The bone of contention October 31, 2009

HindustanTimes.com

October 23, 2009

First Published: 21:51 IST(23/10/2009)

Last Updated: 20:20 IST(25/10/2009)

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Though a post-Kyoto agreement may not be reached at the COP15 meeting, it is to be seen whether the developed Annex I countries, which have emitted the major portion of the human-induced carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere, agree to cuts on greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Union, part of the Annex I countries, has displayed more willingness to take action to control climate change. However, the Umbrella Group nations, such as, the United States, Canada and Australia, have not played very cooperating role.

Particularly, the United States has refused to make binding commitments. They need major developing economies, such as India and China, to be included in an agreement.

The developing nations most actively represent the G-77 block and have indicated a willingness to cut omissions. Their demand is that the developed countries should take a leadership role.

They contend that early action only by developed countries will not be enough to prevent climate change.

Green bonus for saving forests October 31, 2009

The Centre will give Himalayan states — from Jammu and Kashmir in the north to Sikkim in the Northeast — a “green bonus” from next fiscal for conserving forests that act as carbon sinks.

The environment ministry in August estimated that forests, which cover 25 per cent of the country’s area, could absorb up to 11 per cent of India’s green house gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The “green bonus”, announced by Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday, will strengthen India’s proposal of seeking funds from the rich countries for conserving forests under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December.

Till now, the mechanism enables developing countries to get fund for offsetting green house gas emissions through use of cleaner technologies.

“We may start with a small amount to begin with,” the minister said at end of a conclave of the Himalayan states.

“My concept is that the states which are conserving ecology… should be compensated.’’

The 13th Finance Commission will decide the amount of the bonus. It is expected to submit its report by December. It would be left to the states to distribute the “green bonus” to the stakeholders.

Terror watch September 5, 2009

Guwahati (Assams.Info) – The Indian government on Tuesday rejected a unilateral ceasefire offered by the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) (popularly known as Black Widow) separatist group in Assam and asked them to lay arms before September 15, 2009.

<img class="size-full wp-image-4849" title="Tarun Gogoi" src="http://assams.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/tarun_gogoi.jpg" alt="Tarun Gogoi” height=”154″ width=”200″>

Tarun Gogoi

“It was decided to give an ultimatum to the Black Widow, asking them to surrender and lay down arms by Sep 15 and stay in designated camps and then only we would hold peace talks with them,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

Mr. Gogoe said this after a meeting in New Delhi with central Home Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in North Cachar Hill district in southern Assam where the DHD (J) was wreaking havoc. The militant outfit is fighting for a homeland for the Dimasa tribe in south Assam, is blamed for a string of violent attacks in the region in which about 100 people have been killed in the past six months.

Tarun Gogoi, who reviewed the ground situation in the insurgency-hit district and held key meetings with top administration and security officials, stressed that the DHD (J) must stop all kinds of insurgent activities and extortion campaigns as a precondition to talks.

Madhava Menon gets Best Law Teacher Award September 5, 2009

Renowned educationist and law teacher N.R. Madhava Menon was on Friday conferred the Best Law Teacher 2009 award on completion of 50 years of teaching law, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the growth of legal education in the country.

Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, who conferred the award presented by the Bar Association of India and the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), highlighted Dr. Menon’s achievements: “He pioneered concepts such as clinical legal education in India and took the lead in organising legal aid programmes, as well as, examining how the legal system can be used to address social problems that arise due to poverty.”

Despite facing numerous obstacles, Dr. Menon has been the guiding force behind the establishment of educational institutions. This was a watershed event since it marked the beginning of a vigorous agenda for judicial education in our country.

Centre for higher education for disabled launched in U.P September 5, 2009

UCKNOW: Asia’s first centre for higher education for the physically and visually challenged persons — the Shakuntala Mishra Rehabilitation University — became a reality when the institution’s opening academic session was inaugurated by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati on Friday. The university, named after the mother of the U.P. Advisory Council Chairman and BSP leader , Satish Chandra Mishra, is located in Lucknow.

The inaugural function was held at the Chief Minister’s 5 Kalidas Marg official residence. Six disciplines have been started in the first session, including B.Ed and two diploma courses.

Forty-five students have been enrolled in the opening session. Spread over 175 acres, the university houses a special education faculty for teaching subjects related with disability, besides other faculties. Teachers’ appointments have already been made.

Fifty per cent seats of various courses have been reserved for the disabled persons, of which half of the seats were reserved for the visually impaired. 

Catalyst for job opportunities 
 
Ms. Mayawati noted that the university would serve as a catalyst for better job opportunities for the pass outs and will also instil a feeling of self-confidence in them. The Chief Minister said the courses recognised by the Indian Rehabilitation Council would be conducted in the university and a research unit would also be set up for removing impediments coming in the way of disability, through which research works of world class would be undertaken.

