करेण्ट अफेयर्स मार्च 2013

1 मार्च 2013

1) हाल ही में एक अप्रवासी भारतीय को 10 लाख डालर वाला टीईडी पुरस्कार (TED Prize) प्रदान किया गया। इस शिक्षाविद ने भारत में झोपड़पट्टी में रह रहे बच्चों को कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा प्रदान करने के लिए “होल-इन-द-वाल” (Hole-in-the-Wall) सिद्धांत विकसित किया था। इनका नाम क्या है? – डा. सुगत मित्रा – Dr. Sugata Mitra (मित्रा वर्तमान में ब्रिटेन के न्यूकासेल विश्वविद्यालय में शिक्षा प्रौद्यौगिकी के प्रोफेसर हैं)

2) त्रिपुरा का लगातार पाँचवीं बार मुख्यमंत्री बनने का गौरव किसे प्राप्त हो रहा है, जिसके नेतृत्व में CPM ने राज्य में हाल ही में हुए विधानसभा चुनावों में शानदार सफलता प्राप्त की? – माणिक सरकार (28 फरवरी 2013 को घोषित विधानसभा चुनाव परिणाम में CPM के नेतृत्व में वामपंथी मोर्चे को कुल 60 में से 50 सीटें प्राप्त हुईं)

3) किस क्षेत्रीय दल से हाल ही में नगालैण्ड में हुए विधानसभा चुनावों में जीत हासिल कर राज्य में अपनी सत्ता को बरकरार रखा है? –नगा पीपुल्स फ्रंट – Naga People’s Front (NPF) मुख्यमंत्री नीफियु रियो के नेतृत्व में चुनाव लड़ने वाली NPF को 59 में से 37 सीटें मिली, जबकि उसके दो सहयोगियों भाजपा और जेडीयू को एक-एक सीट मिली। रियो तीसरी बार राज्य के मुख्यमंत्री बनेंगे

4) फरवरी 2013 के दौरान मेघालय में हुए विधानसभा चुनाव में कांग्रेस ने अभी तक राज्य में सर्वाधिक सीट हासिल करते हुए अपनी सत्ता बरकरार रखी। इस चुनाव में कांग्रेस को कुल कितनी सीटें मिली हैं? – कुल 60 सीटों में से 29 सीटें (मुकुल संगमा के नेतृत्व में चुनाव लड़ते हुए कांग्रेस को भारी सफलता मिली। वहीं पूर्व लोकसभा अध्यक्ष पीए संगमा की NPP को मात्र दो सीटें मिलीं)

5) न्यूयार्क शहर के मेयर ने हाल ही में विश्वव्यापी पोलियो अभियान के लिए 10 करोड़ डालर का दान देने की घोषणा की है। भारत में पोलियो अभियान की सफलता से प्रेरणा लेकर इतना बड़ा दान करने वाले इस मेयर का क्या नाम है? – माइकल ब्लूमबर्ग – Michael Bloomberg (जो न्यूयार्क के मेयर होने के साथ ही एक अत्यंत सफल उद्योगपति भी हैं)

6) हाल ही में हिन्द महासागर में मारीशस के नीचे एक डूबे हुए महाद्वीप का पता चला जर्मनी, नार्वे, ब्रिटेन और दक्षिण अफ्रीका के एक वैज्ञानिक दल ने लगाया है। लगभग एक हजार किलोमीटर तक फैले टुकड़ों वाले इस डूबे महाद्वीप को क्या नाम दिया गया है? –मारीटिया (Mauritia)

7) 28 फरवरी 2013 को वित्त मंत्री पी. चिदम्बरम द्वारा पेश किया गया केन्द्रीय बजट उनके द्वारा पेश किया गया कौन सा बजट है? –आठवाँ

8) 28 फरवरी 2013 को पेश किए गए बजट में वर्ष 2012-13 के दौरान कितना राजकोषीय घाटा (Fiscal Deficit) रहने की बात कही गई है? – देश के सकल घरेलू उत्पाद (GDP) का 5.2 प्रतिशत (जबकि पहले इसके 5.3 प्रतिशत रहने का पूर्वानुमान लगाया गया था)

9) वर्ष 2013-14 के लिए पेश किए गए आम बजट में वर्ष 2014 के दौरान राजकोषीय घाटा कितना रहने की बात कही गई है? – सकल घरेलू उत्पाद (GDP) का 4.8 प्रतिशत

10) वर्ष 2013-14 के लिए पेश किए गए आम बजट में कुल योजनागत खर्च कितना है? – 16,65,297 करोड रुपए

2 मार्च 2013

1) गृह मंत्रालय से सम्बन्धित संसद की स्थाई समिति, जिसने आपराधिक मामलों से सम्बन्धित कानूनों में बदलाव लाने के बारे में अध्ययन किया है, ने 1 मार्च 2013 को अपनी सिफारिश में राष्ट्रपति द्वारा ऐसे मामले में माफी देने की शक्ति को समाप्त करने को कहा है। समिति ने ऐसे मामले में माफी दिए जाने के निर्णय तीन माह में लेने और माफी देने के पीछे कारणों को सार्वजनिक करने की भी सिफारिश की। इस समिति का अध्यक्ष कौन है? – एम. वैंकैय्या नायडू (राज्यसभा सदस्य, भाजपा)

