
China has not specified the exact meaning of the nine-dash line. It is not clear, for example, whether the country claims everything within the line as its sovereign possession or merely the islands and their surrounding waters
China claims it has historical rights in the South China Sea.
China also says the country also has ancestral fishing rights.
Claims of other countries

• Vietnam hotly disputes China’s historical account, saying China had never claimed sovereignty over the islands before the 1940s.
• Vietnam says it has actively ruled over both the Paracels and the Spratlys since the 17th Century.
• Philippines invokes its geographical proximity to the Spratly Islands as the main basis of its claim for part of the grouping.
• In May 2014, China established an oil rig near the Paracel Islands, leading to multiple incidents between Vietnamese and Chinese ships.
• The oil rig dispute has coincided with further tensions between China and the Philippines over the Spratly Islands.

Importance of South China Sea

• About a third of world trade passes through its sea lanes, including most of China’s oil imports.
• It contains large reserves of oil and gas.
• South China Sea also contains rich fishing grounds.
• Control of the South China Sea would allow China to dominate a major trade route.

Disputes in South china sea

• UNCLOS has been signed and ratified by nearly all the coastal countries in the South China Sea.
• But territorial disputes still persist, primarily over the Spratly and Paracel Islands as well as the Scarborough Shoal.
• Spratlys has been occupied by saveral claimants, which consist of Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, China and Malaysia.
• The Paracel Islands are the subject of overlapping claims from China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
• In 1974 South Vietnamese troops were driven from the Paracels by Chinese forces.
• A further clash between Vietnamese and Chinese forces occurred in 1988.
• Another major dispute is over the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Ruling of Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA):-

• This case was brought by the Philippines in 2013, after China grabbed control of a reef, called Scarborough Shoal, about 220 miles (350km) north-west of Manila.
• PCA has declared China’s “historic claims” in the South China Sea invalid.
• It is a place of multiple overlapping maritime claims and a growing military presence.
• China’s island building activities and conduct in the Mischief Reef — not the Second Thomas Shoal — constitute a violation of its obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• China has a positive obligation not to impede Filipino fishing vessels from exercising their EEZ rights, and to prevent Chinese fishermen from exploiting the same resources.
• Court ruled that only claims consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) were valid.
• Under UNCLOS, which came into force in 1982 and which China ratified in 1996, maritime rights derive from land, not history and there was “no legal basis” for China to claim historic rights within it.
• Countries may claim an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (370km) off their coasts, or around islands. Based on this, the tribunal ruled that the nine-dash line had no standing.
• Court ruled that claims of China had been building on rocks that were visible only at low tide, and hence not eligible to claim territorial waters and China had violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines, which has an EEZ covering them.

China’s stand and possible steps post-ruling?
China has refused to take part in the proceedings of court and court’s proceedings and has denied accepting, recognising or executing the verdict.
Although as a member of UNCLOS it is supposed to obey the court, but there is no enforcement mechanism.
China has repeatedly attacked the credibility of the PCA and the arbitration process, and will likely continue to do so.
China has attempted to create a coalition of states that rejects the arbitration proceedings, and may continue this effort.
China could continue its land reclamation and construction efforts in the Spratly Islands, which have added over 3,200 acres of land to the seven features Beijing occupies.
China has already threatened to establish an Aircraft Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Could China be forced to accept?
In global governance, the supreme executive body is the U.N. Security Council, and China holds veto power as a permanent member.
Even the Security Council must rely on member states to enforce its decisions, including binding measures under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter. Similarly, the PCA ruling will have to be enforced by members of the international community.
Thus enforcement powers is lacking with PCA’s decision, biggest benefit it provides is a fresh opportunity for diplomacy in the South China Sea and ensures that any action in the region will be subject to the strict scrutiny of a global audience.
Why does it matter to India?
After PCA ruling against Chinese claims over South China Sea, Indian naval warships can now move through the region under UNCLOS without informing the Chinese.
The Chinese, by claiming 80 per cent of South China Sea, have been asking India to notify Beijing of movement of Indian warships through those shipping lanes.
India, like China, is a signatory to the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas) that mandates a certain maritime behaviour and norms.
In 2014, India had accepted an unfavourable ruling versus Bangladesh, in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Now India is closely looking that what would be the course of action of China in the similar situation, non-compliance may bring the stature of PCA down in the eyes of other countries, including India.

