Ray of hope for Thar’s endangered wildlife
Rajasthan govt. sets up rescue wards for injured animals
•In an attempt to reduce the number of deaths of endangered wildlife in Thar desert, new “rescue wards” have come up in the far-flung rural areas of Jodhpur, Rajasthan. These will provide quick treatment to animals injured in road accidents, dog bites, etc.
•With an average of nearly 1,000 injuries a year, the wildlife in Thar desert has witnessed 60% mortality because of lack of transport to the main rescue centre at the Jodhpur zoo. This has led to the depletion of wildlife, mainly chinkaras (Indian gazelles).
•The Forest Department’s move to set up 17 rescue wards has come as a much-needed support to the Bishnoi community of western Rajasthan, which has been in the forefront of wildlife conservation. Bishnois risk their lives to save gazelles from poachers and transport injured animals to Jodhpur.
•The rescue wards were launched on Sunday, well before the onset of monsoon which causes widespread deaths among gazelles as they cannot run fast in the moist soil and fall prey to dog bites.
Training for villagers
•Shravan Singh Rathore, Jodhpur zoo’s veterinary surgeon, told The Hindu that the new facilities would help save wild animals and birds. A day-long training camp was held in Jodhpur to hone the skills of villagers volunteering as animal rescuers.
•Thanks to the new centres, Bishnoi volunteers expect wildlife mortality to reduce drastically. Bishnoi Tiger Force chief Ram Pal Bhawad said the community had been demanding such centres for over a decade. “We have definite plans for the conservation of the desert’s endangered wildlife,” he said.
Time is money, insists official clock keeper
ISRO, which needs nanosecond-level precision, will now have to pay NPL for time-keeping services
•The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), part of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, is host of the most accurate clocks in the country, and the only agency in India authorised to maintain Indian Standard Time (IST). The NPL maintains accuracy of ±20 nanoseconds through the Primary Time Scale, an ensemble of five caesium clocks and one hydrogen maser. The rest of the world connects to these via tele-clocks, satellite links, andNetwork Time Protocol services(which, for example, reflect in laptops’ clocks).
•Airports, Parliament, banks, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in fact anyone who needs to synchronise their computers, connect to a hierarchy of servers that link back to that of the NPL, which provides accurate time — down to milliseconds — for free. Until now, that is.
•“We are in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO],” Dinesh Aswal, Director, NPL, toldThe Hindu . “I cannot disclose the amount, but it will be an important revenue source.”
•Unlike the rest of us, who are happy if our watches and devices are accurate to the second, the ISRO launches rockets and tracks satellites, which requires precision at the nanosecond level. “Only the NPL is equipped to provide that level of accuracy,” Mr. Aswal said. NPL is also discussing similar deals with the Air Force, SBI, Indian Railways, and the National Informatics Centre.
Fund crunch
•Why has NPL decided to start charging for this service? Its parent, the CSIR, has a funds crunch. Out of its Rs. 4,000 crore budget, only 10%–15% is revenue. CSIR wants to increase that to 25% this year, and 50% by 2020,as The Hindu has previously reported, and has directed its labs to start generating more revenue.
•The NPL is also looking at other ways to assert its monopoly. IST can be sourced from similar organisations such as the United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology, but with varying degrees of accuracy. Earlier this year, the NPL asked government to mandate that Indian organisations exclusively set their time to NPL’s clocks. “All countries require their computer infrastructure to synchronise to their local times,” Mr. Aswal had told The Hinduin an earlier conversation“It would be a landmark service if Indian computers were also mandated to do so.”
What’s up with Bosphorus?
Phytoplanktons change the sober blue waters of the strait into a bright turquoise
•A sudden change in the colour of the Bosphorus Strait that divides the continents of Europe and Asia in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul has surprised residents, with scientists putting it down to a surge in a species of plankton across the Black Sea.
Residents alarmed
•The sudden transformation of the usually blue waters of the Bosphorus to a milky turquoise since the weekend had alarmed some residents.
•Some took to social media to express fears that there had been a pollution spill while others even suggested it could be linked to an earthquake that rocked the Aegean region on Monday afternoon. But scientists said there was no mystery behind the colour change, which was accompanied by a sharper smell.
