Jun 23 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Each species has its own niche in caves

Mayuri.Phadnis @timesgroup.com TWEET @ThePuneMirror





After researching 80 caves in the state, city-based environmentalist says dwelling animals live in peaceful co-existence; study will help in building artificial habitats

In an ideal ecosystem, each species has its own niche ­ what it does, what it eats, where it sleeps, and more. To find out how animals coexist without conflict in caves, live in the same spot, yet not overlap in some of their roles or needs, a city-based environmentalist has studied over 80 caves across the state, including Western Ghats and Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. In a span of eight years, entomologist Dr Rahul Marathe, who visited 10 big caves and 35 small to medium caves, said the most commonly found cave animals are bandicoots, rats, bats and porcupines.Even though many different animals coexist in caves, Marathe observed that these noctural animals have their own marked territories.
While the bandicoots and rats take shelter in deep crevices, bats use the roof of caves. Even porcupines live deep within the cave interior, but unlike other rodents they do not make burrows. They also chew on bone and tree root to keep their teeth sharp.
“Even though these animals use the same entrance, they have different timings so that they do not come in close contact with each other. Bats generally move out immediately after the sunset. A little later the porcupines move out, and around midnight, the rats and bandicoots go out.
Since all these animals are nocturnal they use the cave for resting throughout the day,“ said Marathe.
According to the study, few of the caves in Tadoba are also used by tigers. “Usually, tigers live at the mouth of the cave and do not go deeper into the cave. They are not cave animals, but use the cave to hide, ambush and attack prey.
Tigers also use caves for resting,“ Marathe added.
For tigers the caves are more of hideouts, while hyenas use the caves to reside, said Marathe. Like tigers, hyenas use the mouth of the cave, where are remnants of its prey can be found.
Besides the regular bats, porcupines and bandicoots, the caves in Konkan and Tamhini Ghat have frogs, which use it as a breeding ground and lay their eggs in water puddles.
“It is like a live-in relationship amongst animals, without crossing each other's paths. Each animal uses these caves in their own `niche' ways.
Considering habitat destruction, this research study can be used to create artificial habitats for them,“ he said.
Saying that artificial habitats, with more crevices, can be build as “natural“ as possible, Marathe said the animals will feel secure in such habitats, and chances of breeding will increase too.
“As the localities change so do the caves and the creatures that reside there. In the caves in Dive Ghat, greyhound owl can be found in the crevices, and at other places Gecko can be seen. These caves and the life that dwells in it needs to be identified and a centralised data should be compiled. Once the data is available, a district level conservation plan can made to protect such caves,“ said Anuj Khare, the honorary wildlife warden of Pune.

un 23 2014 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

Why India Eats Badly

Veena S Rao





For an aspiring global power, India suffers from shocking levels of malnutrition
We must overcome our reservations about private sector cooperation in our campaign against malnutrition, and motivate them to do something

