the hindu imp. news feb. 23rd 2012

8/3/2019 The Hindu Imp. News Feb. 23rd 2012

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THE HINDU

Imp. News

Feb.23rd

2012

FRONT PAGE

As Italy pushes for midway formula, India swears by courts:

At a meeting with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Preneet Kaur, Staffan de Mistura was

told that without prejudice to Rome's position on the applicability of its laws, the Indian

political leadership would not be able to intervene because the matter had reached the courts

that were fair and independent. After the meeting, Ms. Kaur dwelt on the message given to

Mr. de Mistura, which is likely to be repeated when the Italian Foreign Minister visits India next

week. As far as the law point is concerned, they have their interpretations and we have our

interpretations. As of today, the two people are on Indian soil and tomorrow the Indian court isgoing to decide what steps are to be taken further, official sources said.

Italy moves High Court:

Italy has moved the Kerala High Court, seeking to quash the first information report (FIR)

registered against two of its naval personnel for the killing of two fishermen off the Kerala

coast. In a petition, Consul-General Giampaolo Cutillio and the arrested naval personnel,

Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, argued that under the principles of international law

and conventions, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that India has

ratified, Indian courts had no jurisdiction to register a crime in connection with the incident.They said the alleged offence did not take place in Indian territorial waters or on board an

Indian vessel. Therefore, the FIR registration, the launching of an investigation into the incident,

and the arrest of the two Marines were wholly without jurisdiction, null and void, and liable

to be quashed.

Justice Harun-Ul-Rasheed directed the agent of the oil tanker, Enrica Lexie, to give the High

Court Registrar-General a bank guarantee of Rs. 25 lakh against the compensation claim filed by

the family of one of the two fishermen. The court also directed the Deputy Conservator of the

Cochin Port Trust to detain the ship till the agent gave the bank guarantee. The order came on a

petition seeking a compensation of Rs.1 crore from the shipowner, the captain and the two

guards. It was filed by Doramma, wife of Valantine, and her sons Derrick, 17, and V. Jeen, 10.


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EDITORIAL

Capital gains, everyone else loses:

A large part of the income of the Big 5' accountancy and consultancy firms derives from tax

avoidance schemes which flourish in the name of tax planning. Their legality has agitated courtsin India and abroad for a long time. In 1985, a 5-judge bench of the Supreme Court in the

McDowell case settled the question decisively, observing:

In that very country where the phrase tax avoidance' originated, the judicial attitude towards

[it] has changed and the smile, cynical or even affectionate though it might have been at one

time, has now frozen into a deep frown. The courts are now concerning themselves not merely

with the genuineness of a transaction, but with [its] intended effect for fiscal purposes. No one

can now get away with a tax avoidance project with the mere statement that there is nothing

illegal about it. In our view, the proper way to construe a taxing statute, while considering a

device to avoid tax is to ask whether the transaction is a device to avoid tax, and whether

the transaction is such that the judicial process may accord its approval to it.

It is neither fair not desirable to expect the legislature to take care of every device and

scheme to avoid taxation, the ruling added. It is up to the Court to determine the nature of

the new and sophisticated legal devices to avoid tax ... expose [them] for what they really are

and refuse to give judicial benediction.

Though the Income Tax Act obliges even non-residents to pay tax on incomes earned in India,

many foreign institutional investors avoided paying taxes citing the Double Taxation Treaty with

Mauritius. This treaty says a company will be taxed only in the country where it is domiciled. All

these FIIs, though based in other countries and operating exclusively in India, claimed Mauritiandomicile by virtue of being registered there under the Mauritius Offshore Business Activities Act

(MOBA). Companies registered under MOBA are not allowed to acquire property, invest or

conduct business in Mauritius.

Yet these Post Box Companies' claimed to be domiciled there and the I-T department allowed

them to get away with claiming the benefits of the treaty for many years. Given the benign

attitude of the Indian tax authorities and the fact that there was no capital gains tax and

virtually no tax at all on these companies in Mauritius, most FIIs and most of the foreign

investment in India, by 2000, came to be routed through Mauritius.

Responding to the FIIs' distress calls, the then Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, got the Central

Board of Direct Taxes to issue a circular stating that once a company had obtained a tax

residence certificate from Mauritius, it would not be taxed in India.

