Dhaka: India today signed a landmark agreement with Bangladesh extending USD 2 billion to the country in its biggest ever overseas credit line, five years after it inked a credit agreement worth USD 1 billion with its neighbour.
“The USD 2 billion LOC (line of credit) is the biggest credit line India has so far extended to any country,” said an Indian High Commission statement here as chairman and managing director of Exim Bank Yaduvendra Mathur signed the deal with senior secretary in Bangladesh’s Economic Relations Division Mohammad Mesbahuddin.
The agreement was inked in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement during his visit here in June, 2015 while Bangladeshi officials familiar with the process said this credit would be used in a wider range of areas including the social sector while the previous 2010 credit line was mostly concentrated on communication infrastructure.
“Bangladesh-India friendship now reached at its peak but we want to set it to a higher trajectory. The signing of the agreement is the manifestation of the friendship,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s principal secretary Abul Kalam Azad said at the signing ceremony.
Bangladesh foreign secretary Shahidul Haque and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla, among others, witnessed the ceremony at the National Economic Council complex.
In a media briefing following the signing ceremony Mesbahuddin said that 14 projects so far were planned to be implemented with the second Indian LOC covering power, railways, roads, transportation, information and communication technology, shipping, health and technical education sectors.
He said apart from infrastructure projects, a special focus on social sector cooperation pertaining to health and technical education aiming to further integrate economies of both countries and strengthen mutual cooperation.
“All the 15 projects under the First LOC have received financial concurrence of EXIM Bank of India. Seven of the total 15 projects have been completed and the rest are at various stages of implementation,” the Indian High Commission statement said.
The Indian envoy said the two countries developed a functional joint mechanism in overseeing the implementation of the projects under the 2010 LOC and expected the arrangement to work for the second LOC as well.
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KHARAGPUR: Selling recyclable garbage in Kharagpur town is now as easy as ordering a pizza over phone, thanks to a social entrepreneurial initiative of a group of IITians.
A group of IIT Kharagpur students are successfully running a ‘Kabaadi on Call’ service which allows people living inside and outside the campus to call at a given number and fix up an appointment for a garbage collecting truck.
Phd student Abhimanyu Kar and his friends have formed a social entrepreneurial venture called ‘GainWaste’ which offers a comprehensive solid waste management and recycling services.
“We have hired labourers to collect recyclable waste from residential quarters. They go with a digital weighing machine and a rate card for different types of waste,” the mechanical engineering student told PTI.
They collect all kinds of dry waste from papers to bottles and plastic and then resell it to a wholesaler at a nominal profit.
Started in 2014, they are selling recyclable garbage worth Rs 20,000 every month on an average.
“Till now most of such waste used to land in Gopali landfill at the edge of our campus. It created pollution and there were problems in segregating organic and recyclable waste. Now things are improving,” Kar, who founded the company with two other students, said.
A lot of professors have become the customers of this students-led initiative.
Civil engineering department’s professor Sudha Goel used to depend on the regular garbage collector who would come calling on a bicycle infrequently.
“But now I call them and they come at a time which is convenient to me. They take away everything which is recyclable and not just newspapers. I also get better rates,” Goel said.
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Beijing, Mar : In a rare public display of annoyance towards North Korea, China today said it will not support its reclusive ally’s pursuit to acquire nuclear weapons and missiles but will provide security assistance if war breaks out in the Korean peninsula.
“If the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) seeks development and security, we are prepared to help and provide support,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in his annual briefing.
“At the same time we have an unwavering commitment for denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and we will not accommodate DPRK’s pursuit of nuclear and missile programmes,” Wang said, distancing China from North Korean leader Kim Jung-un’s recent directive to officials to keep the nuclear weapons ready to use in the aftermath of the UN sanctions.
This is the first time China openly came out against North Korea, whose dictatorial regime has enjoyed its backing for long. Wang also said China, which looks exasperated with Kim Jong-un’s antics, will implement UN sanctions against North Korea.
“China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
We have the responsibility and capability to implement various resolutions passed by the Security Council, including Resolution 2270 concerning the DPRK,” Wang said.
“In China’s view, Resolution 2270 must be implemented in its entirety. Sanctions are just necessary means, maintaining stability is the pressing priority, and only negotiation can provide a fundamental solution,” he said.
As the largest neighbour of the peninsula, China will not sit by and see a fundamental destruction to the stability of the Korean Peninsula, and will not sit by and see unwarranted damages to China’s security interests, he said.