2) केन्द्रीय वित्त मंत्रालय ने 1 मार्च 2013 को जारी एक स्पष्टीकरण में कहा कि मारीशस के रास्ते भारत में निवेश करने के लिए एक प्रमाण-पत्र देकर दोहरी कर निरोधक संधि (DTAA) का लाभ उठा सकते हैं। ये स्पष्टीकरण उस बजट घोषणा के एक ही दिन बाद पेश किया गया, जिसमें कहा गया था कि मारीशस के रास्ते निवेश करने वालों को कर बचाने के लिए सिर्फ इस प्रमाण-पत्र से कर राहत नहीं मिलेगी जिसके बाद भारत के शेयर बाजारों में गिरावट दर्ज हुई थी। वित्त मंत्रालय द्वारा प्रस्तुत स्पष्टीकरण में किस प्रमाण पत्र का उल्लेख किया गया था? – कर आवास प्रमाणपत्र  Tax Residency Certificate (TRC)

3) सरकारी तेल कम्पनियों ने 1 मार्च 2013 की मध्य-रात्रि से पेट्रोल के मूल्य में कितनी वृद्धि करने की घोषणा की? – रु. 1.40 प्रति लीटर

4) भारतीय रिज़र्व बैंक (RBI) ने 1 मार्च 2013 को जारी अपने आदेश में कहा कि बैंक ग्राहकों की विशेष मांग पर ही ग्लोबल हस्तांतरण की सुविधा वाले डेबिट और क्रेडिट कार्ड जारी किए जाएं। यह निर्देश किस समस्या को ध्यान में रखकर जारी किया गया है? – इन कार्डों के प्रयोग में हो रहे फर्जीवाड़ों के चलते (इसके अलावा अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर इस्तेमाल किए जाने वाले कार्डों से भुगतान की अधिकतम सीमा निर्धारित करने की बात भी कही गई है। इसके अलावा ऐसे कार्डों में अतिरिक्त सुरक्षा फीचर जोड़ने और कार्ड को ब्लाक करने के लिए SMS को भी मान्य करने कि बात RBI ने इस दिशानिर्देश में कही)

5) बांग्लादेश की जमात-ए-इस्लामी पार्टी के किस नेता को 28 फरवरी 2013 को मौत की सजा सुनाए जाने के बाद देश में फैले दंगों में 40 से अधिक लोग मारे गए और सैकड़ों अन्य घायल हो गए? –दिलवर होसैन सैय्यदी (उनपर 1971 के बांग्ला मुक्ति युद्ध में सामूहिक हत्याओ, बलात्कार और हिंसा में लिप्त होने के आरोपों के सही पाए जाने के बाद यह सजा सुनाई गई थी)

6) चीन की सरकार ने 1 मार्च 2013 को युनान प्रांत की राजधानी कनमिंग में 4 विदेशियों को किस मामले में मौत की सजा दी? – 5 अक्टूबर 2011 को विदेशी ड्रग माफियाओं द्वारा चीन के 13 सैनिकों की हत्या करने के आरोप में (इन  4 विदेशियों में एक म्यांमार का, एक थाईलैण्ड का और एक लाओस का निवासी था जबकि एक अन्य की राष्ट्रीयता स्पष्ट नहीं हो पाई)

7) पश्चिम बंगाल की ममता बनर्जी सरकार के खिलाफ विपक्षी सीपीएम (CPM) ने किस नाम से एक प्रदर्शन दल को 1 मार्च 2013 को हरी झण्डी दिखा कर रवाना किया? – संघर्ष संदेश जत्था

8) वर्ष 2013 के संतोष ट्राफी के फाइनल में 3 मार्च 2013 को किन दो टीमों का मुकाबला होगा? – सेना और केरल (संतोष ट्राफी भारत की राष्ट्रीय फुटबाल प्रतियोगिता है)

9) ईरान के विवादास्पद परमाणु कार्यक्रम की जांच के लिए किसे 1 मार्च 2013 को संयुक्त राष्ट्र का नया जांच इंस्पेक्टर नियुक्त किया गया? – टेरो वारजोरांटा – Tero Varjoranta (वे अभी तक फिनलैण्ड के विकिरण व परमाणु सुरक्षा प्राधिकरण के अध्यक्ष थे और उन्होंने हर्मन नेकर्ट्स का स्थान लिया है)

10) 50 लाख से अधिक मूल्य की संपत्तियों की खरीद-फरोख्त पर 1 % TDS, जिसे केन्द्रीय बजट 2013-14 में घोषित किया गया है, जिस तारीख से प्रभाव में आयेगा? – 1 जून 2013 से