The CBDT's circular was challenged in the Delhi High Court by Azadi Bachao Andolan and a

retired Income Tax Commissioner. The petitioners also pleaded that the government be


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directed to amend the treaty with Mauritius since it had become a tax haven. The High Court

allowed the writ petitions and quashed the CBDT circular, holding it violative of the I-T Act.

In the Vodafone tax case, which was heard by a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court, the court

had the opportunity to correct the transgression of the McDowellprinciple in the Mauritius

case. In 2007, Hutchinson Telecom International (HTIL), which owned 67 per cent of HutchEssar Limited (HEL), an Indian telecom company, sold its holding to Vodafone International (VIH

BV). Both companies announced that Hutchinson had sold, and Vodafone had bought, 67 per

cent of the shares and interest in the Indian company for over $11 billion.

Section 9(1) of the Income Tax Act says incomes which shall be deemed to accrue or arise in

India include all income accruing or arising, whether directly or indirectly, through the

transfer of a capital asset situated in India.

Since the transfer of the Indian telecom firm's shares and assets to Vodafone had led to capital

gains for Hutch, the IT department demanded capital gains tax from Vodafone, which was liable

to withhold this tax from the amount they paid Hutch. Vodafone claimed the transaction was

not liable to tax since it was achieved by transferring the shares of a Cayman Island-based

holding company and did not involve the transfer of a capital asset situated in India.

The Vodafone case is in the lineage of the Mauritius case inasmuch as both encourage tax

avoidance devices ostensibly to attract foreign investment. The 2G judgment of the Supreme

Court cancelling 122 telecom licences granted four years earlier, in sharp contrast, enforces the

constitutional principle of equality and non-arbitrariness. The proponents of FDI are groaning

that this will stem the flow of investment. Honest foreign companies should not be deterred by

this judgment, which strikes a blow against crony capitalism. But even if FDI becomes a casualty

in the enforcement of the rule of law, so be it.

Our courts must send a clear signal that India is not a banana republic where foreign companies

can be invited to loot our resources and even avoid paying taxes on their windfall gains from

the sale of those resources.

The model code ain't broke

The model code is central to the EC's efforts to prevent misuse of official machinery by parties

in power, and to check electoral offences, malpractices and corruption during elections. While

there can and should be a debate on strengthening the code's enforceability, it is essential that

the need for change be shared by the EC and by political parties and that actual changes be the

product of consensus between all stakeholders. In effect, statutory shape for the model code

would mean violations being tried in court; in turn, the EC's practice of using the code to

restrain parties and candidates might be jeopardised.


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All for trade, waiting for visa:

Given the political turbulence in Pakistan, it was entirely expected that Commerce Minister

Anand Sharma's visit would yield no dramatic outcomes. Even so, it was evident from the visit

that both sides have a clear-headed joint, if not common, vision about bilateral trade. Without

doubt, Pakistan recognises that it can shut itself out from India's economy only to its owndisadvantage; India realises that it needs to draw down some of its own barriers in the interests

of trading with Pakistan.

The Pakistan cabinet's decision to grant Most Favoured Nation status to India has still not been

notified due to the opposition stirred up against it at this politically sensitive time for the

Pakistan People's Party government by extremist and militant groups including the Jamat-ud-

Dawa, whose leader Hafiz Saeed is its most vocal opponent. But according to a schedule

outlined in the joint communiqu, Islamabad seems determined to replace the current

restrictive positive list with a negative list by the end of this month, which too is to be phased

out by end-2012 when the transition to MFN is planned. It is disappointing, however, that the

two sides have not yet been able to finalise a liberal visa regime, even for businessmen. The

delay is incomprehensible; the project has been in the works for more than six years. It is futile

to think of normalising trade, or of trade as a normaliser of relations, without first getting rid of

the troglodytic visa system that governs travel between the two countries.

OP ED

To IB or not to IB, that is the question:

Before 9/11 forced a rethink, the United States considered terrorist threats from abroad more

serious than home-based threats. The responsibility for co-ordinating preventive action was,therefore, vested in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which handles external intelligence.

