3 June 2014

India Ranks Second in Global Textiles Exports


India has improved its ranking as per the recent data released by ‘UN Comtrade’ in Global Textiles as well as Apparel Exports. In Global Textiles Exports, India now stands at second position beating its competitors like Italy, Germany and Bangladesh, with China still retaining its top position.

Mr. Virender Uppal, Chairman, AEPC, expressed his happiness over this impressive growth and stated that, “Despite having slow recovery in USA and EU, our biggest traditional markets as well as prevailing global slowdown coupled with sustained cost of inflationary inputs, we made the best possible efforts to reach here. The Government policy of diversification of market and product base has helped us and we ventured into the newer markets, which paid huge dividends. We also leveraged our raw material strengths and followed sustained better compliance practices which attracted the buyers and international brands across globe to source from India.”

India’s share in Global Textiles has increased by 17.5% in the year 2013 compared to the previous year. Currently India’s textiles exports to the world is US$ 40.2 billion. This growth is phenomenal as the global textiles growth rate is only 4.7% compared to India as it has registered the growth of 23% beating China and Bangladesh which has registered 11.4% and 15.4%, respectively.

Total global textiles exports is to the tune of US$ 772 billion with India commanding 5.2% of the share. This growth in the increase in share of the Textiles Exports from India is largely attributed to the growth in the Apparel and Clothing sector as it accounts for the almost 43% of the share alone. The Apparel Exports ranking has also improved from 8th position in 2012 to 6th position in 2013. India’s apparel exports, was to the tune of US$ 15.7 billion in 2013, as against US$ 12.9 billion in 2012. Among the top five global clothing suppliers except for the Vietnam; India’s Apparel Exports growth was highest registering 21.8% growth during the year 2013. Apparel exports from India accounts for 3.7% of share in the global readymade garment exports.

Mr. Uppal, while lauding the efforts of the apparel exporters, conveyed his concerns also that while Industry is actually itching to do more, stressed that, “The availability of specialty fabric is a big bottleneck for which AEPC has been aggressively demanding 5% duty scrip for the imports of fabrics. It must be considered favorably by the new Government to boost India’s apparel exports. Garment exporters may be permitted to import it with 5% duty scrip on the input, so as to increase exports and optimally use to the fullest extent our potential. The rising interest rate is another issue which hampers growth for which AEPC once again has put in its request to the Government for a Separate chapter for pre and post shipment export credit at fixed rate of 7.0% interest, as was done in the past also to the apparel export sector and treat Readymade Garment as the priority sector lending. As the Government is contemplating new Union Budget and Foreign Trade policy, I earnestly request Government to concede these two demands of RMG sector utmost priority.”

Increasing labour cost in China, non-compliance of large number of factories in Bangladesh provide India a big opportunity in view of its relative advantage, risk appetite of Indian entrepreneurs and a small push from the Government may help India to get more business as overseas buyers are looking at India as safe and reliable option for the sourcing. But to capture the space in market left by China and Bangladesh, we have to be competitive in pricing, apart from meeting strict timelines, better quality delivery by Indian exporters and therefore, Government agencies active support is very crucial. AEPC is pushing in this direction to seek export friendly enabling environment from the Government, Mr. Uppal added.

Greenhouse catastrophe



All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self evident. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1869.

If one believes that science is an orderly march to the truth, he will be surprised at how sharp the disagreements are. The consensus of scientists is a very weird thing. The issue of global warming from greenhouse gases (GHGs) ~ carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, water vapour and nitrous oxide ~- is a case in point.

For years scientists have debated the issue of global warming. The climate sceptics are of the opinion that the atmosphere, ever in quest of stability, triggers its own natural immunity by activating the buffer mechanism (negative feedback process) that serves as a thermostat to maintain a temperature level. As the earth’s temperature rises, more and more water vapour loads the atmosphere which, in turn, may lead to forming more clouds. But clouds warmed by GHGs will produce rain more efficiently than cooler clouds, and thus both the humidity and the greenhouse warming will get reduced. It has also been claimed that the earth’s climate system is so resilient that it can, in any event, absorb unlimited quantities of GHGs without any harmful consequences. To them the term ‘Greenhouse effect’ is a total misnomer. There are more than 100 other misleading, peripheral, irrelevant, false, and unscientific arguments that are pushed relentlessly in the media by climate sceptics.

Warming of the climate system seems to be self-evident. Many of the extreme weather disasters that have claimed so many lives and caused so much suffering are now directly linked to global warming. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal”, according to the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a consensus document produced by over 2,000 scientists representing every country in the United Nations. The earth’s surface over each of the last three decades has been warmer than any preceding decade since 1850, and has warmed by 0.85 degree Celsius on an average since the pre-industry era. The five hottest years in the entire 20th century occurred in the decade of the 1980s. The decade 2001-2010 was the warmest on record, the UN’s World Metrological Organisation (WMO) noted. Significantly, some regions, like the Arctic and the Himalayas, are warming much faster than this average and the temperature rise has reversed, indicating a downward trend in the earth’s average temperature.