3 मार्च 2013

1) केन्द्रीय वित्त मंत्री पी. चिदम्बरम ने 2 मार्च 2013 को यह घोषणा की कि आगामी सप्ताह से आयकर विभाग ऐसे लोगों को नोटिस भेजना शुरू करेगा, जिन्होंने आयकर-योग्य आय अर्जित करने के बाद भी न तो आयकर रिटर्न दाखिल किया और न ही कोई कर भरा है। ऐसे कितने लोगों को आगामी सप्ताह नोटिस जारी कर इस कार्रवाई को शुरू किया जा रहा है? – 35 हजार (उल्लेखनीय है कि केन्द्र सरकार के पास तमाम व्यय और वित्तीय लेन-देन के आँकड़े हैं जिनसे यह स्पष्ट होता है कि बहुत से लोग कर-योग्य आय होने के बावजूद इसे घोषित नहीं कर रहे हैं)

2) स्विटजरलैण्ड के ज़्यूरिख में हुई ज़्यूरिख चेस चैलेंज शतरंज प्रतियोगिता का खिताब किसने जीता? – फैबियानो करुआना – Fabiano Caruana (इटली) – इस प्रतियोगिता में भारत के विश्वनाथन आनंद को दूसरा स्थान मिला

3) 1 मार्च 2013 को पेट्रोलियम कम्पनियों ने रेलवे जैसे थोक उपभोक्ताओं के किए डीज़ल के मूल्य में कितनी बढ़ोतरी कर दी? – रु. 0.94 प्रति लीटर (यह वृद्धि रेलवे, सशस्त्र सेनाओं और राज्य परिवहन निगम जैसे थोक उपभोक्ताओं के लिए प्रभावी होगी। वहीं खुले बाजार में मिलने वाले एलपीजी सिलेण्डर की कीमत में रु. 37.50 प्रति सिलेण्डर कमी की घोषणा की गई)

4) उस एडवर्टाइज़िंग टैक्नोलाजी स्यूट का क्या नाम है, जिसे हाल ही में फेसबुक ने माइक्रोसाफ्ट से हासिल किया है? – एटलस एडवरटाइज़र स्यूट – Atlas Advertiser Suite (इसकी मदद से वेबपेज में दिए जाने वाले विज्ञापनों के प्रभाव का कई पैमानों पर आकलन किया जा सकता है)

5) पूर्व केन्द्रीय मंत्री सुखराम के उन पुत्र का क्या नाम है, जिन्हें 2 मार्च 2013 को हिमाचल प्रदेश सरकार में मंत्री के रूप में शपथ दिलाई गई है? – अनिल शर्मा (विशेष उल्लेखनीय तथ्य यह है कि अनिल शर्मा के पिता सुख राम पर टेलीकाम घोटाले में लिप्त होने के आरोप के परिणामस्वरूप उन्हें मंत्रीमण्डल से निकाले जाने के बाद उन्हें भी 16 साल पहले हिमाचल प्रदेश सरकार से बाहर कर दिया गया था और अब 16 साल बाद उन्होंने मंत्रिमण्डल में वापसी की है)

6) हाल ही में रिलीज़ हुई पुस्तक “वाकिंग विद लायन्स :  टेल्स फ्राम ए डिप्लोमैटिक पास्ट” – “Walking with Lions : Tales from a Diplomatic Past” का लेखक कौन है? – के. नटवर सिंह (पूर्व केन्द्रीय विदेश मंत्री) इस पुस्तक का अनावरण 1 मार्च 2013 को उप-राष्ट्रपति हामिद अंसारी ने किया)

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National Population Policy 2000

The overriding objective of economic and social development is to improve the quality of lives that people lead, to enhance their well-being, and to provide them with opportunities and choices to become productive assets in society.

In 1952, India was the first country in the world to launch a national programme, emphasizing family planning to the extent necessary for reducing birth rates “to stabilize the population at a level consistent with the requirement of national economy”. After 1952, sharp declines in death rates were, however, not accompanied by a similar drop in birth rates. The National Health Policy, 1983 stated that replacement levels of total fertility rate (TFR) should be achieved by the year 2000.

On 11 May, 2000 India is projected to have 1 billion (100 crore) people, i.e. 16 percent of the world’s population on 2.4 percent of the globe’s land area. If current trends continue, India may overtake China in 2045, to become the most populous country in the world. While global population has increased threefold during this century, from 2 billion to 6 billion, the population of India has increased nearly five times from 238 million (23 crore) to 1 billion in the same period. India’s current annual increase in population of 15.5 million is large enough to neutralize efforts to conserve the resource endowment and environment.

India’s Demographic Achievement

Half a century after formulating the national family welfare programme, India has:

• Reduced crude birth rate (CBR) from 40.8 (1951) to 26.4 (1998, SRS)
• Halved the infant mortality rate (IMR) from 146 per 1000 live births (1951) to 72 per 1000 live births (1998, SRS)
• Quadrupled the couple protection rate (CPR) from 10.4 per cent (1971) to 44 per cent (1999)
• Reduced crude death rate (CDR) from 25 (1951) to 9.0 (1998, SRS)
• Added 25 years to life expectancy from 37 years to 62 years
• Achieved nearly universal awareness of the need for and methods of family planning
• Reduced total fertility rate from 6.0 (1951) to 3.3 (1997, SRS)

Population Projections For India (million)

March 1991                  846.3

March 2001                 1012.4

March 2011                  1178.9

March 2016                  1263.5

Stabilising population is an essential requirement for promoting sustainable development with more equitable distribution. However, it is as much a function of making reproductive health care accessible and affordable for all, as of increasing the provision and outreach of primary and secondary education, extending basic amenities including sanitation, safe drinking water and housing, besides empowering women and enhancing their employment opportunities, and providing transport and communications.