The CIA had a Counter-Terrorism Centre (CTC) for tasks of co-ordination and follow-up action

on the intelligence collected by various agencies. The CTC had officers taken on deputation

from different agencies. They worked under a CIA officer. In India, the Vajpayee government

set up a Task Force in May 2000 I was one of the members for revamping the country's

intelligence apparatus. Its report recommended, inter alia , the setting-up of a CTC on the U.S.

model. Since in India, the IB had over-all responsibility for counter-terrorism and liaison with

the State police, it suggested that the CTC should be part of the IB and should work under its

Director (DIB). The Vajpayee government set up the CTC, under an executive order, as part of

the IB but for reasons not clear to me, it named it the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) and not the

CTC. It looked upon the MAC as a clandestine wing of the IB, itself a clandestine intelligence

collection organisation. Therefore, no legal powers were recommended for the MAC. The 9/11

terrorist strikes in the U.S. brought out serious gaps in the functioning of the CTC of the CIA.

The Bush administration, therefore, set up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in 2004

as an independent institution not under the control of any existing agency. It was placed under

the Director, National Intelligence, who is part of the President's personal staff. While the U.S.

gave up the CTC after 9/11, the Indian model of the MAC, patterned after the U.S. model, has


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continued functioning. Neither the Vajpayee government nor the Manmohan Singh

government revisited the recommendations of the Saxena Task Force in the light of the 9/11

lessons.

In a statement to the Lok Sabha after taking over as Home Minister, P. Chidambaram admitted

that the responsibility for follow-up-action on the available intelligence was diffused. He,therefore, decided to set up the NCTC after a visit to the U.S. But his model of the Indian NCTC

differs from the U.S. model in two respects. The U.S. NCTC is an independent institution not

under the control of any of the existing agencies. In India, it is to be made a wing of the IB and

will work under the DIB. In the U.S., the NCTC is a legal institution set up under Congressional

legislation after bipartisan consultations, but it does not have any legal powers to act on its own

in matters such as arrest, detention, interrogation, searches etc.

The Indian NCTC has been set up by executive notification under the Unlawful Activities

Prevention Act of 1967. This has obviated the need for fresh legislation and fresh political

consultation at the Centre and with the States. More seriously, the Indian NCTC is to be given

powers of arrest and searches as part of its preventive operations. Granting these powers to

the IB through the NCTC mechanism could have two undesirable consequences. First, there

may be allegations of misuse of the IB for harassing political opponents.

Secondly, the IB's role as a clandestine intelligence collection organisation may get affected.

The IB will be preoccupied with defending its arrests before the courts and against allegations

of human rights violations.

Today, the IB enjoys protection from the Right to Information Act. If it has these powers and

adds policing to its functions, it may no longer be able to enjoy this protection.

The Home Minister had two options. If he felt the NCTC must have the powers of search and

arrest, he could have made it an independent agency. Or if he felt that it must work under the

IB, he could have made it a division of the agency without giving it these powers.

His unwise action in arming the NCTC with these powers as part of the IB could prove

counterproductive. There is no opposition in India to the NCTC concept, which is necessary. The

opposition is to some of its features, and to the manner in which it has been set up, without

adequate consultations.

Italy is wrong on sea law:

It is true that Article 97 of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as

quoted by the Italian authorities, states that No arrest or detention of the ship, even as a

measure of investigation, shall be ordered by any authorities other than those of the flag

state. In this case the flag state is Italy. But the Article quoted is out of context, as it deals with

Penal Jurisdiction in Matters of Collision or any other incident of Navigation'. Here neither

collision nor navigational aspect is indicated.


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On the contrary, in Annexure III of UNCLOS, under the heading of Convention of High Seas,

1958, Article 2 stipulates certain freedoms that are recognised by the general principles of

international law, wherein freedom of fishing is a part.

To combat piracy, a modern threat to shipping, the International Maritime Organization (IMO)

adopted a resolution in 1986 on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety ofMaritime Navigation, then known as the Rome Convention. This was the immediate outcome of

the Achille Lauro case, in which a passenger ship with Italian crew was hijacked by Palestinians

in October 1985. The U.N. then requested the IMO to address the problem. The action required

to be taken was against persons committing unlawful acts against ships.

In the instant case, even this does not apply as there was no unlawful act committed against

the ship by the fishermen. The action by the ship's crew was on suspicion that the fishermen

could be pirates.

Therefore, this case definitely does not come under any of the provisions of UNCLOS or any

other convention connected with international piracy. Killing someone is a crime; the accused

has to face charges. But how and where must be decided by the authorities keeping in view

diplomatic conditions.

