Jan 22 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Assam sees highest growth in Muslim population





Share Up From 13.4% To 14.2% Of Total Popn

The latest census data on the population of religious groups, set to be released shortly , shows a 24% rise in the Muslim population between 2001 and 2011, with the community's share of India's total population rising from 13.4% to 14.2% over the 10-year period.While the growth rate of the Muslim population has slowed from the figure of around 29% recorded between 1991 and 2001, it is still higher than the national av erage of 18% for the decade.
The data accessed by TOI shows that the most rapid rise in the share of Muslims in the total population was witnessed in Assam. Muslims constituted 30.9% of the state's population in 2001, but accounted for a 34.2% share a decade later. The state has had a persisting problem of the illegal influx of Bangladeshi immigrants.
West Bengal, another state where illegal immigration from Bangladesh has been an old phenomenon, has also registered a rise in the share of Muslims in total population from 25.2% in 2001 to 27% in 2011, a growth of 1.8 percentage points over the 10 years, more than double the national average. Uttarakhand reported a sharp rise in the share of Muslim population from 11.9% to 13.9%, a growth of 2 percentage points against the countrywide growth of 0.8 percentage points between 2001 and 2011.
Other states with a significant rise in the share of Muslims in the total population as per the 2011 census were Kerala (from 24.7% to 26.6%), Goa (6.8% to 8.4%), Jammu & Kashmir (67% to 68.3%), Haryana (5.8% to 7%) and Delhi (11.7% to 12.9%).
The census office had compiled this data by March last year, but the UPA government held back the release, perhaps fearing political repercussions of the findings on the eve of Lok Sabha elections. Union home minister Rajnath Singh last week gave his go-ahead when Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner C Chandramouli asked whether the “sensitiive“ figures should be released.
Singh on Wednesday confirmed that the data would be made public soon.
Interestingly , Manipur was the only state to show a fall in Muslim population as a percentage of its total population (a fall of 0.4 percentage points).
The high growth of Muslim population in Assam has been intensely debated and has been a source of political confrontation. In fact, a re port prepared on the issue in 1998 by the then governor of Assam, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha, had warned that illegal immigration was slowly changing the demographic profile in several districts.The Supreme Court has on more than one occasion expressed concern over the change in demography and chided the government for not stopping infiltration from Bangladesh.

Jan 22 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

India among world's top 3 VC destinations

Shilpa Phadnis





India received the third highest venture capital funding ($4.6 billion) in the world in 2014, after US ($58.9 billion) and China ($8.9 billion). Bengaluru was fifth in a list of cities globally, an indication of the growing vibrancy of its startup ecosystem. San Francisco, one of three American cities in the top 5, led the list with $13 billion of VC investments, followed by Beijing ($6.4 billion), New York ($5.7 billion), Palo Alto ($3.2 billion) and Bengaluru ($2.6 billion). The list has been put together by Crunchbase, a global startup ecosystem database.Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council, said India enjoyed a record crop of VC investments in the second half of 2014 and the wave was showing no sign of slowing down.
“This was kicked off by the historic election results which boosted investor confidence tremendously ,“ Gururaj said. “Additionally, private equity investors worldwide, particularly those that missed out on the meteoric rise in Chinese startup valuations, flocked to high performing Indian consumer startups determined not to miss out on a fast ride on the `India Startup Express'.“ Sanjeev Aggarwal, cofounder of Helion Ven ture Partners, said Bengaluru's lead position was because of its ability to attract tech talent. “The virtuous cycle kicked in with Infosys and Wipro, followed by global captives coming in large numbers.Engineers employed with companies like Google and Yahoo wanted to experiment with new ideas, and that has spawned a startup culture. Mobile apps and cloud have reduced entry barriers to build companies,“ he said. CrunchBase does not give a breakup of the investments in each city. In Bengaluru's case, a significant portion of the $2.6 billion would likely be on account of Flipkart's two rounds of funding that happened last year. The e-commerce company received an estimated $1.7 billion.
Parag Dhol, managing director of Inventus Advisors India, believes Bengaluru's startup ecosystem is beginning to have a multiplier effect. “You have an ecosystem where companies have gone public, there are good product startups, and new age entrepreneurs are turning into angels. In that sense, success begets success.Venture capitalists are looking at India with a fresh set of eyes,“ he saidAggarwal noted that capital was going particularly to the leaders who are building companies in large underserved markets, companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola. “Investors are paying a leadership premium,“ he said. Japanese internet giant Softbank invested $627 million in Snapdeal and $210 million in Ola Cabs last year.

