Demonetisation effect? Corruption index ranking improves but a long way to go

Global perceptions regarding India’s corruption levels remain high, going by Transparency International’s Corruption Index ratings for 2016. India has improved its standing, rising two points to 40 from last year. The trend line is positive if extremely gradual. India has improved perceptions regarding its degree of corruption by 10% since 2012. But the base figure is extremely low -- 40 points still places India, if not among the blackest of economies, then among the strong grays. The Transparency International survey tends to be taken seriously because its figures are drawn from a compilation of a dozen other surveys and indices of corruption.
As the figures are for 2016, the impact on black money of the so-called demonetisation effort will be unclear for some months to come. What the figure does indicate is that the Narendra Modi government’s earlier efforts against corruption including setting up a Special Investigation Team and the like have only had a marginally impact. That is not a surprise as corruption is deeply embedded in Indian society -- many poor Indians assume that paying a government official to provide the service that should be part of his job is the norm. Such petty corruption has barely been touched by events. The evidence is that reforms have gradually helped in reducing the macro-economic potential for corruption. The scope of discretionary power among bureaucrats, for example, has been reduced. Digital payments have received a boost and they also reduce the scope for illegal hoards of wealth. India seems to have done well here. The Economist’s Crony Capitalism Index, a measure of billionaire wealth derived from politically controlled sectors of the economy, showed such cronyism dropping from nearly 12% of GDP to less than 4% between 2014 and 2016. There is a case for saying that India should be compared to similar emerging economies rather than developed countries. But this does not cut any ice: There is an inherent moral laxity in claiming that a people should suffer from greater corruption because they happen to be poorer. Using that criterion, however, India is doing well. South Africa and Brazil have been dropping points on Transparency International’s index over the past several years. Turkey has fallen a remarkable nine points since 2012. India can still do more. For all its progress on crony capitalism, it is still worse off than comparable economies like Brazil and China.


Source: Hindustan Times, 26-01-2017
The Modi government’s ambitious plans on digitalising economies, including using the planned Goods and Service Tax to push all business transactions online, should reduce the scope of corporate corruption drastically. However, the government’s dilution of the Whistleblower’s Act and dilly-dallying on the Lokpal and Lokayutkas Bill seem to indicate that government corruption remains as much a low-level priority in New Delhi as it has in the past.

 

Music of the Holy Spheres





Divine music, when you experience it, brings with it intense and lasting bliss. How can one who has heard this divine melody describe it to one who has not? Anyone who attempts to describe it would have to use pale analogies. If we think of the most beautiful music we have heard in this world, it still does not compare with the music known as the Voice of God. The divine music is playing within us all the time. We don't hear it because no one has shown us the way to listen to this inner music. There is reference to this inner music in the scriptures. This sound has been called the Word in the Bible, naad, jyoti and sruti in the Hindu scriptures, sraosha in the Zoroastrian scriptures, kalma in the Muslim scriptures, sonorous light in the Buddhist scriptures, naam or shabd by the Sikhs, and the Theosophists call it the voice of silence. It is the power of God manifesting in creation.
God created two principles: light and sound. The current of divine light and music was the cause of all creation. This current flows out from God and also returns to God. We can access this current within us through Shabd meditation.
Once we awaken to the Music of the Lord, our life will be the same -but only on the surface. We will still have the same job, the same family , the same house and the same body , but a whole new inner life will open up for us. To everyone else, we will look the same, but inwardly, we will be lost in the ecstasy of God's love.

Patriarchy doesn’t harm women alone

If men are engaged in the process of empowering women and towards a gender-equitable, violence-free world, it will benefit both

Gender-based crimes against girls and women will increase in this neo-liberal society of ours

At least five or six cases of various forms of violence against girls and women from different cities are being reported every day since reports of the New Year’s eve incident in Bengaluru led to an outcry. Drawing attention to the seriousness of gender-based violence, there is a demand for stronger punishment for male offenders. But very little attention has been focused on what is being done to address the root cause of the issue.

If men and their attitudes are “part of the problem”, can we address the problem effectively without involving men as “part of the solution”? In our vision of a gender-just society where there is peaceful coexistence of men and women, does a person belonging to the “oppressor” gender have a role?

If yes, what would be that role? Are the empowerment and assertion of the oppressed and the sensitization and transformation of the powerful, mutually exclusive agendas?