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New Delhi : To further improve ease of doing business, the government is considering amendments to the Companies Act, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley today said.
The Companies Law Committee, which submitted its report to the government on February 1, has suggested amendments to 78 sections of the Act, excluding consequential amendments in other sections.
The panel had looked into issues arising from the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013.
To a query on whether the government is considering amending the Companies Act so as to make doing business easier, Jaitley replied in the affirmative.
He said around 1,200 comments were received on the report submitted by the Companies Law Committee (CLC).
“The comments were considered by the government while finalising its views on accepting the recommendations of the CLC. As per requirements, inter-ministerial consultation has to be completed before any further action,” Jaitley said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on March 4.
Key recommendations made by the panel include simplifying private placement process, easing incorporation process and removing the restriction on layers of subsidiaries and investment companies.
Most provisions of the Act came into force from April 1, 2014.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry has set up a Central Registration Centre (CRC) for faster processing of applications for availability of names and it is being planned to extend the services to incorporation of companies after necessary modifications in the MCA 21 system.
MCA 21 is the e-platform for companies to make their statutory filing to the ministry.
To facilitate ease of doing business, the ministry has introduced an integrated form (INC-29) for incorporation of companies, omitted requirement for minimum paid-up capital, made mandatory common seal for companies optional and did away with filing for commencement of business, Jaitley said.
“Other departments have also taken steps with emphasis on simplification of existing rules and procedures and use of information technology for ease of doing business and to make governance more effective and efficient,” the minister noted.
To a separate query, Jaitley said that unclaimed and unpaid dividend amount of Rs 1,273.66 crore has been transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) after expiry of the mandatory seven-year period for the period from 2001-02 to 2015-16, till February 26.
As many as 3,74,727 companies have not filed their annual and balance sheet for 2015, according to data from the MCA 21 system.
Jaitley said that 3,86,103 companies did not file their balance sheet while 3,89,503 firms did not submit their annual return.
“As per provisions of the Section 403 of the Companies Act, 2013, any document can be filed on payment of such additional fee for delay as prescribed within a period of 270 days from the date by which it should have been filed,” the minister said in another written reply to the Lok Sabha dated March 4.
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New Delhi: Government today admitted that 89 lakh children in India are either partially immunised or have received no immunisation, though it claimed an increase of five per cent in immunisation during the year as against one per cent over the last four years.
“As per Rapid Survey on Children, 2013, which is the latest survey available annually, about 89 lakh children in the country remain either partially vaccinated or unvaccinated. Of these 89 lakh childrem, 17 lakh are unvaccinated while 72 lakh are partially vaccinated,” Health Minister J P Nadda told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
The major reasons for all children not being vaccinated are lack of awareness among parents about benefits of vaccination and fear of side effects.
“There has been a five per cent increase in immunization of children during the year after first phase of Mission Indradhanush launched from April to July 2015. We were earlier having only one per cent increase every year in the past four years. Now the increase till now by the end of second phase of Mission Indradhanush is about 6 to 7 per cent,” Nadda said.
He said the second phase of Mission Indradhanush for immunizing children was launched from October 2015 to January 2016 and as on February 15, “we have reached out to 1.42 crore children, of which 37 lakh children were fully vaccinated and about 37 lakh pregnant women were vaccinated for tetanus toxoid.”
The Minister said “we are also enhancing more vaccinations through Mission Indradhanush and vaccines for four diseases of JE adults, Rotavirus, Robella and for Pneumonia have been added. It is a continuous process.”
To a question on Zika virus, he said, “there is no vaccination for Zika virus as of now.”
On whether the tribals are being reached through Mission Indradhanush, Nadda said, “it aims to reach out to those we are unable to reach. We have mapped out the left-outs. Tribal area is very much in focus and we are getting very good results.”
Talking about the 201 high focus districts, he said, 20 lakh children have been fully vaccinated and 21 lakh mothers have also been vaccinated.
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Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president – and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease – has died. She was 94.
The former first lady died Sunday at her home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.
Her best-known project as first lady was the “Just Say No” campaign to help kids and teens stay off drugs.
When she swept into the White House in 1981, the former Hollywood actress partial to designer gowns and pricey china was widely dismissed as a pre-feminist throwback, concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. By the time she moved out eight years later, Mrs. Reagan was fending off accusations that she was a behind-the-scenes “dragon lady” wielding unchecked power over the Reagan administration – and doing it based on astrology to boot.