The National Population Policy, 2000 (NPP 2000) affirms the commitment of government towards voluntary and informed choice and consent of citizens while availing of reproductive health care services, and continuation of the target free approach in administering family planning services. The NPP 2000 provides a policy framework for advancing goals and prioritizing strategies during the next decade, to meet the reproductive and child health needs of the people of India, and to achieve net replacement levels (TFR) by 2010. It is based upon the need to simultaneously address issues of child survival, maternal health, and contraception, while increasing outreach and coverage of a comprehensive package of reproductive and child heath services by government, industry and the voluntary non-government sector, working in partnership.

Objectives

The immediate objective of the NPP 2000 is to address the unmet needs for contraception, health care infrastructure, and health personnel, and to provide integrated service delivery forbasic reproductive and child health care. The medium-term objective is to bring the TFR to replacement levels by 2010, through vigorous implementation of inter-sectoral operational strategies. The long-term objective is to achieve a stable population by 2045, at a level consistent with the requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development, and environmental protection.

In pursuance of these objectives, the following National Socio-Demographic Goals to be achieved in each case by 2010 are formulated:

• Address the unmet needs for basic reproductive and child health services, supplies and infrastructure
• Make school education up to age 14 free and compulsory, and reduce drop outs at primary and secondary school levels to below 20 percent for both boys and girls
• Reduce infant mortality rate to below 30 per 1000 live births
• Reduce maternal mortality ratio to below 100 per 100,000 live births
• Achieve universal immunization of children against all vaccine preventable diseases
• Promote delayed marriage for girls, not earlier than age 18 and preferably after 20 years of age
• Achieve 80 per cent institutional deliveries and 100 percent deliveries by trained persons
• Population growth in India continues to be high on account of:

The large size of the population in the reproductive age-group (estimated contribution 58 percent). An addition of 417.2 million between 1991 and 2016 is anticipated despite substantial reductions in family size in several states, including those which have already achieved replacement levels of TFR. This momentum of increase in population will continue for some more years because high TFRs in the past have resulted in a large proportion of the population being currently in their reproductive years. It is imperative that the reproductive age group adopts without further delay or exception the “small family norm”, for the reason that about 45 percent of population increase is contributed by births above two children per family.

Higher fertility due to unmet need for contraception (estimated contribution 20 percent). India has 168 million eligible couples, of which just 44 percent are currently effectively protected. Urgent steps are currently required to make contraception more widely available, accessible, and affordable. Around 74 percent of the population lives in rural areas, in about 5.5 lakh villages, many with poor communications and transport. Reproductive health and basic health infrastructure and services often do not reach the villages, and, accordingly, vast numbers of people cannot avail of these services.

High wanted fertility due to the high infant mortality rate (IMR) (estimated contribution about 20 percent). Repeated child births are seen as an insurance against multiple infant (and child) deaths and accordingly, high infant mortality stymies all efforts at reducing TFR.

Over 50 per cent of girls marry below the age of 18, the minimum legal age of marriage, resulting in a typical reproductive pattern of “too early, too frequent, too many”. Around 33 per cent births occur at intervals of less than 24 months, which also results in high IMR.

• Achieve universal access to information/counseling, and services for fertility regulation and contraception with a wide basket of choices
• Achieve 100 per cent registration of births, deaths, marriage and pregnancy
• Contain the spread of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and promote greater integration between the management of reproductive tract infections (RTI) and sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the National AIDS Control Organisation
• Prevent and control communicable diseases
• Integrate Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) in the provision of reproductive and child health services, and in reaching out to households
• Promote vigorously the small family norm to achieve replacement levels of TFR
• Bring about convergence in implementation of related social sector programs so that family welfare becomes a people centred programme

Improving Access To Justice

The National Mission for Justice Delivery and legal Reforms was set up in June, 2011 to achieve the twin goals of increasing access by reducing delays and arrears; and enhancing accountability through structural changes and by setting performance standards and capacities.

The Mission has become fully functional from 2012-13 and is pursuing strategic initiatives: outlining policy and legislative changes; re-engineering of procedures and court processes; focussing on Human Resource Development; and leveraging Information and Communication Technology & tools for better justice delivery.

The Mission will adopt a coordinated approach for phased liquidation of arrears and pendency in judicial administration which would, inter alia, involve better infrastructure for courts including computerisation, increase in strength of subordinate judiciary, policy and legislative measures in the areas prone to excessive litigation, re-engineering of court procedure for quick disposal of cases.

Policy and Legislative Changes

In short span of its existence, the Mission has taken several steps in each of the strategic areas towards fulfillment of its objectives. Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill has been prepared. The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is now before the Rajya Sabha for consideration. Constitution amendment bill for raising the retirement age of High Court Judges is also before the Parliament.

A comprehensive proposal has been formulated for constitution of All India Judicial Service and the proposal is before Committee of Secretaries. 25 States have formulated their Litigation Policies with a view to reduce the Governmental litigation. Litigation Policy at the national level is also on the anvil.