T he bad news is that India continues to lead most cou ntries in several malnutri tion and mortality indica tors. The latest UN report places India's maternal mortality as highest in the world at 17% of global maternal mortality . The good news is that the BJP manifesto said that “extreme poverty and malnutrition will be treated as a national priority and will be addressed on mission mode“. This has to be done, because our malnutrition dimensions have now reached a situation of alarm with more than 50% suffering from some form of malnutrition or micronutrient deficiency , resulting in suboptimal cognitive and physical development, low productivity and high health costs.Malnutrition in India is not a woman and child phenomenon, but a population problem. Data of underweight/stunting of children of both sexes, low body mass index and chronic energy deficiency of adolescent girls and boys, and adults, are worrisome, and not what an aspiring world power should have. This demographic emergency should have been addressed through a national programme.
Previous governments have failed to curb this. The Budget speech of 2012 announced a multi-sectoral programme to be rolled out during 2012-13 to address maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high-bur den districts. However, no imple mentation template was sent out to state governments, and I am in formed that this is currently still the subject of discussion in states.
But, wisely , the government real ised that malnutrition needed more than ICDS to cure it, and initiated the policy shift towards the inter sectoral strategy , something that a had been recommended by the Na tional Nutrition Policy , 1993.
We must pick up from this multi sectoral shift and compose a stratet gy that rectifies the disconnect bes tween the causes of malnutrition l and the interventions on offer. Ins dia's under-nutrition is intergenert ational, and rooted not only in pov erty and the lack of balance between y calories, proteins and micronu trients, but also lack of information e and gender inequity .
e The present interventions do not address structural and systemic causes of India's malnutrition; they are inadequate with poor coverage, n and riddled with gaps. This is why l their impact has been suboptimal.
d Start at the Block The unit for inter-sectoral intervena tions should be the block, and not the district, as the former is more h compact and homogeneous, making it easier to engineer “convergence“.
The minimum, basic inter-sectoral e convergence requires that every tar geted family must receive simultas neously benefits of calorie-proteind micronutrient supplementation, full immunisation of children, IFA for addressing anaemia, safe drink ing water and hygienic sanitation.
Actual convergence must happen l at the community level; its success g can be tested through monitoring d how many families in a village have t simultaneously received these five c benefits, four of which are ongoing y government programmes. Gender e, equity and female literacy , also bacy ked by national programmes, are in direct interventions that result in improved nutritional status, throu gh late marriage, fewer children and better awareness.
t But who will ensure and monitor e this convergence at the community g level? Regardless of government “. orders and advisories from above, l there must be one functionary in reach village who should be given reasponsibility to ensure this. Present ly, there is no one, and we have no , data about how many households A have received the complete package of their benefits.
n Let Private Players in s We must also overcome our reserva g tions about private sector coopera e tion in our campaign against mal nutrition, and motivate them to assume some responsibility . Maybe companies could make available ap propriate low-cost energy foods for poor and malnourished children, women, adolescent girls and boys, the sick, aged and infirm, in rural and urban markets. There is a huge market vacuum in this respect, which has been filled by forcefully advertised low-cost junk food and tobacco products.
Just Do It India has a sound National Nutrition Policy, 1993, which requires a little updating and lots of implementation. On its recommendation, the National Nutrition Council headed by the Prime Minister was constituted in 1994. This council never met, and after much criticism, was replaced by the PM's Committee on Nutrition Challenges in 2008.
The terms of this panel were limited to providing policy direction and reviewing nutrition programmes, without any mandate for fresh strategies for specifically reducing malnutrition.
The new government could begin by revisiting the committee's composition and mandate, and tasking it with the responsibility of drawing up its blueprint for addressing malnutrition in mission mode.
The writer is a former secretary to the government of India





Jun 23 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Staffing cos join search for women leaders