Jan 22 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Cut food security coverage to 40% from 67% of popn: Panel

Dipak Kumar Dash & Surojit Gupta

New Delhi: TNN





The government should reduce coverage under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to 40% of the population from 67% and defer implementation of the scheme in states which have not complied with the rollout conditions, a panel appointed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended.The panel headed by for mer food minister Shanta Kumar submitted the report to the PM on Wednesday. Re forming the subsidy regime is a key plan of Modi's economic reforms.
It has recommended far reaching changes in the functioning of the state-run Food Corporation of India and the minimum support price (MSP) regime. It has suggested that the foodgrain under NFSA for those below the poverty line should be raised to 7kg per person from the current norm of 5 kg. A panel headed by former food minister Shanta Kumar has called for moving to a direct cash transfer regime for food subsidy and estimated that the savings on food subsidy could be as much as Rs 30,000 crore per year. “Move to cash transfer and start with 53 million-plus cities.The states which are deficit in grains should be given the option of either grain or cash,“ said a source.
The panel has also suggested that fertilizer subsidy should be paid to farmers directly on per hectare basis which comes to around Rs 7,000 per hectare. “This will result in saving nearly Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 crore annually in fertilizer subsidy ,“ the source said. There should be a liquidation policy which will kick in immedi ately when the stocks go beyond the buffer stock limit. At present, FCI sells in open market or exports after approval cabinet which some experts say raises its carrying cost. “FCI should get a free hand,“ the source said.
The panel has recommended that the name of FCI be changed. “The new of FCI will be akin to an Agency for Innovations in Food Management System with a primary focus to create competition in every segment of food grain supply chain, some procurement to stocking to movement and finally distribution in public distribution system so that the overall costs of the system are substantially reduced, leakages plugged and it serves large no of consumers and farmers,“ the source said.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Revenge of the East

Vol - L No. 3, January 17, 2015 

• Editorials

The best tribute to the dead of Charlie Hebdo is the debate on freedom of speech that has now opened up.

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Inflation Targeting as Policy Option for India

Vol - L No. 3, January 17, 2015 | Renu Kohli 

• Commentary

Inflation targeting may have its benefits but the timing of India’s ongoing transition to IT – an adverse domestic and global macroeconomic context – poses signifi cant risks to a successful implementation. Moreover, the evidence of IT having a positive impact comes from the pre-financial crisis era; more recent studies of the emerging market economies over a longer period show the non-IT countries growing faster than those which have adopted IT.