An Inter-Ministerial Group has been constituted to suggest necessary amendments to the Negotiable Instruments Act along with other policy and administrative measures to check increasing litigation relating to cheque bounce cases.

First meeting of IMG was held on 30th, May 2012 and decisions taken in the meeting are being pursued for follow up action with Department of Financial Services, Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks Association for reducing the burden of cheque bouncing cases on our criminal justice system.

Science, Technology And Innovation Policy 2013

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, unveiled the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013 by presenting its first copy to the President of India Shri Pranab Mukerjee at the inaugural session of the Centenary session of the Indian Science Congress at Kolkatta on January 3.

The STI Policy seeks to send a signal to the Indian scientific community, both in the private and public domain, that science, technology and innovation should focus on faster, sustainable and inclusive development of the people.

The policy seeks to focus on both STI for people and people for STI. It aims to bring all the benefits of Science, Technology & Innovation to the national development and sustainable and more inclusive growth. It seeks the right sizing of the gross expenditure on research and development by encouraging and incentivizing private sector participation in R & D, technology and innovation activities.

The policy also seeks to trigger an ecosystem for innovative abilities to flourish by leveraging partnerships among diverse stakeholders and by encouraging and facilitating enterprises to invest in innovations.

It also seeks to bring in mechanisms for achieving gender parity in STI activities and gaining global competitiveness in select technological areas through international cooperation and alliances. The policy goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery, diffusion and delivery of science led solutions for serving the aspirational goals of India for faster, sustainable and inclusive growth.

A Strong and viable Science, Research and Innovation system for High Technology led path for India (SRISHTI) are the goal for the STI policy.

Key Features

• Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society
• Enhancing skills for applications of science among the young from all social sectors
• Making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented and bright minds
• Establishing world class infrastructure for R&D for gaining global leadership in some select frontier areas of science
• Positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020(by increasing the share of global scientific publications from 3.5% to over 7% and quadrupling the number of papers in top 1% journals from the current levels)
• Linking contributions of Science Research and innovation system with the inclusive economic   growth agenda and combining  priorities   of excellence and relevance
• Creating an environment for enhanced private sector participation in R &D
• Enabling conversion of R & D output with societal and commercial applications by replicating hitherto successful models, as well as establishing of new PPP structures
• Seeking S&T based high risk innovation through new mechanisms
• Fostering resource optimised cost-effective innovation across size and technology domains
• Triggering   in the   mindset & value systems to recognise respect and reward performances which create wealth from S&T derived knowledge
• Creating a robust national innovation system

Aspirations Of The Policy

The main aspirational elements of the STI policy are:

• Raising Gross Expenditure in Research and Development (GERD) to 2% from the present 1% of the GDP in this decade by encouraging enhanced private sector contribution,
• Increasing the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel in India by at least 66% of the present strength in 5 years,
•  Increasing accessibility, availability and affordability of innovations, especially for women, differently-abled and disadvantaged sections of society.

Mechanisms

Wide ranging mechanisms are envisaged to be deployed to realise the policy aspirations, a few of these are:

• Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society,
• Enhancing skill for applications of science among the young from all social strata,
• Making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented and bright minds,
• Empowering women through appropriate STI inputs and investments,
• Facilitating private sector investment in R&D centres in India and overseas,
• Promoting establishment of large R&D facilities in PPP mode with provisions for benefits sharing,
• Permitting multi stakeholders participation in the Indian R&D system,
• Treating R&D in the private sector at par with public institutions for availing public funds,
• Bench marking of R&D funding mechanisms and patterns globally,
• Aligning Venture Capital and Inclusion Innovation Fund systems,
• Sharing of IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights) between inventors and investors,
• Modifying IPR policy to provide for marching rights for social good when supported by public funds and for co-sharing IPRs generated under PPP,
• Providing incentives for commercialization of innovations with focus on green manufacturing,
• Closing gaps in the translation of new findings at the grassroots and the commercial space,
• Forging strategic partnerships and alliances with other nations through both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in science, technology and innovation,
• Triggering ecosystem changes in attitudes, mindset, values and governance systems of publicly funded institutions engaged in STI activities to recognize, respect and reward performances which create wealth from S&T derived knowledge.

Policy Implementation

Implementation of the proposals contained in the Policy will necessitate consultations with different government departments/ministries and agencies besides consultations with overarching, science and engineering academies industry and business associations etc .

Accordingly, Department of Science and Technology (DST) will establish a Policy Implementation Group to expeditiously operationalise the proposals within the next two years.

Backdrop

Prime Minister, Shrimati Indira Gandhi had announced the Technology Policy Statement (TPS) at the Science Congress in January 1983. It focused on the need to attain technological competence and self-reliance.

Several of the statements of TPS were implemented. Subsequently, a Science and Technology Policy (STP) was announced in 2003, seeking to bring science and technology (S&T) together. It basically called for integrating programmes of socio-economic sectors with the national R&D system and the creation of a national innovation system.

