The United States wants to impose its rules on much of the world

through the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that has been agreed to by 12 Pacific Rim countries
will, when actualized, usher in the worlds largest trade bloc. The free trade agreement
(FTA) that is the TPP began taking shape in 2008 when the United States (US) agreed to
engage with New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Brunei, the so-called P4 group of
countries, which had concluded the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership in 2006.
However, it was not until late 2009 that US President Barack Obama gave the green signal
for the US to join the TPP negotiations with the goal of shaping a regional agreement that
will have broad-based membership and the high standards worthy of a 21st century trade
agreement.
The TPP was negotiated with the aim of comprehensively liberalizing trade in goods and
services and to have rules, including behind-the-border measures, that the members of
the grouping would be required to adopt, rules that are well beyond those established by
the World Trade Organization (WTO). One of the more explicit objectives of the TPP is to
establish product and process standards that are increasingly becoming important for
regulating market access in a world where tariffs are becoming pass. These product and
process standards, based essentially on those that prevail in the US, could eventually
provide the template for the making of trade rules under the aegis of the WTO. At the
same time, the TPP introduces regimes for the protection of intellectual property rights
(IPRs) and investment, the provisions which require the member-countries to meet the
most onerous commitments ever to have been applied in these areas.
The framework for IPRs in the TPP enhances the rights of the owners of intellectual
property, thus providing a glimpse of what a TRIPS-plus regime could look like. The first
among such features of the IPR chapter of the TPP is the considerable dilution of the
remedies that can be used if, for example, the patent rights are in direct conflict with
public interest. In the WTO, the developing countries were able to collectively work
together more than a decade ago and make the Geneva-based trade body adopt the
Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health at the 2001 Doha ministerial meeting. Included
in this framework are provisions for granting a fi ve-year market exclusivity to the
originator firms that submit test and other data to the regulators for obtaining marketing
approval for new pharmaceutical products. This provision is intended to extend the period
of market exclusivity that producers of new products would normally enjoy through the
patent rights.
The TPP legitimizes the highly contested investorstate dispute settlement mechanism in
its framework for the protection of investors. Although several of the participating
countries had questioned this mechanism, given the spurt in the cases brought by foreign
investors against their host governments before the international tribunals, the backing
for this mechanism by the US carried the day in its favour. The significance of the TPP
then is more in the rules and provisions it will enjoin on its members, for the US sees the
TPP as a mechanism to impose its own trade rules on a significant proportion of the
worlds trading powers, bypassing in the process the multilateral system. More ominously,
the US hopes to eventuallydraw China and India into the TPP; if that were to happen the
scuttling of the multilateral trading system will be complete.

The impact of the TPP on India (refer mind map of INSIGHTS on

the same also)
The impact of the TPP on India needs to be analyzed from two perspectives
India not being a member of the TPP and India joining the TPP

more than 80% of the value of Indias exports to Australia, Canada and Japan are in product
lines which India also exports to the US in significant amount, say at least $1 mn. Thus, as
India complies with the standards in these products in the US, it would be able to comply with
the harmonized standards in Australia, Canada and Japan. This should allay fears that India
would find it burdensome to comply with harmonized product standards that may be
introduced as a consequence of the TPP.

implications for India if it were to join the TPPthe focus has to centre on some of the
consequences for India if it were required to comply with provisions related to tariffs, SOEs,
agriculture and IPR protection. Eliminating customs t ariffs on most of the products would
expose the domestic industry to severe import competition. Given the infrastructure
deficiencies that hobble domestic manufacturing and raise the cost of production, the survival
of most of the manufacturing sector would be severely threatened in a zero-duty regime.

What Should India Do?

In order to mitigate the adverse impact, although limited, of remaining outside the TPP, India
needs to act domestically and at the international level. Within the country, efforts must be
made to enhance the competitiveness of Indias exports. This would require the government
to make concerted efforts at addressing some of the well-known constraints that hobble
manufacturing in the country. Another area that requires urgent attention is enhancing the
regulatory capacity within the country. In particular, the ability to formulate and implement
standards in different product sectors needs to be enhanced. Efforts also need to be made to
ensure that impediments to compliance with improved domestic standards are addressed. At
the external front, India needs to conclude some of its crucial FTAs, including IndiaEU
bilateral trade and investment agreement and the ongoing Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership mega FTA. Enhanced market access resulting from these agreements
could mitigate some of the export losses on account of Indias exclusion from the TPP. Of
course, India must safeguard its core interests in these FTA negotiations. In parallel, India
must create a coalition of developing countries at the WTO for resisting pressures to introduce
the non-trade issues into the negotiating agenda of the WTO.

Overall, the TPP has been crafted by the US to further its commercial interests, particularly of
its pharmaceutical industry and that of its investors in other countries. Frustrated at its failure
to push its agenda in the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations at the WTO, the US
has also used the TPP agreement to create a template of rules on many non-trade related
issues. Compliance with the non-trade issues is likely to raise the manufacturing costs in the
signatory countries, thereby eroding the cost competitiveness of their exports. While many
developing countries have rejected the attempts of the US to push some of the non-trade
issues into the agenda of the WTO, the highly exaggerated export gains if countries join TPP
could induce some of them to acquiesce to the TPP template.

From the perspective of the signatory countries, the success of the TPP will depend on
bringing emerging economies, including China, India, Indonesia and Thailand, within its fold. If
the emerging economies remain outside the TPP, then this would put the TPP countries at a
disadvantage. While the export competitiveness of TPP countries would be eroded by the cost
that would need to be incurred in order to comply with the labour standards and environment
requirements, non-member countries would not be constrained by these conditions. Further,
emerging economies outside the TPP club would have the flexibility to provide subsidies to
their SOEs, while SOEs in TPP countries would not be able to benefit from government
support. Hence, in order to prevent these perverse consequences for themselves, the TPP
signatories are likely to make efforts to expand the geographical coverage of the agreement.
Attempts by some US think tanks to project exaggerated export gains for India supposedly
from joining the TPP should be seen in this context.

From Indias perspective, remaining outside the TPP will certainly create trade diversion, but
membership of the TPP could entail heavy costs without commensurate gains. The extent of
trade diversion may be relatively small. While joining the TPP could enhance exports in some
sectors, on the other hand, the costs of medicines would rise steeply. Accepting the narrative
of supposed gains from TPP, without a critical examination of the inherent risks, could
severely jeopardise Indias economic prospects. The country needs to tread cautiously by
taking a balanced and comprehensive approach to the supposed gains and likely costs of TPP
membership. Even if the TPP is the gold standard for trade in the 21st century, the
template does not seem to serve Indias overall interest.