SpaceX launches space station docking port for NASA

SpaceX launches space station docking port for NASA
SpaceX launched a critical space station docking port for astronauts early on Monday, along with a DNA decoder for high-flying genetic research.

As an extra treat, the company brought its leftover first-stage booster back to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a vertical landing only the second such land landing for an orbital mission and the ultimate in recycling. Twin sonic booms rocked the night, incoming shuttle-style.

The unmanned Falcon rocket streaked through the middle-of-the-night darkness, carrying 5,000 pounds of food, experiments and equipment for the International Space Station. The orbiting outpost was soaring over the North Atlantic at lift-off, its six residents asleep.

It was SpaceX’s second shot at delivering a new-style docking port for NASA. The last one went up in smoke over the Atlantic last year, a rocket accident casualty.

NASA needs this new docking setup at the International Space Station before Americans can fly there in crew capsules set to debut next year. SpaceX is building astronaut-worthy versions of its Dragon cargo ships, while Boeing which makes these docking ports is working on a crew capsule called Starliner. The pair would dock to this ring and another due to fly in a year.

The Dragon and its latest shipment are due Wednesday at the 250-mile-high outpost.

NASA’s space station program manager Kirk Shireman expected to be “sweating bullets without a doubt” at lift-off, as always. He said all the cargo is precious, but really wants this docking port “up there safe and sound.”

SpaceX, meanwhile, had its sights not only on orbit, but also on the ground.

SpaceX brought its leftover first-stage booster back to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just a couple miles from where it lifted off. The company has now pulled off five vertical booster landings since December, three on an ocean platform and two on land. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered loudly and applauded when the 15-story booster touched down smoothly.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk wants to refly his rockets to shave launch costs the ultimate in recycling. The boosters normally are ditched at sea. The company hopes to launch its first recovered rocket this fall.

The station’s two Americans will perform a spacewalk in August to hook up the new docking ring, about 5 feet across and 3 1/2 feet tall. Another port cobbled together from spare parts will replace the one lost in the June 2015 launch accident.

NASA went with private companies to supply the space station in the wake of the shuttle retirement five years ago this week.

Rank of India in World Tourism Industry

Rank of India in World Tourism Industry

State Wise Number of Foreign Tourists Visiting India

As per the UNWTO Barometer (Volume 14, May 2016), during 2015, India ranks 40th in terms of International Tourists Arrivals.

The number of Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs) to different States/UTs during 2013, 2014 and 2015 is given below. This information is not available for the year 2016.

As per the 2nd Tourism Satellite Account of India - 2009-10 and subsequent estimation for the next three years namely 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, the contribution of tourism to total Employment in the Country during 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 were 10.17%, 10.78%, 11.49% and 12.36%, respectively.

The FTVs during 2015 was highest in West (30.6%) followed by South (29.1%), North (28.4%), East (11.4%) and North East (0.5%). The region-wise number of FTVs during 2013, 2014 and 2015 is also given below.

As per the Report of the ‘Working Group on Tourism’ for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) set up by the then Planning Commission, the requirement of additional hotel rooms under classified category in 2016 over 2010 is estimated to be 1,90,108.

Construction of hotels is primarily a private sector activity. The Ministry of Tourism, however, has advised the State Governments/UT Administrations to follow tourism friendly policies for augmenting hotel room supply like allotting land sites for hotels on revenue sharing basis, granting extra Floor Space Index (FSI)/ Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for hotels, adopt Single Window approach for clearing hotel projects, rationalization of taxes, etc.