All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.
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With public sector banks under pressure to tackle their dismal bad loan scenario, consolidation is the way forward, and this could bring down the number of lenders to about six from the present 27, participants in the recently-held Gyan Sangam, a retreat for chiefs of public sector banks and financial institutions, told HT.
The time frame for the mergers will ensure there are no disruptions, the sources said. As banks are short-staffed, a downsizing would not be required, they said.
An expert committee, which will be soon set up to look into the issue, will closely work with the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to identify the right matches for consolidation. The BBB, which will independently oversee consolidation and chalk out business plans for public sector banks, is set to be put in place by April 1, 2016.
Since it is not feasible to bring down the government’s share in state-owned banks below 51%, consolidation to create strong banks is the only survival option, the sources said. Issues such as technology, asset base, regional strength and cultural match would be critical in chalking out strategies and identifying banks.
“At present, public sector banks are fighting with each other for market share, but with so many payments and small finance banks coming in, the need is to consolidate and focus on strengthening the balance sheets to create big banks,” said a senior government official who did not wish to be identified.
The finance ministry is already looking to merge the newly-launched Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
Until now, the government has maintained that it would not have any role to play in the merger exercise of public sector banks. The official said that in case certain banks show unwillingness, despite plans being chalked out by the BBB and the expert committee, then the government would intervene.
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New Delhi : The Delhi government has asked all private schools in the national capital to ensure their students do not bunk classes and is also contemplating action against teachers whose pupils are found playing truant.
From increasing the height of boundary walls and installing CCTV cameras to taking attendance of the students at least twice a day, the government has come up with a list of 14 suggestions to check bunking.
“Of late, it has been observed that some students try to bunk classes simply to enjoy roaming in public places, parks, roads, etc. Innocent students do not realise that by bunking classes, they are not only causing loss to their studies but also endangering their own lives,” the Directorate of Education (DoE) said in a letter to school principals.
“It is all the more important for teachers and heads to ensure that no student leaves the premises before the school is closed. Once a student has come to school, the class teacher, subject teachers, the PET and the head of the school must ensure he/she does not leave the premises till the last period is over,” it added.
Directing principals and vice-principals to make frequent rounds of classrooms and school premises, DoE said, “The department is contemplating strict action against those teachers and heads of schools whose students are found roaming out of school after having got their attendance marked.
“The heads must ensure that all teachers reach classes within two-three minutes of the ringing of bells. No leniency in this regard can be justified. If a student is found absent from the class (after having been present in the assembly), his/her parents must be called to school promptly through written notice or phone calls.”
The parents should be advised to ensure that their wards remain in the school throughout the day and not bunk classes, the circular added.
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Many children aged below 18 and in ‘conflict with law’ have faced abject poverty, easy availability of firearms, abusive parents, family or state-sponsored violence. They are mostly school dropouts from single-parent or nuclear families, victims of drug abuse, anti-social peer groups, sexual abuse and lack safe and nurturing environments.
Even if they are in the care or control of justice systems, the picture that emerges is extremely disturbing. These children are subjected to horrific violence from staff and officials responsible for their wellbeing including torture, beatings, isolation, rape and humiliation. The institutions are isolated from community and closed to public scrutiny. Numerous studies have consistently established the negative impact of institutionalisation.
The aftermath of the release of the Nirbhaya rape convict is a pointer to the fact that the state, family, community, society and media were ‘not satisfied’. The public perception was that offenders are getting off easy or even being rewarded by the system for their crime (for example, by referring them to recreational programs and giving low priority to victim and community restoration).
Such a response by the family, community, media and the public to the presence of juvenile sex offenders in the community may also impede offender rehabilitation. If the offender between 14 and 16 years of age is charged under the POCSO Act and dealt with under the new JJ Act 2015, he is severely punished for committing ‘heinous offences’ in the adult justice system. We are again leaving out the victim and the community and those responsible for the child turning into one in conflict with law. The use of punishment alone via current formal criminal justice is, therefore, an inadequate response to sexual crimes by juveniles.
The preventive measure of mandatory reporting in POCSO Act, 2012 has not acted as a deterrent. The two major objectives of mandatory reporting in section 21 of the POCSO Act are to identify child victims of sexual abuse and to prevent them from coming to further harm, and the perpetrator is booked and prevented from harming other children.