World bank's poverty estimation

This article has argued that the World Banks approach to measuring poverty, and the norms
and assumptions it has chosen to uphold in its exercises of estimating global poverty over the
last quarter century, have been informed by conceptual muddles and predispositions that
have supported a picture of relatively low and declining poverty figures. It has been further
argued that even without fundamental shifts in methodology, but with changes made to the
poverty line and PPP exchange rates that are scarcely based on grounds that could meet with

serious objection from the internal logic of the Banks approach, the picture of world poverty
is probably a good deal more serious than their estimates would suggest.

Why should this matter? When targets relating to poverty redress are mechanically set and
monitored in accordance with the World Banks approach, one has to ask if the global
objectives embraced in such grand statements as the MDGs and the SDGs are not much
more than perfunctory gestures aimed at propitiating rituals and addressing the demands of
maintaining polite public relations amongst the nations of the world. In a cosmopolitan view
of global justice such as has been advocated by philosophers like Thomas Pogge and Charles
Beitz, supranational institutions have a responsibility towards facts and duties that are poorly
served by facile diagnoses and assessments of the global phenomena of poverty and
inequality.

Issues such as unfair trade practices, capricious and niggardly aid flows from the developed
to the developing world, illicit global financial flows, the plunder of natural resources in
countries with a large prevalence of poverty, the questionable corporate practices of
multinational companies, and debt, and strife, and the urgings of austerity and impositions of
conditionalities on countries already reeling under recessionary pressures these are issues
that deserve to be seriously addressed. But these are also the issues that can be largely
swept under the carpet by downplaying the rigors of global deprivation, and inviting the
global population to share the view that we are well on our way to being in the best of all
possible worlds. Such a construction is, at best, both inaccurate and diversionary. That is also
why critiques of the present typestubborn, repetitive and plodding though they aremight
be seen to matter.

The new policy on foreign investment is only concerned with

augmenting inflows.
The recent amendments to Indias foreign direct investment(FDI) policy seek to increase
the scope for foreign investment through multiple ways: raising the sectoral caps,
withdrawing the sub-limits within the overall composite caps and minimizing the
requirement of government approvals. The amendments cover several key sectors:
defense, broadcasting, private sector banks, non-scheduled air transport service,
ground handling services, plantations, single brand retail trade, construction, and credit
information companies.
Due to the progressive liberalisation of Indias FDI regime, caps on the share of FDI in
an individual companys equity are hitherto applicable to only a few service sectors like
retail trade, banking, insurance, broadcasting and print media, besides defence. This
implies that barring a few exceptions, the entire manufacturing sector and a large
number of service sectors are not constrained by restrictions on foreign ownership.
Since the scope for further opening up is quite limited, the focus has turned to the
existing caps.

 While the FDI policy tries to distinguish between various types of foreign investors, FDI
per se is merely being seen as a source of funds.
A major and relevant question in this regard is whether serious foreign investors who
contribute almost half of the risk capital can accept the position of sleeping partners.
Further, it would be unrealistic to expect foreign investors not to be interested in
securing their technologies and reputation besides maximizing their overall returns on
their investments. On the other hand, the Indian partners are likely to seek FDI to get
access to critical intangibles, namely, technologies, goodwill, etc, apart from a stable
source of risk capital. Under such circumstances, foreign investors are more likely to
seek control of the operations of the joint venture (JV)
Since the distinction between FDI and the other forms of foreign investment is being
done away with, Indias FDI policy is progressively turning into a generic foreign
investment policy. The government is rapidly rendering irrelevant the notion of sectoral
caps. It must be noted however that foreign investment caps provide domestic
entrepreneurs the opportunity to form JVs and to meaningfully contribute to the running
of such enterprises. The government can ill-afford to ignore the significant benefit t that
can be derived through the promotion of true JVs, namely, opportunities for Indian
entrepreneurship to develop.
In the name of FDI policy reforms, India is merely easing the procedures and enhancing
the scope for foreign equity participation. There cannot be a stand-alone FDI policy with
the main objective of maximizing inflows. What it actually should do is to constantly
review the requirements of various sectors, assess the contribution of different
constituents, create conditions which force foreign investors to contribute positively to
the national economy and devise ways to enhance the bargaining power and
capabilities of domestic entrepreneurs. Thus, instead of giving the concept of foreign
investment caps a quiet burial, the government needs to carefully review Indias
experience with FDI over the past two decades and proceed further to maximize the
netbenefits within the freedom allowed by its international commitments. In his budget
speech, the finance minister stated that the measures relating to FDI in defense,
insurance and railway infrastructure, construction and medical devices sectors
weretaken to create jobs. It may therefore be worthwhile to look at the past
experiences with FDI in job creation, in order to ensure that such expectations are being
realized.

The new adoption guidelines require more deliberation and finetuning.

Adoption in India has always been entangled in legal and social issues, further
confounded by periodic reports of adoption rackets. The long pending need for
simplification of procedures is cited as the reason behind the new guidelines set out by
the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which came into effect from August this
year. However, no sooner was this done, complaints began and the Bombay High Court

is even hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the guidelines. The Federation
of Adoption Agencies in Maharashtra has also fi led an intervention application.

CARA, which is an autonomous body and the nodal agency under the Ministry of Women
and Child Development (MWCD), has assured the court that it is willing to look into the
grievances.