The world has changed vastly since then in all spheres of human activity. New paradigms of innovation have emerged, arising, among others, out of the pervasive intrusion of internet and globalization. Even then systems that foster innovation have become country and context specific. India has declared 2010-20 as the “Decade of Innovation.”India’s demographics have changed significantly too. The youthful populations have high expectations and aspirations of the nation. The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013 approved by the Union Cabinet is in furtherance of this declaration and aims to bring perspectives to bear on Science & Technology led innovations in the changing context.

National Policy On Electronics

The Union Cabinet on October 25 approved the National Policy on Electronics 2011. The draft National Policy on Electronics was released for public consultation and it has now been finalized based on comments from various stakeholders.

India is one of the fastest growing markets of electronics in the world. There is potential to develop the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector to meet the domestic demand as well as to use the capabilities so created to successfully export ESDM products from the country. The National Policy on Electronics aims to address the issue with the explicit goal of transforming India into a premier ESDM hub.

The strategies include setting up of a National Electronics Mission with industry participation and renaming the Department of Information Technology as Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity). The Department has since been renamed on February 26, 2012.

Key Objectives

• To create an eco-system for a globally competitive Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in the country to achieve a turnover of about USD 400 billion by 2020 involving investment of about USD 100 billion and employment to around 28 million people at various levels.
• To build on the emerging chip design and embedded software industry to achieve global leadership in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), chip design and other frontier technical areas and to achieve a turnover of USD 55 billion by 2020.
• To build a strong supply chain of raw materials, parts and electronic components to raise the indigenous availability of these inputs from the present 20-25 per cent to over 60 per cent by 2020.
• To increase the export in ESDM sector from USD 5.5 billion to USD 80 billion by 2020.
• To significantly enhance availability of skilled manpower in the ESDM sector.
• Special focus for augmenting postgraduate education and to produce about 2500 PhDs annually by 2020.
• To create an institutional mechanism for developing and mandating standards and certification for electronic products and services to strengthen quality assessment infrastructure nationwide.
• To develop an appropriate security ecosystem in ESDM.
• To create long-term partnerships between ESDM and strategic and core infrastructure sectors – Defence, Atomic Energy, Space, Railways, Power, Telecommunications, etc.
• To become a global leader in creating Intellectual Property (IP) in the ESDM sector by increasing fund flow for R&D, seed capital and venture capital for start-ups in the ESDM and nano-electronics sectors.
• To develop core competencies in strategic and core infrastructure sectors like telecommunications, automotive, avionics, industrial, medical, solar, Information and Broadcasting, Railways, etc through use of ESDM in these sectors.
• To use technology to develop electronic products catering to domestic needs, including rural needs and conditions, as well as international needs at affordable price points.
• To become a global leader in the Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) segment by promoting progressive higher value addition in manufacturing and product development.
• To expedite adoption of best practices in e-waste management.
• To source, stockpile and promote indigenous exploration and mining of rare earth metals required for manufacture of electronic components.

trategies

To achieve these objectives, the policy proposes the following strategies:

• Creating eco-system for globally competitive ESDM sector:The strategies include provision of fiscal incentives for investment, setting up of electronic manufacturing clusters, preferential market access to domestically manufactured electronic products, setting up of semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities, industry friendly and stable tax regime. Based on Cabinet approval, a high level Empowered committee has been constituted to identify and shortlist technology and investors for setting up two semiconductor wafer manufacturing fabrication facilities. Based on another Cabinet approval a policy for providing preference to domestically manufactured electronic goods has been announced. Separate proposals have also been considered by the Cabinet for approval of Modified Special Incentive Package for the ESDM Sector and for setting up of Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs).
• Promotion of Exports: The strategies include aggressive marketing of India as an investment destination and providing incentives for export.
• Human Resource Development: The strategies include involvement of private sector, universities and institutions of learning for scaling up of requisite capacities at all levels for the projected manpower demand. A specialisd Institute for semiconductor chip design is also proposed.
• Cyber security: To create a completely secure cyber eco-system in the country, through suitable design and development of indigenous appropriate products through frontier technology/product oriented research, testing and validation of security of products.
• Strategic electronics: The strategies include creating long-term partnerships between domestic ESDM industry and strategic sectors for sourcing products domestically and providing Defense Offset obligations for electronic procurements through ESDM products.
• Electronics in other sectors: The strategy includes supporting and developing expertise in the electronics in the following sectors of economy: automotive, avionics, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Industrial, medical, solar photovoltaics, Information and Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Railways, Intelligent Transport Systems, and Games and Toys.
• Handling e-waste: The strategy includes various initiatives to facilitate environment friendly e-waste handling policies.

Current Scenario

• The Electronics industry reported at USD 1.75 trillion is the largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry in the world.
• It is expected to reach USD 2.4 trillion by 2020.
• The demand in the Indian market was USD 45 billion in 2008-09 and is expected to reach USD 400 billion by 2020.
• Domestic demand is expected to be driven by growth in income levels leading to higher off-take of electronics products, automation demands of corporate sector and the government`s focus on e-governance.
• The domestic production in 2008-09 was about USD 20 billion. However, the actual value-addition in the domestically produced electronic product is very low, ranging between 5 to 10 percent in most cases.
• At the current rate of growth, domestic production can cater to a demand of USD 100 billion in 2020 as against a demand of USD 400 billion and the rest would have to be met by imports.
• This aggregates to a demand supply gap of nearly USD 300 billion by 2020.