Namrata Singh

Mumbai: TNN





Help India Inc Improve Gender Diversity

Now that gender diversity is getting a strong push from India Inc, headhunters have decided to throw their weight behind the move. From including a certain percentage of women in their candidate shortlist to identifying highquality women leaders in India and abroad through ‘talent mapping’, executive search firms are doing their bit to ensure that female managers get achance to man key posts in organizations.Egon Zehnder, which has offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, has joined what is called a ‘Club of 30’, wherein 30% of the candidates the firm presents in a search are gender diverse. Originally a group of UKbased CEOs and chairs committed to improving gender balance through voluntary action, the 30% Club today is a global movement. Rajeev Vasudeva, CEO, Egon Zehnder, described it as a moral commitment. “We are not saying that they need to be hired. We are making sure we make enough candidates visible to our clients,” Vasudeva told TOI.
On their part, global recruitment firms like Antal International and Amrop are conducting in-depth analysis to map women leaders. This has become necessary as companies are determined to fill certain leadership posts with women.
When Antal International was recently faced with a demand from an MNC for a woman candidate in a quality control function, the search firm realized the client was simply not ready to consider a male profile for the role. Ultimately, they found and hired a woman candidate. “We have seen often how, even for critical hires and despite pressure from hiring heads, if orga
nizations feel that female candidates are more suited to the role, they are willing to wait till they find one,” said Mayank Chandra, managing partner, Antal International.The search for suitable women leaders is not restricted to India alone. When Siemens India was looking to fill the post of a general counsel recently, the firm was very keen on hiring a woman. The company spent a lot of time on the search which went global. However, since it does not discriminate
on gender and is firm that all capability parameters are met during the hiring process, Siemens eventually filled the post with a male candidate. But if all parameters are met by a woman candidate, chances are that she would get the post. “When we look for talent for India, we don’t restrict the search to India or to Siemens’ global talent network,” said S Ramesh Shankar, HR head of Siemens in India.In India, executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles (H&S) has been proactive for the last couple of years in getting to know and track talented women on a global basis. “We have been producing key reports for some of our clients in India to get them to better understand the landscape and the challeng
es of attracting this talent pool,” said Gauri Padmanabhan, partner, H&S.A key factor that is pushing companies to look for talented women candidates is to meet the new requirement under the Companies’ Bill of a compulsory woman board member. Amrop has done board projects for independent women directors and also conducted research on possible avenues where high-quality women leaders can be hired. One such project was
Hongqi Zhang/iStock/Getty Images for a large telecommunica tions company which ap pointed a women director.Companies are engaging agencies in `talent mapping' where firms locate and track fe male talent to ensure their in clusion in future searches.
Some months ago, H&S was en listed by a large global bank to produce a global female talent map for a couple of senior man agement roles. In India specifi cally, H&S routinely works with its global team to locate over seas a female board of director of Indian origin in order to help clients satisfy their gender in clusion goals.
“For some special roles, our clients prefer we expand the map and find talent on a region al scale,“ said Padmanabhan.

Jun 23 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

LEGALLY SPEAKING - What makes a lawyer suitable to become a judge

Dhananjay Mahapatra

TNN





In 2007, the SC had quoted an ex-chief justice of the US Supreme Court, John Marshal. He had said the judiciary's power lies not in deciding cases nor in imposing sentences nor in punishing for contempt, but in the trust, confidence & faith of the common man