Say NO to death for drugs:

India has a long history of opium and cannabis use, especially in medicinal, spiritual and social

contexts. Serving opium is an age-old tradition in many parts of the country that marks respect

for guests. Yet, this social propriety turned into legal impropriety with the enactment of the

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) in 1985, in order to comply with

international agreements. The NDPS Act prohibits cultivation, production, manufacture,possession, sale, purchase, transport, import, export, use and consumption of narcotic drugs

and psychotropic substances, except for medical and scientific reasons, under license.

In 1989, barely four years after its introduction, the NDPS Act underwent amendments to

incorporate harsher provisions, including mandatory death penalty upon subsequent

conviction, if the quantity of contraband exceeds the threshold under Section 31A of the Act.

The offender's circumstances whether young or old, sick or mentally infirm, socially and

economically disadvantaged or acting under duress or pressure were irrelevant in

sentencing. The death sentence is applied uniformly, irrespective of whether the convicted

person is a carrier, an intermediary, organiser or lead player in the drug trade.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has held that drug trafficking is not the

most serious crime under international law. In 1997, the UNHRC asked India to limit the

number of offences carrying the death penalty to the most serious crimes, with a view to its

ultimate abolition . Significantly, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the agency

that oversees drug control measures globally has denounced capital punishment as a means to


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contain illicit trafficking and called upon Member States to abolish the death penalty for drug-

related offences.

INTERNATIONAL

Iran-IAEA talks fail to achieve breakthrough:

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have failed to achieve a breakthrough,

after two days of talks, on a roadmap to ease nuclear tensions surrounding Iran's atomic

programme. Iran also barred the IAEA team, led by the Agency's deputy director Herman

Nackaerts to visit a military site in Parchin, where, there are suspicions that Iran has carried out

high explosives testing related to the development of atomic weapons. IAEA chief Yukiya

Amano expressed disappointment over the Iran's decision to deny the IAEA team access to the

facility. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached, he said. In

November, an IAEA report said Parchin housed a large cylindrical chamber which could

withstand a force generated if 70 kg of high explosives was detonated. It remains for Iran to

explain the rationale behind these activities, the report noted.

Rudd readying for showdown ?

In a dramatic move, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigned on Wednesday saying he

could no longer work without the support of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, amid speculation that

he may pose a bitter challenge to her leadership.

The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as Foreign Minister if I don't have Prime

Minister Gillard's support, said Mr. Rudd (54).

Ms. Gillard, who ousted Mr. Rudd as Prime Minister in June 2010, said he did not inform her in

advance that he would resign.

7 killed in Afghan protests over desecration:

The Interior Ministry on Wednesday said seven people were killed in clashes between Afghan

security forces and protesters demonstrating against the burning of Muslim holy books at a

NATO military base. The anger has sparked two days of protests across Afghanistan and tapped

into anti-foreign sentiment fuelled by a perception that foreign troops disrespect Afghan

culture and Islam. The demonstrations prompted the U.S. to lock down its embassy and bar its

staff from travelling.

Marine in Iraq killings leaves service:

The Marine Corps has discharged the lone Marine convicted in the 2005 killings of unarmed

Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha, a spokesman said Tuesday. Former Sgt. Frank Wuterich

ended his service Friday, Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said. Wuterich had


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his rank reduced to private as part of a deal that abruptly ended his manslaughter court martial

last month at Camp Pendleton and spared him imprisonment.

No blues in belting them out:

The President just couldn't say no Mick Jagger held out a microphone almost by way ofcommand, and soon Barack Obama was belting out the blues with the best of them.

The East Room of the White House was transformed into an intimate blues club on Tuesday

night for a concert featuring blues all-stars of the past, present and future and the President

himself.

The surprise performance by Mr. Obama came at the end of the playlist when the blues

ensemble was singing Sweet Home Chicago, the blues anthem of Mr. Obama's home town.

Buddy Guy prodded the President, saying he'd heard that the President sang part of an Al

Green tune recently, and adding, You gotta keep it up.

Then Jagger handed over the mike, and Mr. Obama seemed compelled to comply.

Come on, baby don't you want to go, the President sang out twice, handing off the mike to

B.B. King momentarily, and then taking it back to tack on Sweet Home Chicago at the end.