To encourage the growth of budget hotels, the following incentives were announced by the Government:

Ø Extension of Investment Linked tax incentives under Section 35AD of the Income Tax Act to new hotels of 2-Star category and above anywhere in India, which will facilitate growth of Accommodation in the country.
Ø The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has de-linked credit for hotel projects from Commercial Real Estate (CRE), thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and reduced interest rates.
Ø Hotel and Tourism related industry has been declared a high priority industry and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed upto 100% under the automatic route.

The Ministry of Finance, Government of India has also included the following in the “Harmonised list of Infrastructure Sub Sector” to boost supply of hotel rooms in the country:

Ø Three Star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with population of more than 1 million.
Ø Hotels with a project cost of more than Rs.200 crore each in any place in India and of any star rating.

Drone Based Agricultural Technology

Drone Based Agricultural Technology

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) through the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has formulated a collaborative research project entitled “SENSAGRI: SENsor based Smart AGRIculture” involving six partner Institutes (Agriculture & IT) to be funded by Information Technology Research Academy (ITRA), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Govt. of India and ICAR. The major objective is to develop indigenous prototype for drone based crop and soil health monitoring system using hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) sensors. This technology could also be integrated with satellite-based technologies for large scale applications.

Drone technology based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has ability for smooth scouting over farm fields, gathering precise information and transmitting the data on real time basis. This capability could be used for the benefit of farming sector at regional/local scale for assessing land and crop health; extent, type and severity of damage besides issuing forewarning, post-event management and settlement of compensation under crop insurance schemes. 

Milk Production and per capita Availabilty of Milk in the County

Milk Production and per capita Availabilty of Milk in the County

The total quantum of milk produced in the county during 2015-16 is 155.5 million tonnes and the per-capita availability of milk is 337 grams per day. The State/UTs- wise per capita availability of milk during 2015-16 is given below.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) is implementing the following Dairy Development Schemes to increase the production of milk:

(i)        National Dairy Plan (Phase-I): The Government of India has approved National Dairy Plan Phase- I (NDP-I) with an outlay of Rs. 2,242 Crore for  implementation during 2011-12 to 2018-19 as a Central Sector Scheme in 18 major milk producing states.

(ii)      National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) under the Central Sector Scheme “National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development”.

(iii)       Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme: “Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS)” is implemented through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) across the country.

The Government does not have any special scheme for setting up of high-tech dairies to boost milk production. However, the Department is implementing “Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme” (DEDS) from 1.09.2010 through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in which back ended capital subsidy (25% of the project cost for General Category and 33.33% for SC & ST beneficiaries) is provided under bankable projects through eligible financial institutions, subject to the norms of the scheme for establishment of small dairy unit from 2 to 10 crossbred cows or indigenous cows/ buffaloes.

The mechanism for ensuring availability of quality milk in the country is governed under Food Safety & Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 which is implemented by the Food  Safety & Standards Authority of  India  through  the  State/Union  Territories’  Food  Safety  Commissioners. 

State-wise Per Capita  Availability of Milk During  2015-16
(gram/day)
Sl. No.	States/UTs	per capita availability
1	Andhra Pradesh#	475
2	Arunachal Pradesh	105
3	Assam	70
4	Bihar	219
5	Chhattisgarh	133
6	Goa	74
7	Gujarat	545
8	Haryana	877
9	Himachal Pradesh	505
10	Jammu & Kashmir	395
11	Jharkhand	152
12	Karnataka	282
13	Kerala	200
14	Madhya Pradesh	428
15	Maharashtra	239
16	Manipur	76
17	Meghalaya	83
18	Mizoram	57
19	Nagaland	89
20	Odisha	124
21	Punjab	1032
22	Rajasthan	704
23	Sikkim	282
24	Tamil Nadu	283
25	Tripura	109
26	Uttar Pradesh	335
27	Uttarakhand	434
28	West Bengal	145
29	A&N Islands	87
30	Chandigarh	93
31	Dadra & N. Haveli	72
32	Daman & Diu	10
33	Delhi	36
34	Lakshadweep	113
35	Puducherry	108
All India		337
#Included Telangana Note: Per capita availability is calculated  based on State estimates of production and projected population as on 1st March, based on Census of India 2001 of RGI

