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Business Line, December 20, 2017 G Chandrasekhar Recent reports of large-scale damage (ranging between 50 and 90 per cent) to cotton crop because of pest attacks in the growing regions of Maharashtra have unnerved not only growers and policymakers alike, but also the trade and input suppliers. While the extent of damage caused by bollworm infestation continues to be a matter of conjecture by various stakeholders, there are clear attempts to sidestep the core issue and shift the blame on to the seed companies. In the process, technology seeds have come under unjustified attack. This brings the role of the regulator and the policymakers into question. One must recognise that in the natural process of evolution, over a period of time, insects develop resistance to a chemical or technology used season after season. One may not be able to stop the development of resistance, but surely it is possible to delay in the onset of resistance. For the purpose, adequate stewardship o...

Business Line, December 20, 2017 ET Bureau Poll-bound Karnataka has proposed an incentive of ₹550 per quintal to growers of tur (red gram) in addition to the Centre’s MSP and bonus of ₹5450, as the harvest of the pulses crop has began in the key growing regions of the State. As a result, farmers will get a price of ₹6,000 for every quintal of tur this year. Sources said the State expects to commence the procurement of red gram as soon as the market arrivals of the new crop begins. rices are ruling below the MSP levels in markets such as Bidar and Yadgir. The State has fixed a procurement ceiling of 20 quintals per farmer for ₹6,000/quintal, sources said. The Centre has fixed a tur procurement target of 16.5 lakh quintals in Karnataka for the 2017-18 season. Last year, the state had procured over 2.4 lakh tonnes on a bumper harvest. Reference; http://m.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/karnataka-offers-550qtl-bonus-for-tur-ahead-of-polls/article9998...

Business Line, December 20, 2017 Madan Sabnavis Inequality is one issue which Indians always shy away from; we do not want to accept that it is there, and that economic reforms have actually widened the wedge. While poverty definitions are fairly amorphous given the absence of a singular measure, inequality is even more nebulous on account of the absence of data, and hence it is hard to calculate the Gini coefficient. While practical observations do reveal that billionaires living in mansions are surrounded by the destitute with little hope, the official argument is that even the poor have mobile phones which show that there is progress, and hence inequality has fallen. The World Inequality Report 2018 has provided data on inequality across various countries which makes interesting reading. Besides picking up easy measures on inequality, benchmarks can be viewed across various nations to understand where India stands. A striking observation is inequality as a rule exist...

Business Line, December 19, 2017 Yogesh Joshi In early November, a Russian news website claimed that the Indian Navy allowed a US technical team to inspect the Russian Akula-Class nuclear submarine loaned to India in 2012. Although the report turned out to be false, the issue raised eyebrows in strategic circles for two reasons. First, it brought into focus Indo-Russian cooperation in the domain of nuclear submarines. India is the only country in the world to have operated a nuclear submarine on loan from a nuclear-weapon state, and Russia is the only such state to have leased one. The history of their cooperation on nuclear submarines has, however, been shrouded in secrecy. Second, it highlighted potential strains in Indo-Russian defence ties against the backdrop of New Delhi’s growing strategic closeness with Washington. Even when Russia remains India’s largest defence supplier, New Delhi has increasingly looked toward the US for top-of-the-line defence equipment incl...

The Economic Times, December 20, 2017 Madhuparna Das KOLKATA: With the Centre tightening the noose around  Rohingyas , the central agencies have been tasked to map all possible entry routes of these migrants to  India  and make maximum arrangements to restrict them. West Bengal  and  Tripura   emerge as the most popular transit points for Rohingyas. The agencies have now been asked to identify Rohingya groups and extract information about the routes, the facilitators and fund raisers. During the course of investigation and interrogation of some arrested Rohingyas in Hyderabad and Delhi, the agencies have got some specific information and zeroed in on their specific and favoured routes. According to reports submitted to MHA, West Bengal has emerged as the preferred transit point for almost all Rohingyas. Tripura comes next. In Bengal, they get political patronage as well. Hili, a border point in North Bengal and Haridaspur, a border po...