•Ahmet Cemal Saydam, professor of environmental science at Hacettepe University, told the Dogan news agency that the cause was a surge in numbers of the micro-organism Emiliania huxleyi , also known as Ehux. “This has nothing to do with pollution,” he said, adding it was particularly good for the numbers of anchovies, a popular supper in Istanbul. Anchovies feed on phytoplanktons and tiny fish.
Ehux explosion
•“Across the Black Sea there is an explosion of Emiliania huxleyi . This is a blessing for the Black Sea,” he said.
•One of the most successful life-forms on the planet, Emiliania huxleyi is a single-celled organism visible only under a microscope.
•Its astonishing adaptability enables it to thrive in waters from the equator to the sub-Arctic.
•The changing colour across the Black Sea was also captured in an image taken from NASA’s Terra satellite.
•NASA said the milky colouration is “likely due to the growth of a particular phytoplankton called a coccolithophore”. Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore.
•“This particular organism is plated with white calcium carbonate and, when present in large numbers, tend to turn the water a milky sheen,” NASA said.
Put off GST rollout to Sept. 1, Aviation Ministry tells FinMin
Says effecting a change in airlines’ global ticketing systems will require more time
•The Ministry of Civil Aviation has asked the Ministry of Finance to postpone the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 to September 1 as some domestic airlines, including national carrier Air India, have expressed their inability to switch to a new tax regime soon.
•“We have asked the Finance Ministry to give further time for implementation of GST, expressing the airlines’ view that effecting a change in the global ticketing system would require time,” said a senior Aviation Ministry official, on condition of anonymity.
GDS software
•The Aviation Ministry told the Finance Ministry that full-service airlines, Jet Airways and Air India, rely on global distribution systems (GDS) software for booking tickets through travel agents and it would require key changes in the system to include GST.
•“Although some airlines demanded eight-nine months to switch to the new GST regime, we have asked the Finance Ministry to postpone the rollout till September 1 at least,” the Aviation Ministry official said, adding that the letter was written by the Ministry to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Monday.
•The Finance Ministry had on Wednesday scotched all speculation about any shift in the GST implementation date and had asserted that the new indirect tax system would indeed be implemented from July 1.
•In its letter to Mr. Adhia, the Aviation Ministry has recommended four changes in the GST regime that impact the industry.
Favours foreign carriers
•It has voiced concerns that the new GST framework would benefit foreign carriers more than the domestic ones on two counts — input tax credits and international travel.
•“The full input tax credit should be extended to economy class travel also,” according to the Aviation Ministry letter, which was seen by The Hindu.
•On economy class travel, input tax credit can only be claimed on input services and not on procurement of goods, import of aircraft and its spares whereas on premium travel, full input tax credits can be reclaimed on both input goods and services, under the present GST regime.
Cabinet clears 5% interest subvention for crop loans
Scheme will continue for one year, be overseen by NABARD
•Amid growing protests over farm sector distress, the Cabinet has approved the extension of the interest subvention scheme for farmers to 2017-18. Short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakh will receive a subvention of 5%, effectively reducing the rate for farmers to 4%.
Amount earmarked
•The government has earmarked a sum of Rs. 20,339 crore for this.
•The interest subvention scheme will continue for one year and will be implemented by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Reserve Bank of India.
•“The Central government will provide interest subvention of 5% per annum to all prompt payee farmers for short-term crop loan up to one year for loan up to Rs. 3 lakh borrowed by them during the year 2017-18,” the government said in a statement.
•“Farmers will thus have to effectively pay only 4% as interest.”
Short-term loan
•Farmers unable to repay the short-term crop loans on time will receive an interest subvention of 2%.
•The scheme has been running since 2006-07, under which farmers are eligible for interest subvention of 2% for crop loans of up to Rs. 3 lakh.
Now, subsidy for weavers’ education in open schools
Textiles Ministry to reimburse 75% of the tuition fees
•In a bid to offer affordable educational opportunities to weaving communities, the Ministry of Textiles (MoT) will subsidise the education of all weavers enrolled in the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
•They will get certificates equivalent to the secondary-level national board certificates, and will be free to take subjects that augment their occupational skills.