Gender issues, including gender-based violence, are seen largely as “women’s issues” by all concerned—a majority of policymakers, women’s groups, funding agencies and media. This approach insulates men from the process of transformation, reinforces masculine stereotypes and deepens the gender divide.

Patriarchy disadvantages women but it also brings a set of behavioural norms and responsibilities that hinders men from expressing their pressures to perform in adherence with traditional notions of masculinity. Masculinity, in its current form, harms not only women but also men in the long run. Men cannot cry or express emotions freely, they have to be always winners/achievers, bread-earners, caretakers, etc. They have to perform at various stages from bedroom to boardroom. They cannot do household chores without the fear of being labelled “sissies”.

If gender is a social construct, then men are not born violent and aggressive. It is faulty socialization and upbringing that promotes a macho image. Do we find alternatives to this model of masculinity?

There may be umpteen examples of women as role models for girls who are growing up, but there is a woeful dearth of positive role models among men; role models who can embody a gender-sensitive society and engage adolescent boys and young men in the discourse. We have examples of sportsmen like Roger Federer who have expressed what “healthy relationships” mean to them personally, but when did we last hear sportsmen in India talking about gender?

We need to address how men analyse perceptions of masculinity and create appropriate alternatives. But to do this, men must first feel the need to do so. Men can introspect on the existing dominant model of masculinity when they are able to relate to the issue; when they know the “costs” of increasing violence on women to them individually and socially.

If men are involved in any intervention that seeks to stop or prevent violence against women, it may help in making the lives of women safer and healthier, but what’s in it for them? What are they going to get out of it? Unless this is answered seriously, we will not come up with any meaningful strategy of engaging men in the long term.

A paradigm shift in looking at women’s issues as gender issues, which are equally men’s issues, is not going to be easy. With all our social subsystems—family, religion, governance and media—reinforcing patriarchal, male-dominated attitudes, it will definitely be a process that will face periodic threats, hiccups and setbacks.

Apart from addressing men as a group, it calls for simultaneous interventions with different groups of men. For instance, we need to address men in the police not just as law-enforcing agents but also as men. Similarly, we need to reach out to men in the corporate and healthcare sectors, in Parliament, male bureaucrats, male journalists, religious leaders, school and college teachers and administrators.

A couple of token gender-sensitization programmes for these men is not going to change the male mindset. What is required is focused, long-term intervention with a clear vision and purpose of “process-oriented” work by all stakeholders. There has to be a pool of male facilitators in all sectors who can engage men in a gradual process of transformation and humanization. It calls for investment, financial and otherwise.

The moot question is: Do we have a sizeable number of people who would like to invest their time and effort in engaging men towards addressing gender issues? Even if a handful of them do (like this writer, who has been working on the issue for 24 years), there is a dearth of people who would strengthen their efforts.

If men are engaged in the process of empowering women and towards a gender-equitable, violence-free world, it will benefit both. Men also would be liberated from the shackles of patriarchy. If they are liberated, their own lives would become humane, enriching and harmonious.

Gender-based crimes against girls and women will increase in this neo-liberal society of ours in the coming years. What will change is only the nature and forms of violence. There will certainly be more crimes by minor boys.

It would then be, perhaps, too late for all concerned to seriously examine the root 

Source: mintepaper, 25-01-2017

cause of the problem.

Cabinet approves Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2017 

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bill, 2017, under which the IIMswould be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them togrant degrees to their students.

Following are the salient features of the Bill:

         i.            IIMs can grant degrees to their students

       ii.            The Bill provides for complete autonomy to the Institutions, combined with adequate accountability.

      iii.            Management of these Institutions would be Board driven, with the Chairperson and Director of an Institution which will be selected by the Board.

     iv.            A greater participation of experts and alumni in the Board is amongst otherimportant features of the Bill.

       v.            Provision has also been made for inclusion of women and members from Scheduled Castes/Tribes in the Board. 

     vi.            The Bill also provides for periodic review of the performance of Institutions by independent agencies, and placing the results of the same on public domain.

    vii.            The Annual Report of the Institutions will be placed in the Parliament and CAG will be auditing their accounts.

  viii.            There is also a provision of  Coordination Forum of IIMs as an advisory body.