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Commentary In the Era of the Neo-Fascist, Neo-liberal Coalition Narendra Modi’s Intellectual Brigade Sumanta Banerjee In a peculiar re-enactment of the fascist past, sections of the Indian intellectual community are displaying a horrifying moral ambiguity in their slow drift into a system that typifi es a dangerous and opportunist liaison between the forces of... Read more	Web Exclusives Notes on a Literary Death V Geetha The vicious campaign by local Hindu and caste groups in Tamil Nadu against the prolific Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s book Mathorupagan is rooted in the perverse politics of caste honour. Also, this strategy of bullying... Read more
Special Articles Industrial Conflict in India in the Post-Reform Period Who Said All Is Quiet on the Industrial Front? K R Shyam Sundar The processes of liberalisation, globalisation, and privatisation were expected to weaken the bargaining power of workers vis-à-vis employers and lead to a reduction in the number and frequency of industrial conflicts. However, the reform... Read more	Editorials Two Films, Two Opinions The courts must decide whether free expression is a constitutional right. Read more
Editorials Massive Achievement A mandate from across ethnic and social groups in Sri Lanka has felled the mighty Rajapaksa regime. Read more	Special Articles Karpoori Thakur: A Socialist Leader in the Hindi Belt Jagpal Singh Born in a poor Nai (barber) family, Karpoori Thakur, a committed socialist, played an important role in politics of Bihar for more than four decades between the 1950s and 1980s. He introduced controversial policies of reservation (the "Karpoori... Read more
Commentary V R Krishna Iyer: A Long Life in Law and Politics Vikram Raghavan I was 12 when I first heard of Krishna Iyer. It was a steamy Madras morning in July 1987. That day’s Indian Expressannounced that the retired judge would be the Opposition’s presidential candidate. He was to face R... Read more	Commentary Ghar Wapsi: Political Agenda, Religious Garb Rudolf C Heredia An appropriate response is not to curtail legitimate civil liberties or democratic freedoms, for this could have even more dangerous political and social consequences in areas of civil liberties and democratic rights, but rather to work towards... Read more
Notes BJP's Youth Vote Dividend Deepankar Basu, Kartik Misra An examination of age-wise voting and preferences in the 2014 elections reveals that the Bharatiya Janata Party benefi ted from youth and first-time voters showing a high preference for the party relative to other age groups. Read more	Commentary Responses to Rape in Schools Sujatha Rao The safety guidelines for schools in Karnataka that mandate cultures of surveillance and control are inadequate to prevent the systematic abuse of children in schools. Systems that place child welfare at the heart of schooling and school... Read more
Commentary Progress in Reducing Child Under-Nutrition Evidence from Maharashtra Sunny Jose, K S Hari Assessing the progress made in reducing under-nutrition among children who are less than two years old in Maharashtra between 2005-06 and 2012, this article points out that child under-nutrition, especially stunting, declined signifi cantly in... Read more	Special Articles Assessing Bihar's Coupon-Based PDS Importance of Local Context Chetan Choithani, Bill Pritchard The public distribution system remains the bedrock of India's food security system and the Food Security Act (2013) has only increased its importance. At the same time, the PDS administration has been subject to reform, change and experimentation... Read more
Perspectives Rethinking Assessments in Schools Disha Nawani This article examines the nature of two varied forms of assessments like the continuous comprehensive evaluation and end-of-the-year exams, studies the variations in the principles underlying them and presents a case for an assessment that is... Read more	Reports From the States / Web Exclusives Corporate Responsibility for Bhopal How Union Carbide Exploited a Government Loophole K Subramanian Union Carbide Corporation managed to wrangle out of the Bhopal gas tragedy by exploiting a loophole in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. If governments are not vigilant, other companies, ushered for “Make in India”, would do the... Read more
Discussion Our Moral Compass Remains True Shameran Abed Two responses to "Has Microfinance Lost Its Moral Compass?" (David Hulme and Mathilde Maitrot, EPW, 29 November 2014). The first argues that microfinance institutions in Bangladesh remain client-focused and mission-oriented. The second... Read more	Discussion High Interest Rates Are an Amorality in Microfinance R Seenivasan David Hulme and Mathilde Maitrot’s article on amorality of money in EPW (“Has Microfinance Lost Its Moral Compass?”, 29 November 2014) is timely and well-researched to illustrate one of the successes in development turning into... Read more
Book Reviews Practice of Caste in Higher Education Amman Madan Beyond Inclusion: The Practice of Equal Access in Indian Higher Education edited by Satish Deshpande and Usha Zacharias (New Delhi: Routledge), 2013; pp 356, Rs 415 (hardback). Read more	Book Reviews Chandernagore: A 'Glorious Chapter' in the History of Independence Akhila Yechury Chandernagore: From Bondage to Freedom, 1900-1955 by Sailendra Nath Sen (Delhi: Primus Books), 2012; pp xv + 376, Rs 1,150. Read more
Book Reviews Window to a Crisis-Ridden Period Arun Kumar Left of Centre: Kamal Morarka in Parliament edited by Lina Mathias (New Delhi: Rupa Publications), 2013; pp xviii + 267, Rs 495. Read more	Web Exclusives Misreading Charlie Hebdo Where Critics Went Wrong with the ‘Muslim’ Question Kaushik Dasgupta Charlie Hebdo’s critics have got one thing wrong – the real target of such terrorist attacks  is not the “Islamophobic” Western establishment, it is the Muslim heretic who wants to defy the cleric and... Read more
Web Exclusives Will the Neoliberal Economy Change? Verdict of the Sri Lanka Elections The Collective for Economic Democratisation While the election victory for President Maithripala Sirisena was due to a unique political moment that united minorities and many in the Sinhala electorate to vote out an authoritarian regime, expectations of major change in economic policy need... Read more