•The MoT will reimburse 75 per cent of the education costs to the NIOS, which means the weaver needs to pay only one-fourth of the normal fee. For women and members of Scheduled Caste communities who are weavers, the NIOS will waive the remaining 25 per cent as well, thereby enabling them to study and get a certificate free of cost.
•The plan is also politically potent. Given that a sizeable number of weavers are from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the Dalit castes, this move signals the government’s intent to reach out to these segments. Many weavers are Muslims, a community whose members are currently at the receiving end of cow vigilantism and love jihad campaigns by rightwing groups. Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, Varanasi, is a key weaving cluster among many others in India.
Three courses
•“NIOS conducted a survey in the major handloom cluster of Varanasi and identified the needs of the weaver community. Accordingly, it has developed a plan where weavers can take three courses directly related to their profession, such as fibre to fabric, design development, handloom weaving, dyeing and printing, along with a course in entrepreneurship related to their area, and one language course,” said an official.
Qatar’s isolation
The rift between Qatar and other Arab nations is unsustainable in the long run
•The recent diplomatic rift between Qatar and other Arab states — like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt — has again highlighted the geopolitical significance of the region beyond the oil factor. It emerged as a result of an allegation that the small gas-rich country supports and funds terror through its support of Iran and Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist political group outlawed by both Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
•These allegations have been been in focus in the past as well. An American intelligence report in 2015 had accused Qatar of financing Hamas. It has also been accused of funding al-Qaeda affiliates like Al-Nusra. Qatar’s hosting of the Afghan Taliban, including by providing it with an ‘embassy’, has also invited widespread criticism. However, the Saudi-led action this time seems to be mainly targeted at Iran. A few days before the announcement of the boycott, U.S. President Donald Trump had accused Iran of being a regional terror sponsor. He later spoke in favour of the sanctions against Qatar, unmindful of the fact that the Gulf monarchy hosts the largest U.S. military base in West Asia. Historically, Qatar has avoided allying itself closely with either Saudi Arabia or Iran. It shares the world’s largest gas field with Iran, hence can’t ignore it.
•As regards the impact of sanctions on India, it depends on Qatar for 90% of its natural gas requirements and hence is likely to maintain its good relationship with the monarchy. A few days after the crisis began, the External Affairs Ministry had made it clear that India didn’t foresee any issues caused to its own relations with countries in the region. However, the Qatar Airways flights between India and Doha will be affected as following the UAE’s decision to not allow its air space to be used, the flights will now have to get routed through Iran.
•The sanctions will certainly hurt the Qatari economy. However, with its foreign exchange reserves of about $335 billion, it is expected to avoid an economic crisis in the short term. The newly expanded port facility will help it continue its gas exports. However, Doha can’t allow the dispute to drag on for long. A long-term crisis is likely to make borrowing more expensive for the government, affecting its ability to build infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
•The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries need to negotiate and find a solution, keeping the group’s collective agenda in mind. A diplomatic freeze will only allow non-state actors like the Islamic State (IS) to strengthen their presence. Cooperation between Iran and Sunni Arab countries is also desirable for the benefit of both. The U.S. has been successful in balancing its strategic ties with the countries in the region. However, recent statements by Mr. Trump against Qatar, in which he accused Doha of funding extremism, risk upending the balance. Qatar needs to choose between aligning its policies with those of the regional heavyweights or greater isolation. It is not yet strong enough to have its own independent regional doctrine.
Musings on London Bridge
Combating the new range of threats posed by the IS will also require political settlements in Syria and Iraq
•On the evening of June 3, three men unleashed terror in the heart of London, killing eight people and wounding dozens, in the third major terrorist attack in Britain in three months.
•The assailants sped across London Bridge in a white van, ramming into pedestrians. They later emerged from the van with hunting knives and began stabbing people in Borough Market, a nearby nightspot. The attackers were quickly chased down and killed by British police.
•On May 22, a suicide bomber attacked a concert arena in the city of Manchester, killing 22 people. Two months earlier, a driver mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, and tried to break into Parliament before being shot and killed by security forces.
•The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for all of these attacks, and it now seems that the terrorist group will be quick to adopt nearly every attack on civilians, especially in the West. These claims of responsibility tend to be somewhat generic — they don’t show the IS’s involvement in the planning or execution of attacks — but they do help the group in its propaganda efforts.