Criticism of complete online process :- photographs of six children would be put up

on the CARA website for the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) to view along with the
childs study and medical examination reports. PAPs must fi rst upload their own
documents on the website and following a home study, the six photographs are put up
in accordance with the choices mentioned. This is a looks-based approach that is also
unfair to the countless PAPs who may not have access to online communication or be
familiar with English. Even those with such access are not necessarily comfortable with
undertaking such a significant and emotional step through an impersonal computer
screen. However, the new guidelines ensure that the waiting list moves according to
seniority in applications (thus assuring transparency). There is a centralized waiting
list that allows application and matching from any place in the country (adoption rates
have been very low in states with a negligible number of adoption agencies). And nonresident Indians will be on par with Indian parents and there will be strict monitoring of
adoption agencies -

non-responsive toll-free help lines and tech-unfriendly staff at CARA

There are other issues in adoption that are not necessarily linked to the guidelines.
Indian PAPs predominantly opt for children without any disability and those below six
months. The focus thus tends to be not on what the child needs but what the
prospective parents want. Again, on the issue of adoption by foreign parents there is a
great deal of bad press, associated as it is with allegations of racketeering. According to
adoption agencies, foreigners are more willing than Indians to adopt children with
special needs. However, while there is no study to prove this, the Indian unwillingness
to adopt special children is perhaps due to the fact that in India state-sponsored
facilities to bring up a disabled child are abysmal. There is also the issue of illegal
adoptions which continue to be rampant. The efforts to crack down on them seem to be
ineffectual

 While there are positive aspects to the new CARA guidelines, there is need for more
deliberation and fine-tuning. The long-term goals of finding homes for disabled children
and older children, and motivating more Indians to adopt need to be focused on. This is
possible only through more sustained and wider consultations and debates. The fate of
lakhs of Indias children who need a family and a home depends on better adoption
practices.

The protest by Nagaland editors is one that editors elsewhere

should heed.
Background:- On 26 June 1975, a couple of English language daily newspapers ran blank
spaces instead of editorials. They were protesting press censorship imposed by Indira
Gandhis government when it proclaimed a state of internal emergency. In Indias North East,
there has been a virtual state of emergency for decades. But for the first time, the local press
in Nagaland decided things had gone too far. Three daily newspapers, Morung Express,
Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page, substituted their editorials with a blank space to mark 16
November, National Press Day. This was their dramatic rejoinder to attempts to curb the very
freedom that day is supposed to denote.
The blank spaces also spoke to the challenges that face the media in conflict areas,
particularly if they decide that freedom of the press also means they are free to give
expression to conflicting points of view. They also reminded us of the invisibility of the
struggles of these journalists, who walk a tight rope between militant groups on the one side
and the army and government on the other.
The media, especially the print media in much of the North East, faces a tenuous existence.
Newspapers are grossly underfunded, their staff is poorly paid by any standards, they face
huge infrastructural problems with erratic electric supply, intermittent internet connectivity
and a constant threat of closure when supplies cannot reach them whenever there is any kind
of trouble. Manipur is the most vulnerable in this respect as a blockage on one highway can
bring the state to a virtual standstill. On top of this, newspapers have to figure out how to
survive direct threats and pressuresfrom the security forces, from the state government,
and from militant groups. That they are able to publish at all is itself a miracle. If they publish
certain news, such as on the NSCN (K) for instance, they face charges under laws like the
UAPA for aiding banned groups. On the other hand, if they refuse to publish the handouts of
militant groups, they face violent threats that cannot be brushed aside lightly.

Community Land Reserves

Community Land Reserves (called Community Land Trusts in the US) have been in existence
around the world for over 40 years. They are non-profit organizations with a mission to
provide affordable housing to low income groups, for all time. Someone starts one off by
providing a gift of land. The organization then takes this gift of land off the market to hold it in
trust forever thereafter. Ownership of the land remains with the organization, which cannot
sell it. Individual parcels are given out to owners who build on them and own the construction
but not the land. On resale, the owner recoups the cost of his construction, adjusted to

present-day value, but not the appreciation in land value. As a result, the incoming occupant
can also get housing at an affordable price, because it is unburdened by land value. Critical to
success are the format of governance of the organization and the resale formula which
returns to the homebuyer the amount he or she has invested in construction, adjusted for
inflation, or the rate specified by the tax-free return on a sovereign paper, or any other
formula that is linked to the investment in construction, but any appreciation in land value
remains with the CLR.
In principle, no new legislation should be required to implement a CLR. As an organization it
would be governed by Company Law, and its own Memorandum and Articles of Association.
These would spell out its mission of providing affordable housing distributed through the city.
However, to ease the process of setting up CLRs, it may be advisable to amend the MRTP Act
as indicated above. Further, if we want rentals to form a significant part of the housing in a
CLR, as indeed we should, we will need to declare that the Rent Act does not apply in the area
owned by the CLR. That little piece of legislation will definitely help. We need no change to
confirm that the Transfer of Property Act applies, as does SARFAESI Act.
CLRs as described above that has been in use in the US for over 40 years offer a scheme for
perpetually affordable housing in cities. To work well, such CLRs must not be in ghettos but
should form an integral part of comprehensive housing developments that offer housing
across the spectrum of income groups, with the CLR forming part of a larger housing
development. Incidentally, there is no systematic gathering of data that can tell us income
distribution across the population of any of Indias towns or cities. So there is no official data
that can reliably tell us what the median income is, or what percentage of the population falls
within a specified income range. It should be a fairly simple undertaking to remedy this
glaring deficiency in our economic data.

Transforming global development & humanitarian agendas

Turkeys presidency of the G-20 saw initiatives that are in sync with the imperative of an
inclusive world order. They set the tone for the agenda of the recently concluded G-20
summit at Antalya. They have also prepared the ground for the first World Humanitarian
Summit in Istanbul in May 2016.
The G-20 summits feature countries who represent some 85% of the global gross
national product (GNP) and 80% of global trade is a debutant in the panoply of nascent
and senescent international organizations. Amongst the 19 countries and the EU that
make up the G-20 are states which are known to have led the evolution of international
system, butthe group also comprises emerging powers who have so far been kept away
from driver seats. Mexico and Korea have hosted G-20 summits. After Turkey, China and
India would surely lead the G-20 in coming years. These emerging powers are now
finding a strong global voice through the G-20.
At the core of these development is the concept of human security and a new approach
to humanitarianism, not as a Western or Northern but as a global concept.
As the G-20 president, Turkey highlighted three objectivesimplementation, investment
and inclusiveness. On implementation, the aim has been to infuse credibility to G-20