Background:

Indian Institutes of Management are the country's premier institutions imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked processes of education and training in management. IIMs are recognized as world-class management Institutions and Centers of Excellence and have brought laurels to the country. All IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act.

Being societies, IIMs are not authorized to award degrees and, hence, they have been awarding Post Graduate Diploma and Fellow Programme in Management. While these awards are treated as equivalent to MBAs and Ph.D, respectively, 

Source: indiaeducationdiary, 24-01-2017

the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the Fellow Programme.

Lift the veil of secrecy

The primary aim of the demonetisation exercise was to tap black money. To mark the last day for depositing the demonetised notes, on December 31, 2016, the Prime Minister, in his address to the nation, fully acknowledged the great hardship suffered by common people due to the serious delay in making the new currency notes available in the banks, ATMs and rural areas, and thanked them for the faith they reposed in him in spite of such hardships. He announced a slew of financial sops to the marginalised and farmers. While he made a passing reference to black money hoarders being on the run, and about collusion on the part of a few bank and government officials, he made no mention of specifics like the government’s estimates of black money and counterfeit money unearthed by the demonetisation. Perhaps it was too early to arrive at such estimates with some precision.

Subverting the system

Newspapers were full of reports of some sensational cases of hoarding of new currency notes, within a few days after the demonetisation, even as common people could not get more than one, and then two new ₹2,000 notes even after standing in queues for hours. As of December 10, it was reported that a stash of ₹242 crore in new currency notes had been uncovered. Cases have to be investigated with the greatest speed as top priority and persons involved should be given exemplary jail terms. The investigation should reveal how the new notes, which were in such short supply, reached these hoarders in record time. The Prime Minister or his representatives should have given some details about the likely time frame for strong action against those caught, including hoarders and corrupt officials, to reassure the common man about the government’s seriousness in dealing with black money.

There are two other aspects of demonetisation on which clarity is required. One is the status of political funds, and the other the status of donations/offerings made to temples and religious institutions, through the so-called temple hundis.

Political donations as conduit?

Political party funds are exempted from income tax, though parties are required to maintain books of accounts, and file income returns. Moreover, they are not required to keep any details of the source of funds if the individual contributions are ₹20,000 or less. It is well known that almost 90% of the funds of major political parties are of this nature.

The Union Revenue Secretary reportedly said on December 16 that political parties can accept cash donations even after November 8. The Finance Minister, however, said a couple of days later that political parties cannot accept donations in old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. The question, thus, is whether parties did accept cash donations in demonetised bills after November 8. If so, it could have been a great device for converting black money into white in the hands of unethical political parties by breaking down huge contributions into a number of small ones of ₹20,000 or less; an unethical political party could even receive cash contributions after November 8, but show in its books that the money was received before that date.

Disclosure of figures about cash donations received by political parties before and after November 8, and the amount deposited in the banks by December 30, and whether any part of it will be taxed, would help in an informed debate. It may be noted that all political parties have taken a stand that they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Right to Information Act.

It would also be useful to find out the amount of cash deposited by temples after November 8 purportedly received as donations to know how funds so received will be dealt with (so as not to enable conversion of black money into white), and whether any part of such collections would be taxed.

Keeping the public informed

Even if the entire ₹15.4 lakh crore of demonetised currency is received back in the banks, obviously a part of it would be black money (i.e. money that hadn’t been taxed). The government should ask the Income Tax Department to finalise suspicious cases within six months, if necessary by putting aside all routine work relating to regular assessments, etc. for the time being.

Before the demonetisation exercise, it was reported that the Income Declaration Scheme, which ended on September 30, 2016, has fetched ₹67,382 crore of undisclosed income and should result in tax and penalty of ₹30,322 crore, to be paid in two equal instalments on November 30, 2016 and September 2017. The government should reveal how much tax was actually received by November 30 out of the estimated ₹15,161 crore.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana provides a window from December 17, 2016 to March 31, 2017 for holders of black money to declare their assets. Fortnightly data of remittances to this fund should be released for information of the public.

Most people think that the fountainhead of black money is the provision that political parties need not disclose source of contributions of ₹20,000 or less. Support for the Prime Minister would have soared sky-high had he declared that from the midnight of December 31, all cash donations to parties were to be banned. But he missed the opportunity, and now it cannot be done even if one wants to until the upcoming Assembly elections to five States are over.