Sanitation: New Focus Area

According to Household and Housing Census 2011, half of all Indians do not have a toilet at home, while well over half own a telephone. Reacting to this phenomenon, Union Minister of Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Mr Jairam Ramesh remarked dryly: “women want cellphone, not toilets at home”.

His remarks invited widespread criticisms then (The Census data was released in March 2011). He was accused of comparing two different things and drawing an unnecessary conclusion.

Criticisms apart, the fact remains that India is lagging behind in achieving Millennium Development Goal 7.

According to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals Report, 2012, nearly 60 per cent of those practicing open defecation live in India. What makes the matter worse is the fact that there are 2.1 million toilets in India which rely on manual scavengers to empty them. The report says that India is unlikely to meet MDG target on sanitation by 2015.

Waking up to this serious problem, the government of India has taken slew of policy measures to eradicate open defecation and improve sanitation condition across India, particularly in rural India, where the problem of open defecation is more prevalent.

Highlights

• Nearly 60 per cent of those practicing open defecation live in India
• India is unlikely to achieve MDG goal on sanitation by 2015
• Sikkim is the first and only Nirmal Rajya in the country
• Total Sanitation Campaign has been rechristened as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
• The government has scrapped the distinction of BPL/APL families to achieve the total sanitation target
• The government to partner with Bill Gates Foundation

What Do Different Reports Say About Sanitation Condition In India?

• According to Houselisting and Housing Census 2011, though half of all Indians do not have a toilet at home, well over half own a telephone. Only 46.9 per cent of the total 246.6 million households have toilet facilities. Of the rest, 3.2 per cent use public toilets. And 49.8 per cent ease themselves in the open.
• The census found that while 99.1 per cent of city households have electricity supply, just 78.4 per cent have provision for drinking water on premises. Only 59.3 per cent of the households are connected with a piped sewerage network, whereas 4.2 per cent of the households have no drainage connectivity for waste water.

WHO And UNICEF’s JMPWSS Report

• Going by the present pace of progress, India will achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) on sanitation (Goal-7) only by 2054. While some States had already achieved the target and some are close to it, other populous States such as Madhya Pradesh and Orissa will reach the target only in the next century, according to WHO and UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMPWSS).
• According to the JMPWSS’ report, which tracks the progress on drinking water and sanitation, 17 States, including Kerala, Haryana, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and most Union Territories, had already achieved the MDG target while Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh will achieve it in the next 10 years.
• Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh are some States that will meet the MDG target in the coming 25 years, while Madhya Pradesh is expected to achieve the goal in 2105 and Orissa in 2160 unless special strategies are adopted to speed up the progress, JMPWS said.
• The world has pledged to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 from 1990 figures. Though India has already achieved impressive results on water supply, with 85 per cent of its people having access to safe drinking water, 51 per cent or 626 million people in the country defecate in the open, accounting for 60 per cent of the world’s total open defecations.
• India has seen an improvement in the sanitation figures from 1990, when 75 per cent people defecated in the open as against 51 per cent in 2010. But this improvement is seen only in the urban settings, where 28 per cent had no access to toilets in 1990 as against 14 per cent in 2010. In the rural areas, 91 per cent had no access to sanitation in 1990 as against 67 per cent in 2010, indicating that it was the rich who had more access to sanitation.

Millennium Development Goals Report, 2012

According to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals Report, 2012, nearly 60 per cent of those practicing open defecation live in India. The report says, “The MDG sanitation target is still out of reach”. To meet its MDG goals, India is required to reduce the proportion of households having no access to improved sanitation to 38% by 2015. India may achieve to reduce the proportion of households without any sanitation to about 43% by 2015 missing the target by about 5 percentage points. By 2015, India is likely to reduce the rural proportion of no sanitation to 58.84% (against target of 46.64%) and urban proportion of no sanitation to 11.64% (against target of 12.14%).

Steps Taken By The Government

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on June 7 gave the nod for more than doubling the amount for construction of individual household latrines from the existing Rs 4600 to nearly 10,000 rupees and also scrapped the distinction of BPL/APL families to achieve the total sanitation target in the country in the next 10 years.

The cabinet also decided to rechristen the Total Sanitation Campaign as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.

At present out of Rs 3400 allocated for individual toilets, Centre gives Rs 2100, state’s share is Rs 1000 and Rs 300 comes from the beneficiaries, while Rs 1200 is leveraged through MGNREGA works as was approved last year. But now after the Cabinet approval, Centre has to dole out Rs 3200, States have to give Rs 1400 and families have to provide Rs 900, while MGNREGA funds will be to the tune of Rs 4500.

The Planning Commission has also approved Rs 36,000 crore for drinking water and sanitation programmes in the 12th Five Year Plan as opposed to Rs 7,800 crore allocated in the 11th Plan. The Cabinet also made toilet construction mandatory for availing funds for Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY) henceforth, allocation for IAY will also be raised from existing Rs 45,000 to Rs.75,000 by end of July. For the first time solid and liquid waste management has been approved for the villages on the model of towns and cities and Gram Panchayats will get from 7 lakh rupees to 20 lakh rupees for the same depending on the size of the population.