commitments by ensuring that G-20 walks the talk. If fully implemented, the G-20
growth strategies adopted in 2014 would lift G-20s GDP by 2.1% by 2018 adding over
$2 trillion to the global economy. This focus has manifested in detailed implementation
schedules for every member.
On investment, the priority has been to facilitate development of infrastructure. A hefty
$70 trillion investment is needed over the next 15 years to close the global
infrastructure gap. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda underlined that developing
countries need some $1.5 trillion annually to pursue their SDGs. The outcome of the
emphasis on promoting investments are country-specific strategies to improve the
investment ecosystem, generate efficient infrastructure investment and create finance
for the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMES).
Inclusiveness was the third, and perhaps the most important, priority of the Turkish G20 presidency and comprised both a domestic and an international dimension.
Inequality afflicts the developed and the developing countries alike. Even among the
Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, inequalities
have reached the highest levels of the past three decades. The share of the wealthiest
1% of our societies is increasing while the incomes of the wage earners are way below
the rate of economic growth. In addition to moral, and indeed political, ramifications,
the global economy needs higher incomes for the wage earners given they make up a
group that has a higher propensity to spend when earnings increase. There was
particular focus on women and the youth. A concrete outcome of the inclusiveness
objective was the Energy Access Action Plan with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan
Africa, where access to energy is particularly acute.( note: Africa not part of G20)
The development agenda is part and parcel of a broader humanitarian agenda. One
hundred million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. There are more
than 60 million people who have been forced to flee their homes or countries.
Humanitarian crises ensue when conflicts are not prevented and affect those who have
not build resilience the most.
The ongoing Syrian crisis shows that the humanitarian system requires urgent repair.
This is a manifestation of the crisis of the international system. Humanitarian principles,
international law and agencies, including the UN Security Council, have failed to stop a
regime from committing war crimes. As a result, over 2 million Syrians took shelter in
Turkey, which has followed an open door policy at great cost.
A new vision is required to link humanitarian work to prevention, resilience and
development. The world needs a new look at structures, financing and capacities.
However, that would not be enough. Humanitarian action and development or transition
from relief to development must be seen as a continuum. Reducing human suffering
and promoting development are objectives that are best met if efforts are undertaken in
a mutually reinforcing manner
For this to occur the world needs a new humanitarian vision. The 23 24 May 2016
World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, the first of its kind, will aim to build on the
momentum of the SDGs in order to strengthen the capacity of the countries and
communities as well as the international agencies to better cope with crises and natural
and man-made disasters. The Istanbul Summit is an opportunity to unify the global
agendas for development behind a robust, effective and fresh vision of humanitarianism
that would be the product, for the first time in history, of both the East and the West
and the North and the South. The contribution and leadership of all emerging powers,
including Turkey and India, is essential to guide the world towards a more humane
order.

Living conditions of tea plantation workers

The strike by women workers in the tea plantations of Kerala brings to fore the miserable
living conditions of the workers in this sector across the country. With more than a million
permanent workers, the tea plantation industry is the largest in the formal private sector in
the country. Yet wages of these workers are the lowest in the formal sector and their living
conditions are appalling. Though there are laws that govern the living conditions of workers,
these are violated and the state seems indifferent.
The workers and their families in the tea plantations of Assam are in some ways worse off
than the others. The permanent workers number a little more than 5,00,000 and the total
population of these workers would easily be five times more. The tea plantation workers in
West Bengal are a part of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) but in Assam the people of similar origins
are denied this status. Being ST would mean availing of free educational facilities and later
reservation in employment among other facilities provided by the state. The plantation
workers in Assam have been struggling for ST status, but the state government has refused
this so far. This has deprived them of any form of protective discrimination which is absolutely
necessary for their development.
The problems of plantation workers are mainly due to the indifference of the governments,
both state and centre, to their basic needs as human beings. The plantation companies too
are equally to blame for creating this situation. The workers organizations, the trade unions,
are largely controlled by leaders who are not from the community and cannot reflect the
aspirations of these workers. After several years of oppression and marginalization, the
female workers in Kerala took up the challenge of defending their rights to live a decent life.
They depended neither on the largesse of state or the outside trade union leaders for
assisting their cause. On the contrary, they created the movement through their collective
strength and their labour power. This could be the only way these marginalized workers can
assert their claims for decent work and the right to live with dignity

Smarter Subsidies for LPG- promoting clean & affordable cooking

The health effects of cooking with biomass and coal are now well-recognised. The recent
Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that there are more than 10 lakh premature deaths
each year from household air pollution due to these polluting cooking fuels with another 1.5
lakh due to their contribution to general outdoor air pollution in the country

Although more people use LPG, the number of those using biomass and coal has remained
static for nearly30 years. While LPG subsidies have played an important role in expanding
access to this cooking fuel, directing the subsidies to the poorest and the most vulnerable
remains a fraught matter. This article proposes that consumers opt in for the subsidy by
self-certifying that their household income is less than an amount set by the government,
instead of the opt-out approach followed today.

Therefore our full proposed revised approach towards targeting subsidy would be:

(1) Persons applying for new connection would have to self-certify that their household
income is less than the poverty line if they wish to receive the standard subsidy designed to
keep net LPG costs no more than 8% of expenditures. If he/she possesses the BPL card,
he/she would submit the relevant documents also to be eligible for an additional subsidy to
keep LPG costs less than 5%
of expenditure.
(2) For BPL cardholders, the information would be verified from the state government which
maintains BPL households list.
(3) For BPL households, the level of subsidy is Rs 50/kg.
(4) For non-BPL households below the NLT a subsidy of Rs 25/kg (half the maximum cost at
8% of income for any Indian family, and much less for most.
(5) If above the NLT, no subsidy would be available.

In sum, while there has been much progress in the past decades in bringing clean cooking
energy to the Indian populace facilitated by subsidies, the time has come to take the
programme to the next level and use smart subsidies to ensure the maximum possible
development and h ea lth benefi t for a given amount of subsidy. Indeed, if the LPG
expenditure of the government can be targeted to poor people more smartly, it should be
termed social investment rather than subsidy, in keeping with other public investments in
health and welfare, such as primary healthcare and schools. The national health and social
benefits could also be immense.
*********

Towards a New Education Policy

the 1968 policy, although based on Kothari Commission recommendations, was neither
implemented nor reviewed for over 15 years.

It was only in 1976 that education became a concurrent subject through the 42nd
Constitution Amendment

In the mid-1980s, the instrumental value of education in building human resources

began to get recognised and this informed the approach to education policy. The then
Ministry of Education with the assistance of the National University of Educational

Planning and Administration prepared a status paper that highlighted the challenges
confronting the education system and policy directions that could be taken.