Ms. Mayawati said the BSP government was committed to fulfil the requirements of the disabled persons as per the provisions of the Disability Act.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said when she came to power for the first time in 1995, a Disabled Welfare Department was set up, which was the first of its kind in the country.

Thereafter, in 2002 her Government set up a Intermediate college for the visually impaired persons, Ms. Mayawati said.

 

India’s average farm productivity lowest in the world: U.R. Rao September 5, 2009

Space scientist U.R. Rao on Thursday called upon agricultural universities to set up remote sensing departments on their campuses for the development of the agriculture sector as well as villages through application of remote sensing technology in farming.

Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day national symposium on “Transforming Indian villages into knowledge hub” organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and the Indian Agricultural Universities’ Association (IAUA) here, Prof. Rao expressed concern that several agricultural universities did not have remote sensing departments. “If you do not have remote sensing departments, which is vital for agriculture, how can you call yourselves agricultural universities?”he wondered.

He narrated an incident in which a U.S. farmer had told him that he was making use of the remote sensing technology developed by the Bangalore-based ISRO, even as there was not much awareness regarding the applications of this technology in farming in India itself.

The former ISRO Chairman said rural economy will improve only when villages are developed as knowledge hubs. To achieve this, there was a dire need to help farmers adopt modern technologies in addition to becoming entrepreneurs.

He suggested that people in rural areas should be given training in vocational trades so that they could support themselves during off-season, when there is not much agricultural activity. For that to happen, the country should reverse its inverted pyramid structure of technical education wherein the number of engineering colleges were in multiples of lower level technical institutions such as polytechnic colleges and ITIs, he said. It is better to ensure that the number of ITIs and polytechnic colleges is more than engineering colleges so that there is enough availability of those specialised in different technical trades, he observed.

Pointing out that the country’s food production had remained stagnant for a long time, he said there was a dire need to increase the productivity as the country’s food requirement was increasing sharply in tune with the population growth. The country’s average farm productivity which stood around two tonnes per hectare was the lowest in the world as the global average was about 2.6 tonnes. 

His other suggestions included setting up agro processing units in villages to make value addition to crops, providing market information to farmers and encouraging contract farming.

दोहा दौर पर नहीं बनी सहमति September 5, 2009

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भारत की राजधानी दिल्ली में विश्व व्यापार संगठन (डब्ल्यूटीओ) के दोहा दौर की बातचीत को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए बुलाई गई बैठक बिना किसी ठोस नतीजे पर पहुँचे ख़त्म हो गई है.

अमरीका, ऑस्ट्रेलिया, युरोपीय संघ के देशों और ब्राज़ील समेत तीस प्रमुख देशों की दो दिवसीय बैठक में दोहा दौर की वार्ता को अगले वर्ष अंजाम तक पहुँचाने के लिए एजेंडा नहीं बन सका.

असहमति उन्हीं मुद्दों पर रही जो पिछले कुछ वर्षों से डब्ल्यूटीओ वार्ताओं में रोड़ा अटकाती रही है.

जहां भारत समेत विकासशील देशों ने धनी देशों में किसानों को मिलने वाली सब्सिडी पर सवाल उठाए, वहीं विकसित देशों की माँग थी कि विकासशील देश औद्योगिक सामानों पर आयात शुल्क कम करें.

असहमति की झलक भारतीय उद्योग मंत्री आनंद शर्मा और डब्ल्यूटीओ के प्रमुख पास्कल लामी के बयानों से साफ़ झलक रही थी.

आनंद शर्मा ने स्पष्ट किया कि अगले साल दोहा दौर को अंजाम तक पहुँचाने के लिए डब्ल्यूटीओ को काफ़ी काम करना बाकी है.

दूसरी ओर पास्कल लामी और ऑस्ट्रेलियाई व्यापार मंत्री साइमन क्रीन का कहना था कि जिन मुद्दों पर पहले सहमति बन चुकी है, उन पर दोबारा चर्चा की ज़रूरत नहीं है और अब ‘आख़िरी वार्ता’ होनी चाहिए.

असहमति

भारत में किसानों ने डब्ल्यूटीओ की बैठक का विरोध किया.

आनंद शर्मा का कहना था, “अब हमारे पास कुछ विचार आ गए हैं जिनके आधार पर हम बातचीत को तेज़ कर सकते हैं लेकिन बहुत सारे तकनीकी कार्य बचे हुए हैं.”

उन्होंने लामी से असहमति जताते हुए कहा कि ‘आख़िर चरण’ में प्रवेश करने से पहले बहुत लंबा सफ़र तय करना बाकी है.

दोहा दौर की बातचीत वर्ष 2001 में शुरु हुई थी. इसका मकसद सदस्य देशों के बीच शुल्क मुक्त व्यापार व्यवस्था को बढ़ाना है.