A decentralised jihadism
•These self-directed and “lone wolf” attacks are not an accident. They are the result of an organised, decade-old movement within Islamic jihadism to decentralise attacks and make them more diffuse. This trend predated the emergence of the IS — it can be traced back to al-Qaeda after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
•While al-Qaeda was a hierarchical organisation, its leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy and eventual successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, realised that maintaining training camps and central control was not going to work after the group was forced out of its base in Afghanistan under U.S. bombing. Before the September 11 attacks, bin Laden had relied on recruits trained at Afghan camps, and many had personally pledged allegiance to him.
•But even while in hiding, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri frequently addressed their supporters through dozens of videos, audiotapes and Internet statements. They encouraged new recruits to act autonomously under al-Qaeda’s banner, and they helped inspire hundreds of young men to carry out suicide or conventional bombings in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Spain, Britain and elsewhere.
•After a large number of al-Qaeda’s leaders were killed, captured or forced to flee, one of bin Laden’s former bodyguards in Afghanistan described the group’s revamped operations to an Arabic newspaper. “Every element of al-Qaeda is self-activated,” he said. “Whoever finds a chance to attack simply goes ahead. The decision is theirs alone.”
The rapid rise of the IS
•Today, the IS has expanded and perfected this concept of the “leaderless jihad.” And it is now wreaking havoc and spreading fear, both in the West and in West Asia.
•The latest wave of attacks fits into a series of appeals by IS leaders for their supporters to carry out self-directed assaults that use any means necessary to kill civilians, especially in the West. As the group continues to face a U.S.-led bombing campaign against its strongholds in Syria and Iraq, it is losing the territory and fighters that make up the backbone of its self-declared caliphate. As a result, the IS is turning towards both centrally organised plots and individual attacks carried out by sympathisers to reassert its claim as the world’s leading jihadist movement.
•One of the major inspirations for this strategy is Abu Musab al-Suri, a veteran jihadist ideologue and an al-Qaeda leader who worked with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri in the 1990s. After he became disillusioned with al-Qaeda’s leaders and direction following the September 11 attacks, Suri published a 1,600-page manifesto titled, “A Call to a Global Islamic Resistance”, on the Internet in 2005.
•In the document, which is still widely shared in jihadist circles, Suri calls for a wave of “individual jihad” in which independent operatives — sometimes self-radicalised and other times assisted by recruiters on the Internet — would target Western civilians in an effort to sow chaos and terror. Suri described his jihadist philosophy as “no organizations, just principles”.
•With a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, Suri was captured by Pakistan’s security services in late 2005. He was reportedly turned over to the Central Intelligence Agency and was then sent to his native Syria, where he was wanted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime. After the Syrian war began in 2011, there were reports that Suri was among hundreds of al-Qaeda and other militant operatives freed by the Assad regime. Many of those operatives went on to become leaders of IS and the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. But other reports, including statements by jihadist leaders, say that Suri is still being held by Assad’s regime.
Lone wolf as a strategy
•Regardless of his status, Suri’s conception of the individual, or leaderless, jihad continues to resonate. In relying on lone wolf attacks by individuals who are self-radicalised and have only a tangential understanding of jihadist ideology — and, in some cases, are mentally disturbed — the IS is able to project a greater reach than it actually has.
•In September 2014, Abu Muhammed al-Adnani, the leading IS spokesman, issued an audiotaped appeal that reflected Suri’s tactics. Adnani (who was killed two years later in a U.S. air strike in Syria) urged the group’s sympathisers to use whatever means at their disposal to attack American and French citizens, and virtually any other Western civilians. “If you are not able to find an IED [improvised explosive device] or a bullet, single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies,” he said. “Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.”
•For several years, the IS and al-Qaeda have been competing for funding, recruits and prestige. The two groups often disagree over tactics: to avoid a backlash similar to the one they faced during Iraq’s civil war, al-Qaeda’s leaders have urged their followers to avoid targeting Muslims. But IS leaders endorse the wholesale slaughter of civilians, including many Muslims that they regard as infidels, as epitomised by the spate of attacks on Muslim countries during Ramazan in recent years.