The sanitation campaign also got a big boost from the the Union Budget 2012-13.  The Budget announced an increas of 27 per cent in the allocation for rural drinking water and sanitation. The budget for this year went up to Rs 14,000 crore from Rs 11,000 crore last year. The rural sanitation programme has got a whopping increase of 133 per cent, up from Rs 1500 crore to Rs 3500 crore.

National Award For Sanitation

The government has announced a national award for sanitation and water in the name of Maharashtrian saint Sant Gadge Baba. The award, constituted in the name of the Saint who strove towards service to society through cleanliness, will be for villages, individuals or organisations working in the field of sanitation and drinking water.

Govt Seeks Bill Gates’ Partnership

Keen to find a solution to the problem of open defecation, the Government has requested the Bill Gates Foundation to partner with it in its efforts to create better and low-cost sanitation facilities in the country.

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Sanitation and Drinking Water, Mr Jairam Ramesh, had a meeting with Mr Bill Gates in May 2012. The meeting paved way for Gates Foundation to partner with Indian institutes in the research and development field to help co-develop low-cost sanitation solutions.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had launched the initiative titled reinventing the toilet last year at Rwanda, Africa to help bring safe, clean sanitation services to millions of poor people in the developing world.

DRDO Bio-Toilets For 1,000 Gram Panchayats

A bio-toilet based on Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Bio-Digester technology was inaugurated by Union Minister of State, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena in the presence of Union Minister of Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh in Dhamra (Bhadrak), Bhubneshwar on 24 June, 2012 at a function organised by DRDO and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Initially six twin Bio-Digester toilets (1 male+1 female) in 90 km stretch of Jhamjhadi- Dhamra are proposed to be setup and gradually in the next phase around 1,000 toilets are proposed to be commissioned in Orissa.

Earlier, DRDO and FICCI had entered into an MoU for Accelerated Technology Assessment and Commercialisation (ATAC) programme that aims at commercialisation of cutting-edge technologies for civilian applications.

The technology has been developed by DRDE, Gwalior and DRL, Tezpur, two constituent laboratories of DRDO. The technology was used to decompose biological waste generated by soldiers deployed in high-altitude regions such as Siachen and Ladakh. Subsequently, the technology has been developed for resolving the problems of un-decomposed human waste in plain areas as well. The innovation degrades and converts the waste into usable water and gasses in an eco-friendly manner. The generated gas can be utilised for energy/ cooking and water for irrigation purposes.

Union Rural Development Ministry will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Defence for installation of bio-toilets in 1000 gram panchayats across the country. The project will be implemented in coordination with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at a cost of Rs 400 crore, which will be provided by the Union Rural Development Ministry. The bio-toilets will ensure health, hygiene and sanitation in these gram panchayats.

Sikkim: The First Nirmal Rajya

Sikkim is the first and only Nirmal Rajya in the country, to have achieved 100% sanitation in 2008. For successfully implementing the programme and achieving 100 per cent physical coverage in rural sanitation, Sikkim was awarded the Nirmal Rajya Award on 8th December 2008.

According to the Union Rural development Ministry, Kerala will be the second state to achieve the total sanitation by November 2012. Himachal Pradesh will be the third state (March 2013), followed by Haryana (March 2015) to achieve open defecation free status..

“India Is Drowning In Its Own Excreta”

Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment points out: “rapidly modernizing India is drowning in its own excreta” (see her commentary in the 14 Jun 2012 issue of Nature.

In this article, she has underlined the importance of sewage system to manage urban waste. The article has highlighted how incomplete sewage systems in most of the big cities in India contaminate rivers and lakes, causing diseases such as cholera. Around 97 million Indians do not have access to clean drinking water, putting the nation second only to China. Similar problems afflict other developing countries.

The challenge for India is to come up with ways of dealing with excreta that are affordable and sustainable, says she. The first step is to match investment in waste-water systems with that for water supply. Innovative and affordable toilets must be designed and accessible to everyone. Only if all waste is treated can pollution be controlled.

She also commented on faulty methods being adopted by city planners across the Indian cities. According to her, they worry more about supplying water to their citizens than about the waste water generated. Yet the effluent inevitably goes into streams, lakes and rivers, or seeps into the ground to contaminate drinking water. Nitrate levels in groundwater across India exceed 45 milligrams per litre — a sure sign of sewage contamination. Leaked sewage leads to a deadly and costly spiral.

As surface or groundwater gets contaminated, the city must source clean water from farther afield. The cost of pumping water rises — it now accounts for 30–50% of the price of supplying water. The cost of building and maintaining pipelines increases. And if the network is not maintained, water is lost — 30–50 per cent of the water leaks. The nation therefore has less clean water to supply and needs to pay more to get it to the people. It cannot provide these services for everyone, and it chooses the rich. As the water system degrades, the rich move to bottled water. The poor get sick.

She suggests, governments must demand change in how water and waste are managed. They must cut the length of the pipeline, by investing in local water supplies such as lakes and ponds and using water more efficiently. They must invest more in sewage systems, even before they invest in water supply. Water accounts and tariffs must reflect the full cost of supply and of waste collection and treatment.