The education scenario in India has seen considerable activity since 1992. It has been
dotted with large-scale mission mode programmes such as the District Primary Education
Programme (DPEP) followed by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik
Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the Constitution
(Eightysixth) Amendment Act (2002) and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education (2009), acceptance of external aid for education programmes in the early
1990s and the mobilisation of additional domestic fi nances through the levy of an
education cess, restructuring of teacher education programmes, and expansion of both
government and private education institutions at all levels of education.

National policies on education have been shaped by the political and economic contexts
within which they were formulated and these in turn defi ned the espousal of specifi c
policy goals. In 1968, when education was still a state subject, the primary objective of
the National Education Policy brought in by the central government was to establish a
national system of education meant to serve national goals.

The 1986 policy aimed to build human resources so as to promote economic and
technological development. In order to do this, it emphasised vocationalisation in a
variety of ways, including for neoliterate youth. The policy suggested vocationalisation
from secondary school and encouragement to technical, computer and management
education. The focus was to be on innovation, research and development, and on
promoting effi ciency and effectiveness at all levels, through modernisation and
industrylinkage. The policy emphasised population control, apparently grounded in an
economic theory where available resources and technological advances were considered
to be offset by demographic growth. The national system of education as promised
under the 1986 policy was meant to provide education of comparable quality to all
children. The statements on inclusion and equal opportunity do not specify its meaning or
implication. The confusion is exemplified by the idea of a Common School System
interspersed with Navodaya schools, merit admission and differentiated learning
opportunities for the talented including meagre scholarships to a few poor children.

While the aims of the new policy formulation now under way have not been publicly
shared, the MHRD website describing the consultative processes states that it is aiming
to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary
skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology,
academics and industry. Thus, the aims of education as expressed in policies have been
aligned with the larger political and economic compulsions and thrusts of the times.
While these shifts are understandable given the dynamic climate and the role of
education, it is imperative that the aims of education do not lose sight of the
constitutional goals that the education system is meant to strive towards.

The consultative themes identified under the New Education Policy 2015 process are
primarily focused on agendas that would help improve efficiency of the system, ensure
accountability, enable students to fi t into the global markets, and improve quality. While
these are necessary, the themes relevant to reforming education so as to further the
constitutional goals of social justice, equity, and protection of Fundamental Rights receive
very little attention. These are limited to inclusion of disadvantaged categories
(Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, girls, minorities and children with special needs) in

the case of school education and the removal of regional, gender and social disparities in
the case of higher education. The primary concern of these themes is that of access and
participation. The assumption is that physical expansion will automatically result in
improved participation without considering the economic, social, and cultural barriers
that exclude various groups. The tension between balancing the local and the global
requires to be addressed by the New Education Policy.4 If not, there is a risk of skewing
the education system in favour of the global at the cost of the local, thereby increasing
existing inequalities. It also appears that the current themes are activity and actionseeking, rather than moving towards a framework and principles that can be discussed
and would over time guide the action programmes

The elements need to be carefully woven in to include elements of equity and ensuring
aspirational awareness and opportunities more equitably. It needs to take lessons from
past experience including in vocationalising. The thrust on technology, vocationalisation,
human beings as resources for nation building, greater mention of value education,
bringing technology and computers into education and conversion of pedagogical
processes to short cuts and methods, has not been successful in moving education in the
desired direction. The current effort of vocationalisation is of limited use due to the
misalignment of these with the economy.

Some of the challenges that will need to be addressed in the new policy are:
(i) Building a consensus around equality of opportunity and the road towards the goal.
And then building structures and capability to meet this goal and putting all this into our
differentiated economy, society and culture.
(ii) Need to have a fair and supportive system that respects, supports and encourages
teachers and for administration to overcome the temptation of centralisation, overgovernance, and oppressive monitoring.
(iii) Create systems that give governance of the school to the teacher, making her
central and empowering her for that responsibility.
(iv) Building faith in and construct pragmatic mechanisms for decentralisation,
autonomy and shared responsibility. There is also a need to question the myths of
standards and achievables, and the excessive competition and anxiety that are linked to
it.
(v) Building confidence in teachers, children and other people that all children can
learn, and correspondingly abandon myths about gifted and slow children.

Cow slaughter ban and the welfare of cattle

Pros
(1) Banning cow slaughter is necessary and justifi ed because Hindu religious belief venerates
the cow as a holy animal.
(2) It is among the Directive Principles of State Policy incorporated in the Constitution and
several states have enacted laws for enforcing the ban on slaughter and also against sale and
consumption of beef.

(3) Cows form the backbone of the economy and allowing slaughter will cause serious
damage to society.

Cons
(1) The fundamental objection to the ban on cow slaughter, consumption of beef and the
manner in which it is sought to be enforced are against the spirit of our Constitution that
recognizes, celebrates and seeks to accommodate the immense diversity of religious beliefs,
and dietary preferences in the society.
(2) Forcing specific dietary taboos of a particular section of society on all other sections and
the imposition of punitive sanctions with severe penalties on violators, especially by
individuals within the privacy of their homes, is questionable.
(3) Individuals must be free to decide what kinds of food (including what kinds of meat) they
want to eat. Recent attempts to enforce the ban on beef eating through coercive violence by
vigilantes are obviously illegal. The consequences of failing to check this tendency in terms of
exacerbating latent social tensions and disruption of healthy functioning of democratic
politics are of great concern.

Need to Review the Ban

The ban on cow slaughter is focused on abattoirs that for the most part process dysfunctional
and unproductive cattle discarded by their owners. It ignores the fact that most deaths are
not due to deliberate killing but to disease and neglect by owners marked by systematic
discrimination by gender. Whether there is or whether there is no legal ban on slaughter will
make little difference to the way the vast majority of cattle are
managed and to their well-being. In any case, it is well known that the legal ban on cow
slaughter is ineffective. Despite it, and the elaborate restrictions and regulations to prevent
abattoirs from violating it, a significant number of cattle (mostly old and dysfunctional cows
and bullocks) are in fact slaughtered here. Part of the reason is that these laws are in the
domain of states: Some have not imposed any legal ban, while the laws of others differ in
scope and content of the ban (ambiguity in whether they apply
to cows only or to all cattle; differences in age restrictions). There are elaborate regulations to
restrict transport of cattle within and across regions, from markets to abattoirs, ensuring
transparency and hygienic conditions in abattoirs and for their site inspection to ensure that
those authorized process only buffaloes. But notoriously weak enforcement makes them
ineffective leaving ample room for illegal processing of cattle as well. If enforcing a legal ban
is impossible, so is the alternative of corralling all old and dysfunctional cattle and caring
forthem in well-managed gau shalas till they die naturally and in peace. One has only to