For mandatory reporting to be successful, there must be adequate resources and training available to the reporting department, i.e. the police and the child welfare committees, and it is important that mandated reporters receive training and the public be made aware of the appropriate extent of their responsibility
The very fact that juvenile courts, Juvenile Justice Boards and children’s courts were brought into existence in almost all criminal justice systems throughout the world was to prevent children from being treated as criminals. Undoubtedly, children should be treated differently from adults because of their greater physical and psychological vulnerability. This is non-negotiable.
Ideally, protective services staff must identify the factors that contributed to the maltreatment and determine what services would address the most critical treatment needs, but this is not done in practice. There is neither the willingness nor the resources to prepare individual care plans. Subjecting them to the adult criminal justice system is, therefore, not the solution. Juveniles who have served their sentences have often recommitted crimes, and the system has neither contributed to prevention nor reintegration. It is increasingly apparent that current after-care system has just not taken off and remains on paper
Crime by juveniles represents a failure of responsibility by duty bearers. The sources of the problem of delinquency — community, schools, family, institutions, juvenile justice system and the state — have failed in prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration.
The current juvenile justice system faces a crisis of confidence. There is a need for preventive programmes in communities, schools and families. We need strategies that target only individual offenders for change but involve all these in their prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration.
In many countries the restorative model — a balanced approach mission — is currently emerging as an influence on lawmakers. This model encourages offenders to accept responsibility for their criminal behaviour and its consequences to others. One of the key features of the model is the involvement of victims in dealing with the offence. It does not overlook rehabilitation and punishment but places them in the context of individuals taking responsibility for their actions.
The balanced approach mission addresses the public need for sanctioning based on accountability measures which attempt to restore victims and clearly denounce and provide meaningful consequences for offensive behaviour including offender rehabilitation and reintegration, and enhanced community safety and security. These system goals, which also govern the response to each offense, are accountability, competency development and community protection.
A balanced and restorative justice model provides a framework for systemic reform and offers hope for preserving and revitalising the juvenile justice system.
It will develop new roles for victims, citizens and offenders in the justice process. Implementation must begin with consensus-building among key stakeholders and testing with small pilot projects to develop the model.
The programmes hold promise for achieving several goals, including increased community and victim involvement, greater satisfaction with the case outcomes, improved offender compliance, increased perceptions of fairness, and even recidivism reduction. Maybe this could be started as small pilot projects along with training and capacity building of the staff, community and families with adequate resources and with state support and involvement.
Dr Bajpai is Founder Dean, School of Law, Rights and Constitutional Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
The balanced approach mission addresses the public need for sanctioning based on accountability measures
@The Hindu 6 March 2016
Chennai:The Madras High Court has made it clear that the national anthem should be sung in all private schools in Tamil Nadu during the morning assembly.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh gave the direction on a petition seeking that singing of national anthem be made mandatory in schools.
“Private schools must follow such singing of national anthem as part of their curriculum,” the bench said disposing a PIL by N Selvathirumal, an ex-service man, seeking a direction to authorities to make it mandatory for all private schools in the state to sing the national anthem during the assembly.
The bench while recording the stand of the authorities including Union of India that national anthem ought to be sung, in its order directed Central and State Departments of Secondary Education and the Union Human Resources Department to make endeavours to verify weather national anthem was sung in all private schools in the state.
Selvathiurumal submitted that national anthem was not sung in various private schools in Tamil Nadu while it was sung in central Government Schools such as Kendriya Vidyalaya and all the state government schools daily during the morning assembly.
A citizen should have adequate knowledge of the national anthem and the national flag, the petitioner submitted.
“In pursuance to a RTI reply, I was informed that the Government of India has released an advisory for all the schools that the day’s work may start with with community singing of the national anthem and adequate provisions should be made in the programmes for popularising the singing of the anthem and promoting respect for the national flag,” he said.
The CBSE submitted that “a circular was issued to schools on November 10, 2015, stating that the second descriptor out of the 10 principles entails singing of national anthem with decorum, where as the first one is to abide by constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and National Anthem in compliance of the direction given by the Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta on 22.09.2014. It is notified that the schools must strictly comply the orders”, it said.
“We would expect that keeping in mind the mandate of the Constitution of India, the respect for the National Anthem and the National Flag, the circular issued by the CBSE and other authorities, singing of the national anthem would be taking place in various institutions”, the bench said.
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