The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) has also warned of the possible impacts of the overwhelming global warming ~ all countries and all social classes will be affected by changes which are likely to be “severe, pervasive and irreversible.”

The devastating effects of global warming are already palpable. Cold days, cold nights, and frost have become less frequent, while heat waves are more common. Globally, precipitation has increased even as Australia, Central Asia, the Mediterranean basin, the Sahel, the western part of the USA, and many other regions have seen more frequent and more intense drought. Heavy rainfall and floods have become more common, and the damage caused by storms and tropical cyclones have increased. During a one-century time scale, the human-induced climate change has been occurring so fast that it gives society and the ecosystem little time to adapt to the rapid speed. According to a study by Princeton University researchers, global warming is facilitating the spread of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that cause human diseases into areas that were formerly hostile to them. Crop diseases and pests are increasing with global warming. Water resources, already under stress, are likely to come under even greater stress. The impact of global warming through diseased agricultural yields, floods, drought and desertification will be felt more intensively mostly in the tropical zones. Animal species face an increased risk of extinction. The best estimates of species losses suggest that around 10 per cent of species will be condemned to extinction for each 10° C temperature rise, with even greater numbers at risk for significant decline.

Throughout the history of urban civilisation, the seas have been slowly and gently rising, as the warmer temperatures of the interglacial period have caused the thermal expansion of ocean water and the melting of terrestrial ice. The rise in the sea-level, witnessed in the 20th century, seemed largely to be linear ~ about one-third of its rise came from thermal expansion ~ from the fact that water increases in volume as it warms. Indeed, during the last half century, global warming has accelerated the melting of ice almost everywhere on the planet. So far it has been mostly mountain glaciers, but the major concern for the future is the giant ice-sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Climate scientists now estimate that Greenland and Antarctica combined have lost on an average about 50 cubic miles of ice each year since 1992 ~ roughly 200 billion metric tons of ice annually. The main sources of the rise in the sea level in the 21st century will be the melting of ice-sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, a non-linear process. Since 1900, the global sea-level has risen about eight inches. It is now rising at about an eighth of an inch a year. If the accelerated melting of Greenland and Antarctica ice-sheets continues, by the end of the 21st century the sea-level rise would be as much as six feet globally. In case the massive Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica breaks free from its rocky berth, the sea-level will rise by three meters ~ nearly ten feet.

Using a conservative prediction of a half-meter rise in the sea-level, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated that by 2070, as many as 150 million people in the world’s large port cities will face the risk of coastal flooding. A recent study states that the water-level in the Sundarbans has been rising at the rate of 3.14 mm per year. “Climate refugees” from coastal areas of Bangladesh have already crowded into the city of Dhaka.

Agricultural areas in low-lying coastal regions are already suffering from the intrusion of sea-water into their freshwater aquifers caused by sea-level-rise. More than 30 percent of CO2 emissions end up in the oceans, turning them gradually more acidic. The resultant acidification seems to impact many forms of sea organisms, especially those whose shells or skeletons are made from calcium carbonate like corals and shell fish. It also interferes with the reproduction of the plankton species which are a vital part of the food web under the sea. Acidity of sea water has also resulted in coral bleaching by expulsion of symbiotic algae. The ocean acidification has been dubbed as the ‘Evil Twin’ of climate change. Even if we stop emissions now, ocean acidification will persist for thousands of years.
The message of the IPCC and climate scientists is crucial and unambiguous. Today’s fossil-fuel-driven civilisation is altering the planet profoundly through changes in the earth’s climate and ocean chemistry. The protracted climate change negotiations are going nowhere with nations entangled in a ‘prisoners’ dilemma. One country suspects the motives of the other; they agree to take measures only if others do so. A worldwide consensus is urgently required to soften the impact of greenhouse gases. Edmund Burke had once remarked: “The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
ख़्वाहिशों से नहीं गिरते महज़ फूल झोली में,
कर्म की शाख को हिलाना होगा
न होगा कुछ कोसने से अंधेरें को,
अपने हिस्से का दीया खुद ही जलाना होगा

2 June 2014

First linguistic State gets split


Telangana to be ushered in amid fanfare and celebrations

The first State to be formed on linguistic basis in the country- Andhra Pradesh, will be divided into two Telugu-speaking States at the stroke of midnight on Sunday with the ushering in of Telangana State amidst fanfare and celebrations in the region.

Following the death of Potti Sriramulu after nearly two months of fasting, which he began on October 19, 1952 demanding formation of linguistic State of Andhra for Telugu-speaking people, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was generally against formation of linguistic provinces, finally conceded the demand and announced on December 16, 1952 that Andhra state would be formed.