consider the logistics of identifying these animals dispersed widely across villages and towns,
the task of setting up public gau shalas equipped to handle such large and growing numbers,
the organizational problems of managing them, and above all finding the resources to meet
their establishment and management. Even if this were feasible there remains the problem of
how the dead animals will be dealt with: old and dysfunctional animals may be useless for
work or reproduction, but their hides,
bones, meat and other by-products are useful for several other purposes. Hides are perhaps
the most valuable as raw material for the leather and leather products industry whose
contribution to the economys output, employment and both in the domestic and export
markets is quite sizeable. (It is relevant to note that a good part of raw hides for tanning and
leather processing industries is also met from the carcasses of animals that
die in the care of owner households.) That these are economically valuable products for which
there is a large and profitable market both domestically and abroad is the reason and
inducement for overt and covert violation of the slaughter ban. A properly regulated slaughter
restricted to old and dysfunctional animals is therefore justified. But clearly a drastic overhaul
of the current regulatory regime is imperative to ensure trans parency
and effective enforcement. The extant anti-cow slaughter laws and attendant regulations
have to be rationalized by removing ambiguities about the scope of the ban and clarifying the
conditions subject to which cattle slaughter will be allowed in abattoirs. Registration
and licensing of all abattoirs must be made mandatory and standards of operation to ensure a
clean and hygienic environment must be far more stringent. Abattoirs must be required to
maintain complete and accurate accounts of all operations, outputs and their disposition and
submit periodic reports to the regulatory authority subject to surprise site inspection of
compliance subject to stringent penalties for violations. The regulatory authority to enforce
the law should be autonomous, with an adequate professional staff empowered to punish
violations. In all these respects, a degree of comparability
of regulations across states would be useful. But states that choose not to ban
cattle slaughter or sale of beef must be left free to do so because under the Constitution
this decision is the prerogative of the states. Permitting cattle slaughter necessarily results in
the production of beef along with skin and other products. But several states have imposed a
ban on production and sale of beef. Disposing such an important joint product of slaughter
presents a problem. Both bans are questionable, as they go against the core values, premises
and commitment of the Constitution to accommodate and protect the diversity of beliefs,
customs and dietary habits of various communities and regions without discrimination. To
impose a ban on production and sale of beef based on
the faith of a particular religious group, on all sections of the population, clearly goes against
the spirit of the Constitution. Even so, in practical terms, as long as the ban imposed by any
state is held to be legal, it cannot be violated. But abattoirs could be allowed to send the beef

to other states where there is no such ban or exported to other countries. This is a practical
and pragmatic option because the sale and consumption of
beef is not restricted in some important states and because there is a large and
lucrative export demand for this meat. However, the attempt to ban the consumption of beef
by individuals within the privacy of their homes with the threat of punitive sanctions for
violation is an unacceptable intrusion into citizens fundamental right to choose what
kinds of food (including meat) they eat. The recent tendency to use extralegal, violent and
intimidatory tactics by vigilantes, on individuals even on alleged use of beef in their homes, is
extremely worrisome and can have disastrous consequences. Unless checked with a firm
hand it can and as recent experience has shown, will create or aggravate social disharmony
and spread of political violence.

Hand washing & public health

The importance of hand-washing in personal and public hygiene has evolved over the
centuries. While the market with its countless number of soaps and hand-wash products
for personal hygiene with the accompanying advertising has created a false sense of
security, it is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is
really effective in the battle against disease.
Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of
infectious diseases. A social and physical environment riddled with poverty, inequities,
unhygienic and insanitary conditions generates the risk of infectious diseases . Hygiene
has different levels: personal, domestic and community hygiene. The first two levels, which
are predominantly a matter of personal choice and habits, are undoubtedly important. But
unless the third level, that is, community hygiene, is ensured through various public health
measures, the disease burden will continue to be heavy. There is no doubt that personal
cleanliness brings down the rate of infectious diseases. But the entry of the market into
this domain has created a false sense of security that gets conditioned and reinforced by
the onslaught of advertisements. We should not forget the lessons learnt from public
health interventions in Western Europe that along with personal hygiene, general
improvements in environmental conditions and components like clean water, sanitation
and food security have brought down infant/child death/infection rates considerably. The
obsession with hand hygiene also brings in the persisting influence of the market on
personal health, overriding or marginalizing the negative impact on ecology and the
emergence of resistant germs

Transgender and the mainstream

The transgender community in Tamil Nadu is gradually finding its feet socially and
economically through self-help groups and microenterprises with the state governments help.
It is also striking out independent of the lesbian, gay and bisexual
groups. More non-governmental organizations must come forward to help the transgender
become economically independent

It is indeed a welcome change that transgender in contemporary India struggle for collective
mobilization and representation keeping them outside the umbrella of LGB (lesbians, gays
and bisexuals). Theoretically the issues of transgender need not be clubbed with that of the
LGB community because the issues of the former come out of their ambiguous sexual
identity, whereas the other groups issues originate from their disputed sexual orientation
outside the normative system of society. This difference apart, the activities of transgenders
in public places to get their rights inde pendent of the LGB exhibit their subjective
understanding of their position in relation to that of the heterosexuals and homosexuals. For
instance, the transgenders from various parts of India got together in 2009 in Tamil Nadu for
a week-long festival of good neighbours at Madurai. This was in fact a healthy trend set by
them to demonstrate their intention to get into the mainstream of Indian society.