K. Padmanabhaiah, an IAS officer of the 1961 batch, served as Union Home Secretary and is the Chairman of the Court of Governors of Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad.

Source: The Hindu, 25-01-2017

Air pollution a national problem

A Greenpeace report shows 90% of cities studied had pollution levels over prescribed standards

Delhi’s toxic air may be making news every few months. But pollution levels across the country are alarming too. A new report released here on Wednesday shows that over 90 per cent of the cities studied had pollution levels higher than the prescribed standards.

According to an analysis of 2015 data for 168 cities by Greenpeace India, 154 were found to have an average particulate matter level higher than the national standard. None of the cities studied had air quality matching the standard prescribed by the World Health Organisation. Hasan in Karnataka came closest to the standard.

Using data from various State pollution control boards, accessed from their websites and through RTI queries, the report ranked the cities based on the annual average of PM10, which are all particles less than 10 microns in diameter. These include the very harmful fine particles, PM2.5.

Top five

Unsurprisingly, Delhi was found to be be the most polluted city, with the annual average for PM10 being 268 micrograms per cubic metre, or over four times the 60 micrograms/cubic metre limit prescribed in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of the Central Pollution Control Board.

Ghaziabad, Allahabad and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana followed closely, making for the worst five cities in terms of PM10 levels, the annual average concentrations being four times or more than the standard.

While air quality in North and Central India saw dangerous levels of particulate matter, South India appeared to have comparatively cleaner air. All 10 of the least polluted cities were in the South and the East: eight in Karnataka and one each in Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

“Due to the Himalayas and the cooler weather as well as big industrial clusters, the levels of pollution are higher in the North. Southern India has the benefit of the mixing of sea breeze. However, pollution is a national-level problem and has to be treated as such,” said Sunil Dahiya, one of the authors of the report and a campaigner with Greenpeace India.

The main culprit

Looking at the sources of pollution, the report found that fossil fuels were the biggest contributors to the particulate matter. “Whether it is in the transport sector or industries, the uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of air pollution,” said Mr. Dahiya.

Chennai, for instance, though on the coast, had an average PM10 level of 81 micrograms per cubic metre. A diesel-powered public transport system and power plant were to be blamed for the air pollution.

Though the report has looked at average city levels of PM10, some of the cities, like Delhi, have many more monitoring stations than the others. In the report, Greenpeace recommended setting up more monitoring stations in order to get a better picture of pollution levels.

Source: The Hindu, 12-01-2017

GATE 2017: smart strategies to help you get a big score

A well-planned strategy is crucial for cracking any competitive test. For Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2017, it is necessary for candidates to get familiar with the format and consolidate their strong areas. Start with the relevant books for the subject, including the books for fundamental and basic concepts as well as for specific problems. Also go through previous years’ question papers. MV Reddy, course director, GATE, Triumphant Institute of Management Education, says candidates must note down the concepts (definitions, unit, dimension etc.) as well as necessary theories, formulae etc.

“Try to solve a variety of problems from different sample papers. Use logic and tricks in solving problems. Conduct self tests based on various chapters and try to achieve a very good score. Go for self tests based on the whole syllabus. In the revision stage, concentrate more on the selected topics. This is not the time to start reading again from scratch. You need to go ahead with short notes and revise whatever practice questions and answers you have read before. Identify topics which you have not covered at all,” says Reddy.

Sharing her success mantra, Ronika Goswami, who bagged all-India rank 1 in GATE 2016, says, “I started my GATE 2016 preparation from November 2015. My strategy for the test was to get all the basic concepts cleared first. For that, I followed the standard books for all the subjects. The focus in the last two months was on solving as many questions as possible. I started the paper with the general aptitude section as it is very scoring. Then I attempted the two-mark questions as they require more calculations. Then I tackled the one-mark questions.”

As the candidates are not permitted to carry a scientific calculator to the exam centre, they will have to get used to virtual calculators. Make sure you have enough practice of using these calculators. “With the exam going online, a lot of practice will be needed to get familiar with a computer based test. Also keep in mind that the test will have numerical answer questions, wherein you have to enter an answer, instead of choosing between four options. So avoid guesswork,” says Mohit Goel, CEO, Gateforum.

source: Hindustan Times, 25-01-2017