Indian federalism needs the Inter-state Council

Indian federalism needs the Inter-state Council
It can be the core component of Modi’s vision of cooperative federalism
B.R. Ambedkar once described India and its states as “one integral whole, its people a single people living under a single imperium derived from a single source”. It was a necessary sentiment at a time when a newly independent and partitioned nation was trying to frame a coherent idea of itself. But the political and economic context has changed drastically since then. The relationship between the centre and the states has failed to keep pace with its evolution.

The Inter-state Council (ISC) meet convened last week after a decade’s gap is thus all the more significant. And the discontent there—chief ministers have voiced their concerns on issues ranging from adventurism by governors to shifting of subjects from the state list to the concurrent list—makes that gap particularly puzzling.

The council, after all, is a proven concept. Based on the Sarkaria Commission’s recommendations, it was constituted under Article 263 of the Constitution in 1990. It proved to be crucial in the implementation of many of the commission’s 247 other recommendations, such as altering the states’ share of central taxes. Just as importantly, the council helped bridge the trust deficit between the centre and the states. If not always a problem solver, it at least acted as a safety valve.

True, there are other bodies such as the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council—it has a similar composition, including the prime minister, chosen cabinet ministers and chief ministers—that could address centre-state issues. But the ISC has constitutional backing, as against the NITI Aayog which only has an executive mandate. This puts the states on more solid footing—an essential ingredient in building the atmosphere of cooperation needed for calibrating centre-state relations.

This latest meet has shown some positive signs. The centre was willing in principle to discuss and implement some of the Punchhi Commission’s recommendations on centre-state relations, broadly falling under legislative, administrative and financial heads. But if the ISC is to be more than a talk shop, it must show that it can follow up. For instance, with regard to legislating on education and forests—both subjects that have been transferred from the state list to the concurrent list—the centre would do well to consult states more extensively and offer them greater flexibility.

The core issues du jour, however, lie elsewhere. Over the decades, the role of governors and, by extension, the relationship between the centre and states headed by rival parties have both come into prominence on occasion. The recent crises in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh show that we are in the midst of one such phase again. Expectedly, a number of chief ministers had much to say about adventurism by governors at the ISC meeting. And the Punchhi Commission has recommendations here as well—from fixing governors’ tenures to mandatory consultation of chief ministers before the appointment of governors and choosing individuals who have been outside active politics for at least a couple of years.

The centre did not commit to anything, which was expected, given the delicate nature of the issue. But the ISC remains the best venue for addressing such concerns. The Supreme Court’s inconsistent rulings in both instances show that there is no certainty there. And the disruption created by such situations imposes heavy administrative and economic costs on the states affected.

Tax devolution is another crucial issue. The acceptance of the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendation to change the quantum of the funds allocated to the states from 32% to 42% of the tax pool was well received at the council meet, for the most part. This crucial shift in the funding pattern implemented by the Narendra Modi government—the goods and services tax, currently on the threshold of being passed, would change the landscape even more drastically—all but mandates periodic consultation and assessment of the kind the ISC can provide.

The challenges of maintaining a federation are many, but the solution is no mystery: healthy debate and discussion. This is easier said than done, of course. In past decades, the centralized nature of the Indian economy—even after liberalization—made papering over the cracks possible. But Modi, to his credit, has a very different federalist vision—one with an emphasis on decentralizing decision making and encouraging state competition. If that vision is to succeed, the ISC must be a core component of the new cooperative federalism.

Can the Inter-state Council improve centre-state relations?