Closing down the womens empowerment programme Mahila

Samakhya will directly affect lakhs of women.
conceived in 1988 as a pilot project in 10 districts spread over three states, Mahila Samakhya
attempted to imbue a government-funded programme for womens empowerment and literacy
with a non-governmental sensibility that encouraged women to set its course the central
government appears to have decided to stopfunding the programme by March 2016

When Mahila Samakhya began as a pilot project in 1989 with funding from the Government of
the Netherlands, it stood out for its different approach. Bringing both central and respective
state governments to the table, it also included and consulted womens groups and voluntary
organisations. Its aim was to work in areas where female literacy was low, and to innovate in
bridging the gender gap in literacy. Rather than just focusing on literacy, it took a cue from the
National Policy on Education 1986 that had stated that education will be used as an agent for
basic change in the status of women. To do this, sanghas or collectives of the poorest and
most marginalised women were formed with the help of local voluntary organisations. Through
these sanghas, the women received not just basic literacy skills but also learned how to get
information about their rights and entitlements, what to do about employment, legal literacy
and health (including reproductive health). The sangha members were viewed as active agents
in their empowerment rather than passive recipients of welfare or charity

When programmes like Mahila Samakhya, conceived in a way that run counter to most
government programmes, are scaled up, there is often a danger that while the framework
remains, the spirit disappears. Yet what one must remember is that the very fact of women
coming together to understand their rights and entitlements, and to be allowed into spaces
from which they had always been excluded, is something that is worth nurturing and
supporting. It is these processes that give substance to programmes that would otherwise be
shells of good intent leaving behind little that is sustainable over time. Unfortunately, given the

proclivities of the current government at the centre and its open hostility to NGOs, it is unlikely
that the positive aspects of Mahila Samakhya will be appreciated. Possibly, as with other
programmes initiated by the previous regime, this government prefers to set it aside rather
than build on its positive outcomes. In effect, even as it mouths slogans of womens
empowerment, it will disempower the thousands of sangha women across India who have
demonstrated the real meaning of an inclusive and gender-sensitive developmental policy

Geopolitics of pollution in southeast Asia

The recent episode of an oppressive smog that blanketed Southeast Asia highlights an entirely new
kind of problem in contemporary international relations, namely,, the complexity of transnational
governance when traditional remediesfrom bombs and missiles at one extreme, to diplomatic
dmarches and summits on the more polite endare of no use at all. Not only is responsibility and
accountability diffuse and spread across a number of actorsprivate and public, domestic and foreign
the presence of non-state agents confuses standard diplomatic operating procedures that are
designed to respond
to the predations of other states. Much as some of us may want to, we do not know how to indict
everyday capitalism in the International Criminal Court. Many of these problems recur in the
negotiations over climate change. Even when states are willing to make concessions and reduce
emissions, it is not always clear where to look and who to regulate. For small and weak countries that
are on the receiving end of another countrys pollution, the situation is even more frustrating. At least
in the case of the Marshall Islands and nuclear testing we knew where to point the fi nger. With the
haze, neither the nature of the problem nor its obvious cause is clear. That is why the international
community is still working on the defenses against it.

The Sarbat Khalsa

The Sarbat Khalsa may have addressed the hurt sentiments but it failed to
evolve as a democratic space to engage with masses at large. The influenceof
non-resident Indians was pretty evident The programme was telecast live in the
US and Britain. Apart from venting anger against the Badal clan and SGPC, the
organisers did not have any agenda to make institutions more democratic. The
veteran radical Simranjeet Singh Mann, one of the main organisers, is hoping
to convert the Sarbat Khalsa support into a poll victory in the 2017 assembly
elections .Though one needs to explore if these events are coincidental or the
result of a deep conspiracy, the anger expressed by the people of Punjab,
especially the Sikh

community, must be taken seriously. They have lost faith in all religious and
political institutions. There is an urge for democracy and democratic institutions
that can address everyday grievances. They demand restoration of the sanctity
of religious institutions. Punjab is at a crossroads bereft of political alternatives
and leadership.

What is a Sarbat Khalsa?

word sarbat means all, and literally, Sarbat Khalsa is an assembly of all Sikhs (Khalsa)
In the 18th century, following the death of the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, Sikh misls
(military units) began to convene the Sarbat Khalsa

Why it is convened?

to discuss political, social and religious issues of extreme importance to the community

Who can call a Sarbat Khalsa? From where does it draw its authority?

Sarbat Khalsa can be convened only at the Akal Takht following a call by the chief of the Akal Takht. Others,
however, believe that a Sarbat Khalsa can be convened by the Sikh community, even somewhere other than the
Akal Takht, albeit under rare circumstances.

So, who called the November 10 Sarbat Khalsa? What happened there?

It was convened primarily by radicals Simranjit Singh Mann and Mohkam Singh, leaders of the Shiromani Akali
Dal(SAD) (Amritsar) and United Akali Dal respectively, both fringe groups. Mann became MP from Tarn Taran
in 1989, when he was in Bhagalpur prison, and was elected again in 1999 from Sangrur. Mohkam Singh is a
former chief spokesperson of the Damdami Taksal, the Sikh seminary once led by Sant Jarnail Singh
Bhindrawale.

The November 10 Sarbat Khalsa was convened to remove the Sikh priests at the highest temporal seats of the
faith in Punjab the Akal Takht (Giani Gurbachan Singh), Takht Keshgarh Sahib (Giani Mal Singh) and Takht
Damdama Sahib (Giani Gurmukh Singh). The clerics have been criticised for their decision made on
September 24, along with the top cleric at Takht Patna Sahib (Giani Iqbal Singh) and a representative of the
Jathedar of Takht Hazoor Sahib in Nanded to pardon Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of the Dera Sacha
Sauda, who had, in 2007, been accused of committing blasphemy by imitating Guru Gobind Singh.

What is the significance of convicted terrorist Hawara being named Jathedar of the Akal Takht?

For a radical section of the Sikh community, Hawara is an icon. By naming him to the exalted position of the
head of the Akal Takht, the organisers of the Sarbat Khalsa have scored a political point with the SAD, which has
been claiming credit for the transfer of militants Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and Gurdeep Singh Khera to jails in
Punjab from Delhi and Karnataka respectively. In order to keep its core panthic constituency intact, SAD has been
doing a balancing act over the years with its proxies SGPC and the Akal Takht honouring members of the
families of the assassins of Indira Gandhi and Gen (retd) A S Vaidya at the Golden Temple.

Punjab finds itself at a fork in the road. The events of the last few months the desecration of
religious books, the resurgence of the militant Sikhs now force the states politicians to choose
between addressing the widespread discontent in the state and resorting to religious sentiment
and institutions to derail, if not quell, articulation of that discontent. The choices that the ruling
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), in alliance with the BJP, and the only other political party of note in the
state, the Congress, make will determine whether Punjab is thrown back into turmoil or moves
forward.
The huge public response to the November 10 Sarbat Khalsa called by leaders with known
Khalistani or separatist leanings was driven more by disenchantment with the SAD government
than by sympathies for hardliners. That hardliners, who have consistently been shown their place
by the voters, were able to turn the Sikh congregation into a reclamation of religious
establishment from the control of political masters should serve as a warning: not addressing the
issues head on, but attempting to manage public discontent by manipulating Sikh religious
institutions, can easily blow up in the face. The Congress, for its part, must resist the temptation to
use the Sikh hardliners to push back against its political opponents. Punjab faces lack of
employment opportunities, crop failures and an agrarian crisis, besides an escalating drug
problem. But the response to these problems does not lie in playing politics with religious
institutions and sentiments.