पिछले साल जुलाई में जिनेवा में हुई बैठक असफल रही थी लेकिन इस बीच अमरीका और भारत में नई सरकार के सत्ता में आने से फिर उम्मीद कायम हुई.

जिनेवा की असफलता के लिए भारत को मुख्य तौर पर ज़िम्मेदार माना गया जिसने अमरीका में कृषि सब्सिडी पर सख़्त आपत्ति जताई थी.

इसी महीने रूस के पीट्सबर्ग में धनी और विकासशील देशों के संगठन जी-20 की बैठक होनी है और दिल्ली में हुई बैठक को इसी की तैयारी के रूप में देखा जा रहा था.

Religion threatens relations between Nepal and India September 5, 2009

<img title="Maoist activists wave black flags demanding people’s supremacy, during the Indra Jatra festival in Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, yesterday " src="http://www.gulf-times.com/mritems/images/2009/9/3/2_312624_1_248.jpg" alt="Maoist activists wave black flags demanding people’s supremacy, during the Indra Jatra festival in Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, yesterday ” height=”178″ width=”292″>

Maoist activists wave black flags demanding people’s supremacy, during the Indra Jatra festival in Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, yesterday

The celebration of Indra Jatra – the festival of the rain god – was marred in Nepal yesterday as violence erupted in the capital over the new government’s decision to appoint Indian priests at the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath.

“Go back to India, Indian priests” and “Down with the government” screamed protesters who blocked the road leading to the 5th century shrine in the capital, burnt tyres on the road and forced shops to shut down. Tension simmered in the area with the committee spearheading the protests giving the communist-led government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal till the evening to revoke the decision to appoint two new priests from India or face greater disruption. The violence came as a sequel to the effort by the earlier Maoist government to break with the 300-year-old tradition of appointing only priests from India to conduct the ceremonial worship at the temple.

The chief priest, Mahabaleshwar Bhatt, and two others resigned under Maoist pressure and the then government of Maoist premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda last year appointed Nepali priests for the first time in the history of the temple. However, the appointments were opposed by the orthodox worshippers, who moved court to stop the change. The dispute is still in court with the judges having asked the government not to make any new changes till it is resolved. After the Prachanda government fell in May, the new coalition government decided to continue with the old tradition.

It recently shortlisted two new priests from India’s Karnataka state, Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt. At least five religious organisations of Nepal, led by the Maoists, are opposing the new appointments. They say that the government has flouted the Supreme Court direction not to make any changes till the case is resolved.

They also say that with Nepal having undergone a sea change, new priests should be appointed on the basis of free competition and qualifications from Nepal instead of India.

The socio-religious dispute has been threatening to develop into an India-Nepal standoff. Last year, when the row erupted, India’s political parties had condemned the interference and asked the government not to hurt the sentiments of Hindus worldwide and keep politics out of religion.

Gujarat Technological University gets ICT-enabled University Award 2009 September 5, 2009

Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has been awarded the Information Communication Technology (ICT)- Enabled University of the year award by the Jury in the E – India 2009 award ceremony. GTU has been awarded as ICT enabled University in the Digital Learning category.

The award was given for its project – Gujarat Common Entrance Exam (GCET-2009).

This was the first time in India that any State level (Government) Entrance Exam was conducted online. This exam was held for the admissions to Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and Masters of Computer Application (MCA) courses in all GTU affiliated institutions in the State

Easier FDI norms for MSEs September 5, 2009

The Centre Government on Friday announced new liberalised Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) replacing the current 24 per cent ceiling on foreign holding with sectoral caps. These industries will now be guided like other large enterprises as far as FDI is concerned.

Sectoral caps

“The present policy on FDI in MSEs permits FDI subject only to the sectoral equity caps, entry routes and other relevant regulations,” according to Press Note 6 issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. 

However, if non-medium and small enterprises manufacture any of the 21 items, including pickles, aluminium utensils, reserved for MSEs, any FDI above 24 per cent will require the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s approval. The new note replaces Press Note 18 of 1997 which stipulated that for foreign collaboration, the maximum equity participation for small scale units was 24 per cent. As per the old note, proposals for inducting foreign equity of more than 24 per cent was subject to the condition that the firm would get itself de-registered as a small-scale unit. The new norms are expected to bring in more FDI into the MSE sector which is starved of funds.

Modern technology

The FDI norms will also help them modernise as overseas investment will bring modern technology. There are about 2.61 crore units in the MSE sector employing 5.97 crore people.

According to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, in the manufacturing sector micro units are those where investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs. 25 lakh, while small enterprises are defined as those investing between Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 5 crore.

In the services sector, the investment in equipment up to Rs. 10 lakh is defined as micro enterprises, and Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 2 crore as small units.