That was how Mr. Obama ended the night. This was how he began it Mr. Obama said

sometimes there are downsides to being the President. You can't just go for a walk, for

example.

And then there are the times that more than make up for all those frustrations, he said, like

Tuesday night, when Jagger, King, Jeff Beck and other musical giants came by the house to sing

the blues.

I guess things even out a little bit

King (86) arrived in a wheelchair but rose tall to kick off the night with a raucous Let the Good

Times Roll, quickly joined by other members of the ensemble. And he followed with The Thrill

is Gone. From there, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, were swaying in their seats and singing

along to an all-hits playlist including St. James Infirmary and Let Me Love You.

Beck slowed things down with an instrumental Brush With the Blues, as anticipation built for

the arrival of Jagger, who did not disappoint. The Rolling Stones frontman delivered on I Can't

Turn You Loose Jagger got the President and his wife up out of their seats, swaying and

clapping to the music, and picked up the pace with Miss You, performed with Shemekia

Copeland and Susan Tedeschi.


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SCI & TECH

Recent geological activity on the moon imaged:

New images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft show the moon's crust

is being stretched, forming minute valleys in a few small areas on the lunar surface. Scientistspropose this geologic activity occurred less than 50 million years ago, which is considered

recent compared to the moon's age of more than 4.5 billion years.

A team of researchers analyzing high-resolution images obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance

Orbiter Camera (LROC) show small, narrow trenches typically much longer than they are wide.

This indicates the lunar crust is being pulled apart at these locations. These linear valleys,

known as graben, form when the moon's crust stretches, breaks and drops down along two

bounding faults. A handful of these graben systems have been found across the lunar surface.

We think the moon is in a general state of global contraction because of cooling of a still hot

interior, said Thomas Watters of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the

Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and lead author of a paper on

this research appearing in the March issue of the journal Nature Geoscience . The graben tell

us forces acting to shrink the moon were overcome in places by forces acting to pull it apart.

This means the contractional forces shrinking the moon cannot be large, or the small graben

might never form.

The weak contraction suggests that the moon, unlike the terrestrial planets, did not completely

melt in the very early stages of its evolution. Rather, observations support an alternative view

that only the moon's exterior initially melted forming an ocean of molten rock.

BUSINESS

Rangarajan projects 7.5-8 % growth:

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on Wednesday projected a 7.5-8 per

cent growth for the next fiscal. It also called for phasing out of subsidies, including upward

adjustment of petrol and diesel prices and deregulation of urea prices.

Releasing the Review of the Economy 2011-12 here, PMEAC Chairman C. Rangarajan said the

country could even achieve higher economic growth, provided the global environment was

favourable. We might be able to achieve 8 per cent growth on our esteem if the world

environment is favourable, we will be able to achieve high growth rate,'' he remarked.

He said the growth rate was likely to be 7.1 per cent in 2011-12, marginally higher than the 6.9

per cent growth projected by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). The economy recorded

a growth of 8.4 per cent in 2010-11, which, according to the CSO estimates, is expected to

moderate to 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal.


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Referring to inflation, which has remained at a higher level in 2011, he said it would moderate

to 6.5 per cent by March-end and 5-6 per cent in the next fiscal. While the retail inflation based

on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 7.65 per cent in January, the Wholesale Price Index

(WPI) inflation was 6.55 per cent.

He said the partial reforms in the fertilizer subsidy regime of introducing nutrient-basedsubsidisation would not be effective unless the price of urea was decontrolled or at least raised

substantially. The government expects that its subsidy bill would increase by Rs.1 lakh crore to

Rs.2.34 lakh crore, mainly on account of higher outlay towards fertiliser, food and oil. Dr.

Rangarajan said the excise duty and the service tax should be increased to the pre-crisis level, a

move that would bring in additional Rs.35,000 crore revenue. Before the economic crisis,

service tax and excise duty rates were at 12 per cent, but as a stimulus the government had

brought them down to 10 per cent in 2008-09.

BSE launches Greenex

Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Veerappa Moily on Wednesday launched the BSE Greenex,

a new share index of sustainable stocks, by ringing the bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Greenex includes stocks of 20companies from BSE 100, which meet the energy efficiency

norms, allowing investors to derive benefit from the related cost savings. ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC,

Sun Pharma and BHEL are the major constituents of the index.