2014 Earth's hottest year on record, say U.S. scientists

2014 was Earth's hottest on record in new evidence that people are disrupting the climate by burning fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases into the air, two U.S. government agencies said on Friday.

The White House said the studies, by the U.S. space agency NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), showed climate change was happening now and that action was needed to cut rising world greenhouse gas emissions.

The 10 warmest years since records began in the 19th century have all been since 1997, the data showed. Last year was the warmest, ahead of 2010, undermining claims by some skeptics that global warming has stopped in recent years.

Record temperatures in 2014 were spread around the globe, including most of Europe stretching into northern Africa, the western United States, far eastern Russia into western Alaska, parts of interior South America, parts of eastern and western coastal Australia and elsewhere, NASA and NOAA said.

"While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York.

"The data shows quite clearly that it's the greenhouse gas trends that are responsible for the majority of the trends," he told reporters. Emissions were still rising "so we may anticipate further record highs in the years to come."

U.N. studies show there already are more extremes of heat and rainfall and project ever more disruptions to food and water supplies. Sea levels are rising, threatening millions of people living near coasts, as ice melts from Greenland to Antarctica.

Paris meeting in December

Next December, about 200 governments will meet in Paris to try to reach a deal to limit global warming, shifting to renewable energies. China and the United States, the top emitters of greenhouse gases, say they are cooperating more to achieve a U.N. accord.

The new data "is another reminder that climate change is not a problem for the future — it's happening here and now and we can't wait to take action," a White House official said in a statement.

Opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would transport Canadian crude oil across the United States said the new data made it all the more pressing to prevent the construction of the pipeline.

But U.S. Senator James Inhofe, a Republican who is the Senate's leading climate change skeptic, said the temperature difference between 2014 and 2010 was so insignificant as to prove there was no need for more stringent regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Human activity is clearly not the driving cause for global warming, and is not leading our planet to the brink of devastation that many alarmists want us to believe," he said.

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says it is at least 95 per cent probable that human activities, rather than natural variations in the climate caused by factors such as sunspots, are to blame for rising temperatures.

Still, a Paris deal will be hard to achieve since curbs on fossil fuel use are unpopular in many nations. Low oil prices may also discourage a shift to cleaner wind and solar power.

"The political challenges of organizing countries to respond, particularly through the UN process, remain very high," Michael Levi, a fellow on energy and environment at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, told Reuters.

Rowan Sutton, director of climate research at Britain's National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading, said a single year did not mean much because it might be a freak hot year.

"But the fact that now 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have occurred since the turn of the century shows just how clear global warming has become," he said.

Even so, temperatures have not risen as fast as they did in the 1980s or 1990s, taking an unusually warm 1998 as a starting point. The IPCC has described it as a hiatus in warming.

No El Nino factor

Since 1880, Earth's average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), NASA said. The NASA and NOAA analyses showed that the world's oceans all warmed last year, offsetting somewhat more moderate temperatures over land.

The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.24 degrees F (0.69 degree C) above the 20th century average, NOAA said.

The scientists noted that the record was set in a year that did not have the weather pattern known as El Nino, which can heat up the atmosphere and has been a factor in many past record-setting years, including 1998.

The United Nations says it is already clear that promises for emissions curbs at the Paris summit will be too weak to get on track for a U.N. goal of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) above pre-industrial times.

Keywords: fossil fuels, Earth's warmest years, NASA, NAOO, global warming, 2014