This also paved the way for formation of States on similar grounds elsewhere.

Andhra State was born on November 1, 1953 with Kurnool as its capital after it was carved out from Madras Presidency. Three years later, the Telugu-speaking areas in the erstwhile Hyderabad State were merged with it following a Gentleman’s Agreement and Andhra Pradesh was formed on November 1, 1956. The State capital was shifted from Kurnool to Hyderabad.

During the past six decades, Andhra Pradesh with its rich cultural and literary traditions, was witness to many historical milestones and turbulent phases. Some of them include the construction of the world’s largest masonry dam, Nagarjunasagar. Two eminent Telugu litterateurs, Viswanatha Satyanarayana Sastry and Dr.C. Narayana Reddy won the prestigious Jnanpeeth award.

Tanguturi Prakasam was the first Chief Minister of Andhra State while Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first Chief Minister of the integrated Andhra Pradesh State after the merger of the areas under erstwhile Hyderabad State. The last in the line of 16 Chief Ministers of the united State was Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy, who resigned in protest against the division of the State.

Among the Chief Ministers, Mr. Sanjiva Reddy later occupied the highest office in the country and was elected unopposed to the post of the President in 1977, while P.V. Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister in 1991. The State witnessed violent agitation for separate Telangana in 1969 and separate Andhra in 1972 leading to imposition of President’s Rule.

The monopoly of the Congress party ended in 1983 after actor-turned-politician, N.T. Rama Rao spectacularly stormed to power on the plank of self-pride of Telugus, nine months after he launched the Telugu Desam Party.

Sustained agitation the second time around for separate Telangana was spearheaded by former minister and Deputy Speaker K. Chandrasekhar Rao after he quit TDP and launched Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001. With the demand growing fiercer and the region frequently witnessing agitations and shutdowns, the UPA government finally fulfilled the long-standing aspirations of four crore Telangana people and announced the formation of Telangana State.

India scores above US, China for financial market regulation


Overtaking global giants like the US and China, India has scored top rankings when it comes to putting in place necessary regulations to ensure soundness of the financial market infrastructure.

The assessment forms a part of a study by global groupings of capital market and banking regulators from across the world, which have analysed the necessary regulatory framework put in place in various markets to match the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure (PFMIs).

These PFMIs work as global standards for the financial sector entities across the world and have been finalised by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

IOSCO is a global grouping of capital markets regulators in different countries, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), while BIS is known as the central bank for all central banks across the world.

As per the latest assessment of 27 jurisdictions, including India, conducted by IOSCO and BIS, a total of six countries, including India have got the top-most rating on a scale of one-to-four.

The Rating Level 4 implies full compliance in terms of completing the process of having necessary regulations for Financial Market Intermediaries (FMIs) to ensure soundness of the financial market, as per the study.

The other five fully-compliant jurisdictions are Australia, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore.

The US, China, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Chile, Mexico, Argentina did not score rating of four in any of the four parameters.

European Union scored the top rating on three parameters.

The assessment took into account regulations for central counter-parties, trade repositories, payment systems, central securities depositories and securities settlement systems. India has scored top ratings on all these counts.

The latest findings are based on first-level assessment that looked at jurisdictions having completed the process of adopting the legislation, regulations and other policies that would enable them to implement the principles and responsibilities related to financial market infrastructures.

Going by the report, all 27 jurisdictions have made significant progress since the initial assessments last year.

"Full, timely and consistent implementation of the PFMIs will be fundamental to ensuring the safety and soundness of key financial market infrastructures and to supporting the resilience of the global financial system," the report said.

Country's first tobacco-free village in Nagaland

Gariphema village in Nagaland has been declared the country's first "tobacco-free village". The declaration was made by Principal Secretary R Benchilo Thong on the occasion of "World No Tobacco Day" yesterday at the Gariphema Village Council hall near here.

It was result of an initiative taken by the Gariphema village council, Village Vision Cell and Village Students' Union, Thong said.

A resolution was taken at the village that whoever sells alcohol and tobacco or whoever gets drunk and disturbs peace would be imposed a fine of Rs 1000 while those consuming alcohol, 'bidi', 'paan', betel nut or smokeless tobacco on the street and public places would be fined Rs 500.

Thong said Gariphema has shown a great example not only to villages in Nagaland but also to other regions of the country and urged the villagers to strictly follow the declaration.

At the programme, Deputy Director, National Tobacco Control Programme, MC Longai said 67.9 per cent men and 28.1 per cent women of Nagaland consume tobacco.

Over 2200 Indians die every day due to tobacco use and 40 per cent of all cancers in the country are caused due to tobacco use, he said, adding 90 per cent oral cancer cases were tobacco related.

India has the highest number of oral cancer cases in the world, he said.
cheers!
Dehradun is now centre for IAS MAINS EXAM.now students have not to go for delhi to appear in mains exam.prepare well here & appear in exam dehradun itself.

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