T he Hindu, December 20, 2017 Atul Aneja A new wave of Indian software developers will soon be able to plug into China’s next wave of industrialisation, based on Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IOT). “Indian software developers face an existential threat if they don’t shift to high-value domains such as Artificial Intelligence and IOT. Chinese companies specialising in hardware can be their perfect partners in moving up the value chain,” said Gagan Sabharwal, senior director, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), in a conversation with a group of visiting Indian journalists. Mr. Sabharwal pointed out that China’s shift to Industry 4.0 will generate an explosive demand for IT-based automation. In turn, this would provide a major opportunity, especially for small and medium-sized Indian software companies, which possess cutting-edge technology, but are looking for suitable overseas partners for scaling up their product line. ...

The Times of India, December 21, 2017 Shailvee Shardal TNN LUCKNOW: The  World Health Organization  is using  Uttar Pradesh  to 'field-test' the impact of its 'safe childbirth checklist' that it believes could make a big impact on maternal and newborn health, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Undertaken jointly by Ariadne Labs at  Harvard University and Community Empowerment Lab  in Lucknow, with the help of  WHO   a nd the UP government, the study will pave way for evidence-based policy changes across the globe. Called 'Better Birth Study', the project involves coaching of skilled birth attendants on WHO's safe childbirth checklist, which is a compilation of 28 key behaviours that promise to bring down maternal and neonatal mortality by 10-15%, besides curbing morbidity during child birth. Conducted across 120 community health centres in Uttar Pradesh in 'intervention' (where workforce observed...

The Economic Times, December 20, 2017 PTI India is in the process of developing a range of bulk drugs to reduce import dependence, especially from China, a top government official said today.  Although a large quantity of bulk drugs is imported from China, India has enough capacity for producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) G N Singh told PTI on the sidelines of a CII event here.  "We are exporting to most of the developed markets including EU, US and Japan so there is capacity, barring some of the molecules, where we are working, so that (import) dependency may also be curtailed. So, in due course of time that threat would not be there," he said.  India's bulk drug imports from top five countries stood at Rs 18,372.54 crore in 2016-17 with China accounting for 66 per cent.  The country's import of APIsBSE 0.00 % from China stood at Rs 12,254.97 crore in 2016-17, while that from the US w...

The Economic Times, December 20, 2017 ET Contributors, Nilanajan Mukhopadhyay Contrary to pre-poll expectations, it does not appear that Gujarat's electoral arena witnessed overwhelming consolidation of Muslims in favour of the Congress party. Analysis of 53 seats where Muslim population varies from 10% to 55% provides indication that their voting behaviour mirrors the diversity of Muslim population in the state. Muslims in Gujarat seem to have followed social coalitions at the constituency level suggesting the absence of statewide electoral intent. Muslim  behaviour has at times followed class interests and bonding on economic lines as against on the basis of religious identity.   It is often argued that Muslims in India do not constitute a monolithic or homogenous group, more so in Gujarat where they continue to reflect the plurality of an estimated 87 sub-communities or sub-castes. This demonstrates that the phrase 'Muslim vote bank' is essentially political ...

The Indian Express, December 20, 2017 PTI, Washington The US has appealed for a dignified and voluntary return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, but said that conditions are not conducive enough for such a move. Some 625,000 Rohingya refugees have fled the Rakhine state of Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh in the last six months after the Myanmar army launched a crackdown. “In terms of the repatriation plan, we’d like to see the plan. We’ve heard about it in concept, but one of the things that would be important to be in that plan is the voluntary, safe and dignified return,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters here. “It (repatriation) has to be voluntary. People have to feel like it’s safe to go home. If they don’t feel like it’s safe to go home, it’s probably not going to be safe to go home. They have to have a dignified return. That means treating the people well as they decide to return home,” she said. Insisting that repatriati...