Punjabs political leaders must show courage to overcome the temptation of using religion to win
their political battles. This is their moment to take a stand. Not doing so could well be a return to
the days of militancy in the state.

Pasted from <http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-editorials/punjabs-leaders-needs-to-choose-between-public-discontent-andreligion/>

Contract labour in India

1860 Whitley Commission recommended, by implication, that it be abolished.

In post-independence India, a number of committees and commissions prepared reports leading up to
and beyond the enactment of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970. Today,
contract labour is being used in almost every industry and service in India. Ironically enough, the
government itselfunion, states and the public sector units (PSUs)which
is supposed to be a model employer is the biggest employer of such labour, which works with job
uncertainty and without social security of any kind. The Seventh Pay Commission has pointed out that
the central government alone spends Rs 300 crore annually on its temporary and contractual staff.

current employment of contract labour at between 25% and 30% of total employment in the
organised private sector, with the share having grown by almost 70% over the past two decades.

The rise of contract labour is the other side of the decreasing (or at best slow growth of) direct and
permanent employment across sectors.

Employers often say, directly or by implication, that coercion to treat contract workers on par with
the permanent ones will only lead to a net loss of jobs. Industrys arguments are well known: flexible
recruitment is necessary to keep pace with global competition. Industry also wants central and state
boards to be set up to deal exclusively with contract labour and for contractors to be treated as a
separate establishment

Apart from labourboth contract and casualin public sector units, the government also employs
teachers at the school, college and university level, doctors and paramedical staff in the health sector
and offi ce managerial staff in the administrative section on a contract basis. Workers under the
governments myriad social welfare schemes are also often on contract.

The main resistance against regularising contract labour in permanent jobs is the fear of the financial
load. As the biggest employer of contract labour in the country, it is obvious that this will affect the
government the most. Insecurity of employment, low wages, lack of social security benefits ts and a
feeling of being discriminated as compared to permanent workers can hardly lead to productivity and
harmonious workermanagement relations. Rather than blaming labour welfare legislation, the
government and employers should look at implementing it better.

Chennai Flood
Chennai had about 650 waterbodies, including lakes, ponds and storage tanks till about two
decades ago; today it has less than 30. In the recent floods, the city paid a heavy price for this
loss.

fundamental principle of hydrology says that whenever there is heavy rain, or a cyclone, natural
waterbodies and interlinked drainage systems hold back some water, use that to replenish
groundwater and release excess water into larger waterbodies oceans and big rivers.
This didn't happen in Chennai=> poor urban planning + reckless growth of real estate .
Last years floods in Srinagar, for example .A report by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and
Environment notes that in the past 100 years, more than 50% of Srinagars lakes, ponds and
wetlands have been encroached upon for constructing buildings and roads. Real estate has
taken over the banks of the Jhelum River, vastly reducing the rivers drainage capacity. The
2014 World Development Report of the World Bank says Mumbai remains vulnerable to rainfalls
of the kind that led to the 2005 floods. Most Indian states do have disaster management
programmesincluding those for urban centres. But they are heavy on relief and rehabilitation.
Disaster management is yet to fi nd a place amongst the essentials of urban administration. It
is also bedeviled by the corruption that plagues all other public works in the country. Media
reports have it that in July last year a Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority engineer
wrote a confession letter to his superior detailing how a multi-crore storm water drain project in
Chennai was executed without concrete reinforcements or cement, but instead with quarry
dust. In the past fi ve years, Chennai has spent more than Rs 10,000 crore on building storm
water drains. But opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have argued that these multicrore storm
water projects failed to deliverduring the recent calamity.
LESSON
in order to combat climate change related calamities we need to analyze ground realities +
centralized planning of urban areas rather than chasing smart city dream.

Nakusa girls of Maharashtra

In rural Maharashtra, manyparents have named their daughters Nakusa/Nakoshi. In Marathi

that means unwanted. The parents hope the next child will be a boy. Most of these girls are
the third or fourth daughters of their parents and their names have caused them sociopsychological problems.

Of militarization, counter insurgency and land grabs in Kashmir

It is sometimes claimed that Operation Sadbhavana, a counter-insurgency programme

deployed to win the hearts and minds of the alienated masses of Kashmir has been
successful. The local populace, however, considers these programmes as a tactic devised by
the army to bolster its credibility and reach. The army occupation of large swathes of land in
Kashmir has resulted in depeasantisation of rural areas, compounding the alienation of the
people. This paper examines the narratives underlying the Sadbhavana programmes, military
land grabs, and the counter-insurgency methods adopted in strife-torn Kashmir. It suggests
that the armys belief that it can battle insurgency, which is essentially a political issue,
through development projects and effective governance is an erroneous perception of
reality.

Military-led development programmes have been inherently interventionist, entering into a

domain where they have no expertise. Subsequently, these programmes have proven to be
ineffective. Such kind of programmes are not seen as just development programmes or a part
of the army goodwill, they are designed and implemented to gain legitimacy and to
maintain territorial control in a region. Moreover, these have largely failed to get the results
for which they were designed. Moreover, these programmes have bred corruption in the
military itself and have corrupted the politicians, NGOs, and the media through disbursal of
secret funds or source funds as well. What is being argued here is that if the purpose of
the programme is to win the hearts and minds of people, then this would require basic
withdrawal of forces from tourist places, agricultural lands, forests areas, and of course from
private buildings, stop human rights violations in the region, and ultimately, fi nd a solution to
the political problem through a political process rather than seeing it as a governance issue. It
cannot be tackled through incremental development programmes led by the military.

List of ignored articles- November 28 EPW

Collegium system vs new method of appointing judges

NB: I have ignored this article as there is no new information- detailed notes available at civilsdaily
website

The contributions of John Nash to Game theory and Economics

Search at google 4 information. I diidn't understand the article published in EPW November 28 edition

The Politics of uniform civil code