What is that `X-factor' in a lawyer which tilts the scale for his appointment as a judge in the Supreme Court and high courts?
Under the Constitution, a person can be considered for being made a judge of the Supreme Court if he has been a high court judge for five years or practised as an advocate in the higher judiciary for 10 years, or in the opinion of the President is a “distinguished jurist“.Appointments by both, earlier by the executive and from 1998 by the collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India, have been criticized in the past. Seldom has it sparked a public debate, except when it proposed to elevate Justice P D Dinakaran to the SC in 2010.
In India, eminence and success of lawyers go hand in hand. Eminent lawyers refuse to become judges, for that would entail huge loss of income. Whenever an eminent lawyer agrees to become a judge, the collegium feels it has netted a golden fish that would add sparkle to the judiciary .
Eminence of a lawyer and his suitability for judgeship are very different aspects. But when there is a dearth of eminent lawyers willing to take up judgeship, the line between eminence and suitability gets blurred.
In most countries, it is the government that appoints judges. In the UK, a person must have served as a judge of the HC for two years or had practised as an advocate for 15 years to be eligible for the Supreme Court judge's post. After a candidate is shortlisted, an elaborate consultation process with primacy to the judiciary follows. In Canada, judges to the Supreme Court are chosen by the federal government after wide consultation with the judiciary , the legal community and the public at large. Though these consultations happen in private, in 2006, the parliamentary committee for the first time convened a public meeting to question an appointee to the Supreme Court.
The American Constitution meticulously outlines qualifications for the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency . But it does not give any advice for judicial appointments except stressing “good behaviour“. Canada's Supreme Court had said judges were the pillars of the justice system and that the public had a right to demand “virtually irreproachable conduct from anyone performing a judicial function“.
There is a reason why world over, the stress is on the person's good behaviour and impeccability of con duct, whenever he enters the zone of consideration for appointment as a judge.
In India, the Supreme Court in the Second Judges case [Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association vs Union of India; 1993 Sup (2) SCR 659] had said the executive was an important constituent of the consultation process for appointment of judges to the SC and HCs.
It had said the suitability of a lawyer for the judge's post was generally known to the CJI and CJs of HCs. However, it had also conceded that there might be occasions when not all antecedents of an advocate are known to those part of the judge selection process.
“It is for this reason that the executive is also one of the consultees in the process of appointment. The object of selecting the best men to constitute the superior judiciary is achieved by requiring consultation with not only the judiciary but also the executive to ensure that every relevant particular about the candidate is known and duly weighed as a result of effective consultation between all the consul tees, before the appointment is made,“ it had said.
While expanding the collegium system for judges' appointment in its 1998 opinion given on a presidential reference, the apex court had said, “There may be a certain area relating to suitability of the candidate such as his antecedents and personal character, which, at times, consultees, other than the Chief Justice of India, may be in a better position to know. In that area, the opinion of the other consultees is entitled to due weight, and permits non-appointment of the candidate recommended by the Chief Justice of India.“
All this elaborate discussion was meant only to block pliable persons, either politically or otherwise, from becoming judges and exercising enormous power, including deciding life and death of individuals.
How else would the top court have ensured that litigants, in other words the public, retained their trust and faith in the fairness of its decisions? That is why “trustworthiness“ of both character and capability of a person has been assigned cardinal importance in selection of judges.
In a 2007 judgment (Rajesh Kumar Singh vs HC of Madhya Pradesh), the court had quoted a 19th century chief justice of the US Supreme Court, John Marshal, to sum it up. Marshal had warned that the power of the judiciary lies not in deciding cases, nor in imposing sentences, nor in punishing for contempt, but in the trust, confidence and faith of the common man.
We hope all appointments in future to the SC and HCs pass the Marshal test.