The Greenex is targeted at retail, as well as institutional investors such as asset managers and

pension funds looking for investments in companies with strong long-term prospects and

develop green financial products.

The index will help create viable market-based solutions for industries, investors and

governments, to promote energy efficient practices and encourage impact investing in

economically and environmentally sustainable businesses. The Greenex gauge has been

developed by gTrade, a local firm working on financial innovations in energy efficiency, and BSE

Ltd.

Etisalat says bye-bye to India:

Post the Supreme Court order cancelling all 122 licences issued in 2008, UAE-based Etisalat on

Wednesday said it would shut down its operations in India.

As unanimously resolved by the board, Etisalat DB will be taking steps to reduce the operating

costs, including the suspension of its network and services, pursuant to the terms of its UAS

licences, the company said in a statement.


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EPFO board split on minimum pension:

Differences among representatives of employers and employees at the EPFO (Employees'

Provident Fund Organisation) board meeting on Wednesday forced the retirement fund body to

defer decision on fixing the minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 for PF subscribers. The

Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of the EPFO, could not approvethe proposal to benefit its 4.72 crore subscribers, as neither the employers' representatives nor

the union leaders were willing to share any extra load, sources said. Of the 35 lakh EPFO

pensioners, 14 lakh get a monthly payment of less than Rs.500. Only seven lakh of them get

above Rs.1,000 or more as monthly pension and there are cases where pensioners are getting

as low as Rs.12-38 a month. At present, both an employer and his employee contribute 12 per

cent of the basic pay plus dearness allowance (BPDA), each towards the PF fund.

Page 10

Modi miffed at proposal to give RPF police powers:

In yet another confrontational course, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has taken strong

exception to the Centre's proposal to amend the Railway Protection Force Act to give the RPF

the power to act against offenders now held by the State police.

After a controversy over the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre notification, in which

Mr. Modi was joined by several non-Congress Chief Ministers in opposing the move, Mr. Modi

on Wednesday shot off yet another letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, opposing the

proposal of the Ministry of Railways to amend the RPF Act, 1957.

Mr. Modi said the proposed amendment Bill, which is intended to confer the powers of Statepolice officers to the RPF, is unwarranted, a severe violation of the constitutional spirit and a

blow to the federal structure of India. It also usurps the power of the State legislature.

The proposed amendment to provide powers of the police officer by amending the provisions

of the RPF Act, 1957, is violative of provisions of the existing Indian Police Act and provisions of

the State Police Acts, such as the Bombay Police Act, 1956, applicable in Gujarat, Mr. Modi

said.

The Railway Ministry was behaving as if it were an independent authority and entity. It is

attempting to create an impression that the Ministry of Railways is a State within a State, thus

justifying conferring of police powers of investigation and arrest to the RPF. Mr. Modi said that

even the State police faced a dilemma of jurisdiction and often carried out probes into many

offences cutting across borders of States.


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Page 11

Farmer-friendly rural job scheme from April 1-

Even while turning down demands for a moratorium on MGNREGS jobs during the agricultural

season, the Centre on Wednesday approved new works that aim at boosting the farm sector.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh released here a report, authored by Planning

Commission member Mihir Shah, suggesting revision of the guidelines to strengthen the job

entitlement programme that has run into rough weather of late.

The new avatar of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,

coming into existence on April 1, will allow farmers who qualify for support under MGNREGS to

hire hands for eight man-days per acre for transplantation and for another four man-days at

two intervals for weeding.

Through this provision the Centre seeks to solve the problem of small and marginal farmers

who not only find it difficult to get hands but also pay higher wages demanded by workers.

They are unable to match the wages paid under MGNREGS. Now the government will pay for

those working on agricultural land owned by eligible farmers.

Both Mr. Ramesh and the Planning Commission member said the Shah-led committee had

received several petitions to freeze the scheme during the agricultural season but these were

turned down and instead it was decided to accept the proposal to converge MGNREGS

activities with farm work.

Out of the 30 new works approved, almost 90 per cent were agriculture related. Mr. Rameshstressed that 75 per cent of employment was provided under MGNREGS outside the

agricultural season and hence the anxiety in some quarters was unfounded.

the hindu imp. news feb. 23rd 2012

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