Jun 23 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

UGC gives DU a day to scrap FYUP

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi: TNN





Wants Report On Compliance Before Noon

Leaving little scope for Delhi University to defy the government on the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP), the University Grants Commission on Sunday issued another directive to the varsity to revert to the three-year course and asked for a compliance report by forenoon on Monday .UGC, which controls the university's purse strings, told DU that any deviation from the directive shall be “deemed to be in contraven tion of the UGC Act, with its consequences“. This is the second directive by UGC on scrapping FYUP in the past few days. The previous one was sent on Friday .
“There will be serious costs for the DU administration if it defies the government. Top university offi cials should not play with the future of students any longer and not turn an issue of public interest into a private battle,“ said a highly placed source.
Sources said DU vicechancellor Dinesh Singh was expected to make a statement on the development at the ex ecutive council meeting on Monday . However, late on Sunday evening, the varsity administration postponed the meeting.
Sources said UGC has an action plan ready in the event of the university not falling in line by Monday forenoon.
UGC sent letters on Sunday to the principals of DU's 70-odd colleges, asking them to strictly follow the three year undergraduate course.
Principals have been told that “any deviation or contravention shall be viewed seriously by UGC and may attract action under the UGC Act including withdrawal of grant to the college“. UGC staff delivered the directive to each college principal by hand. The commission has also decided to issue a public notice to be carried by newspapers on Monday , asking students to take admission only in three-year courses.
The notice, issued by the UGC chairperson, also says a standing committee is being set up to advise DU on the migration back from FYUP to a three-year undergraduate programme so that students “do not lose an academic year... and for this purpose, ensure that students acquire necessary academic and other competence during the next two years.“
The committee will comprise members of the university's academic and executive councils, teachers' and students' unions, and senior academics. It is now uncertain whether Delhi University colleges will be able to declare the first cutoff list for undergraduate admissions as per schedule--the entire programme appears to have changed in the 10 days since the application process ended. The first cutoff list for 2014-15 was to be declared on June 24.
Although majority of colleges said they will continue with meetings of the admission committee to decide cutoffs on Monday , the latest University Grants Commission's letter--this one sent directly to colleges on Sunday--has complicated the process, leaving principals and admission committee members confused. Colleges are now looking for clarity from the standing committee set up by UGC on Saturday .
College officials also said the standing committee should clear guidelines on courses scrapped under the four-year-undergraduate programme and on the issue of seat redistribution. DU, while introducing FYUP, had discontinued BA, BCom and BSc programmes and redistributed the seats among the discipline courses 1 (DC1).
Colleges are now unsure whether they have to admit students in these programmes as UGC, in its order, has directed that admissions for 2014-15 have to be as per the three-year structure.
“When these courses were scrapped, the university had told us the methodology for redistribution of seats. Now if they are to be restored, the university is obliged to tell us how,” says a senior official from Ram Lal Anand College, conceding that they are “totally confused.” They are, however, going ahead with the admission committee meeting on Monday.
“If the previous system and courses are restored, it's almost like doing everything afresh,“ observes Rajendra Prasad, principal, Ramjas College, “We will need more time to reorganize as a lot of work is involved. I hope the university will define the policies.“
According to SRCC principal P C Jain, “We will continue with the cutoff meeting. We are awaiting further instructions though SRCC will not have any problem in deciding cutoffs as, even in the three-year system, we had just two courses.“ However, it will be colleges that used to offer BCom, BSc and BA programmes in the three-year scheme and where BTech courses were introduced under FYUP that will face complications in deciding cutoffs.
Illustrating exactly how complicated the process can be, the perturbed principal of a North Campus college says, “I have no idea how to prepare the cutoff list. If we have to conduct admissions as per the three-year structure, will the BSc and BA programmes make a comeback? If, for example, I had 60 seats in physics in the three-year system and that became 97 when, under FYUP, the BSc programme was scrapped, how will I decide cutoffs. Again, how will we enrol students as no one has applied for these courses since they were not an option in the centralized registration process this year?“ toireporter@timesgroup.com

Jun 20 2014 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

Lots to Do on Labour Laws

Bibek Debroy





Rajasthan has just started the debate on labour laws, but the real task is vastly complex The rules provide for whitewashing of factories.
Distemper won't do. Earthen pots filled with water are required. Water coolers won't suffice

The Rajasthan government has proposals to amend the Industrial Disputes Act (IDA), raising the threshold for state permission to fire workers from 100 to 300. It also wants changes to the Contract Labour Act (CLA) and Factories Act. Trade unions aren't happy .There is too much generalization on labour “laws“ and the expression needs pinning down. Under Article 246 of the Constitution, the Seventh Schedule sets out a Union List, a State List and a Concurrent List.
Consider Entry 55 in the Union List.
This concerns “regulation of labour and safety in mines and oilfields“. Similarly , Entry 61 in the List is about “industrial disputes concerning Union employees“.
It is often said labour laws are on the Concurrent List. That's largely true, especially if one is concerned with laws that directly concern labour. However, as the two examples given from Union List illustrate, it is actually a bit more complex. If one says that labour laws are on the Concurrent List, that's mostly because of Entries 22, 23, 24 and 36, which cover a range of issues including unions, social welfare, provident funds and pensions on that list.
The law can be interpreted in the narrow sense of statutes, something that has been legislated by Parliament or state assemblies. For state laws, there can be two kinds of statutes for labour. First, with a basic Central statute, there can be state-level amendments. Second, there can be de novo state laws where there are no Central statutes.
The Kerala Labour Laws Act of 2002 is an instance.
But the impression that labour laws are only about statutes is not correct. Statutes provide enabling framework. With that enabling framework, administrative law is framed, consisting of rules, orders and regulations. The Factories Act, 1948, is statutory . But rules under the Factories Act, 1948, are part of administrative law.
Administrative labour law can be both Central and state-level. Depending on how one counts, and whether one includes statutes that directly deal with labour or the indirect ones too, and whether one counts amending statutes separately, there are around 45 Central labour statutes.
What Do You Do?
The first extant labour statute was the Fatal Accidents Act, enacted in 1855. Over time, concepts and definitions have changed. So has the case law, contributing to further confusion. For example, there is lack of unanimity about definitions of wages, workman, employee, factory , industry , adolescent, child and even contract labour. Are special statutes really needed for cine workers, dock workers, motor transport workers, sales promotion employees, plantation labour, journalists and mine workers?
Unification and harmonization is an issue on which there should be a consensus. The report of Second National Commission, submitted in 2002, argued for such unification and harmonization of labour laws under five heads of industrial relations, wages, social security , safety and welfare and working conditions. A common perception is that labour laws apply to the organized sector, but not to the unorganized sector. This is not universally true and labour laws vary in their application. And, the services sector is generally covered by shops and establishments Acts.
Absurd Rules State intervention is usually equated with laws on industrial relations, but this is a simplification too.
There is state intervention outside industrial relations too. The Factories Act says that “the State Government may prescribe the number of latrines and urinals to be provided in any factory“ and “may make rules prescribing the number of spittoons to be provided and their location in any factory“. The state government may also make rules “requiring the provision therein of suitable places for keeping clothing not worn during working hours and for the drying of wet clothing“.
The rules are worse. They pro vide for whitewashing of factories.
Distemper won't do. Earthen pots filled with water are required. Water coolers won't suffice. Red-painted buckets filled with sand are required, not fire extinguishers.
There must be crèches within the factory . Making transport arrangements for accessing crèches outside the factory won't be enough.
Let's Talk Again Shops and establishments Acts prescribe which day of the week must be observed as a weekly holiday and have restrictions on employing women outside what is perceived to be regular working-hours, a clause that adversely affects the efficient functioning of call-centres. Inspectors can descend under any labour laws and a system of a single inspector for all labour laws does not exist.
Manual records have to be maintained, electronic records are not acceptable. These are just as important as statutes/rules on industrial relations, such as IDA and CLA. But thanks to Rajasthan, we have got the debate going again.
The author is Consulting Editor, ET

Jun 20 2014 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

Get, Set, Go: The Race to the IITs Just got Tougher

SREERADHA D BASU

MUMBAI





No of candidates who qualified in JEE Advanced is 6,360 more than last year's

27,151 students have come out tops from among the 1.36 million who sat for entrance exams, only to find the race for an IIT seat is tougher than ever before even at this final stage.The number of candidates who qualified in the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced results announced on Wednesday is 6,360 more than last year. And, with marginally fewer seats available this year, competition to get into an IIT is fiercer.
The available seats are split into four categories and the number of qualified candidates has increased in all categories.
“A greater number of students qualifying means the competition will be tougher since the cutoffs remain the same as last year,“ MK Panigrahi, professorin-charge, IIT Kharagpur JEE office told ET.
“Last year, someone with a score of 132 out of 360 would have made it to 10,000 rank, but this year one needs 150 to make it to the same level,“ Mohit Sardana, director and head of Mumbai territory at leading coaching chain FIITJEE, said. 9,784 seats are available this year. “Overall, the situation is the situation is much more com petitive,“ he add ed.
The race for an IIT seat involves cracking two of the most compet itive exams in the country. The first hurdle is the JEE (Main) conducttral Board of Sec ed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), after which 1.5 lakh of the successful students make the cut for JEE (Advanced), provided the student figures among the top 20 percentile of his/her concerned XII board.
The competition this year has been fiercer than the previous at every stage.