•By mid-2014, the IS seized large chunks of Syria and Iraq. The group then proclaimed a caliphate in the territory under its control, and named its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and “leader of Muslims everywhere”.
Looking for real solutions
•Over the past three years, the IS displaced al-Qaeda as the dominant force in international jihadism. Baghdadi’s group had been more successful in its strategy, which relies on capturing and holding territory. But after its recent losses in Iraq and Syria, the group has reverted to its roots as a jihadist insurgency, bent on large-scale attacks that instil fear but achieve few tangible gains.
•In doing so, IS leaders realise that they are on the verge of losing their self-declared capitals in Raqqa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq. That means the group would squander the caliphate that has distinguished it from other jihadist movements, and helped it attract new recruits.
•To combat this new and more complex range of threats posed by the IS and its sympathisers, governments in the West and throughout the world will need to do more than simply continue military strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria. Deterring new attacks against civilians will require working towards political settlements in Syria and Iraq. It will also mean greater vigilance in monitoring clandestine networks set up by IS operatives — and adjusting to a new enemy that knows no limits.
Unwise proposal
The Election Commission’s proposal seeking contempt powers for itself is alarming
•Permanent laws cannot be made in response to transient trends, especially to create a power that is open to abuse. The Election Commission of India’s proposal to the Law Ministry that it be armed with the power to punish for contempt is an unwarranted and poorly thought-out response to some strident accusations of partisan functioning, mainly from political parties that had lost in the electoral arena. With democratic practices evolving over time, even the power to punish for contempt vested in the judiciary has come under question, with many wondering whether this relic of a bygone age should be retained. Even superior courts, empowered to act under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, are often advised to use it only sparingly. Against this backdrop, for a multi-member Election Commission, which enjoys a high degree of public confidence and a reputation for impartiality, to ask that it be clothed with the powers of a high court to punish both civil and criminal contempt is a travesty of our open and democratic system. Civil contempt pertains to wilful disobedience of court orders, and giving the ECI the power to enforce its orders may be an idea worth debating. However, it will be very harmful to free speech and fair criticism if the ECI is given the power to punish for criminal contempt on grounds that something had “scandalised” it or tended to lower its authority — a vague and subjective provision that should have no place in contempt law. It is a matter of concern that the ECI appears to be preparing the ground to use its power to curtail free speech; its letter refers to some parties “taking advantage of the right to freedom of expression” to question the conduct of elections.
•There is a marked difference between the judiciary and the Election Commission. Judges have a tradition of not responding publicly to criticism. As Lord Denning observed in 1968, they “cannot enter into public controversy”. The ECI, on the other hand, responds robustly as and when allegations about the conduct of elections surface. There is no reason to believe that public confidence in the ECI will be shaken or its superintendence, direction and control over the election process undermined by criticism, however tendentious or calumnious it may be. It is true that parties have made unfair accusations about the conduct of elections, or more accurately, about the outcome of elections that went against them. The Aam Aadmi Party has made it a sort of mission to run down the electronic voting system. Not stopping with scepticism of the claim that the electronic voting machines are invulnerable, it has alleged ECI members are politically aligned to the ruling party at the Centre. However, it cannot be forgotten that reforms such as the introduction of a verifiable paper trail came about only because somebody voiced criticism and suspicion. Throttling criticism in the name of punishing contempt will only cut off feedback.
GST storm brews in services sector
New tax regime requires a services firm to get registrations done in each state where it has operations
•With just 15 days remaining for the rollout of the new tax regime, experts have raised a red flag over challenges faced by the services sector in moving to the Goods and Services Tax system.
•The key issue is that the GST Network is yet to begin accepting fresh registrations. Till now, the GSTN portal, which was open for a month in April and again for 15 days in June, has only been accepting requests for migration from the current regime to the GST system.
Registration number
•Under the current tax system, a service company with multiple offices across India needs to take one service registration number. However, under the GST system, it will be required to get registrations done in each state where it has operations.
•“All service companies have been made to undergo a very cumbersome exercise of doing the registration process all over again, in relation to their branch registrations,” Mahesh Jaising, partner, indirect tax at BMR & Associates LLP said. “The key problem in hand is that the IT system and the GSTN system are not accepting new registrations during the current window opened for registration — it is currently confined only to migration.”
•“So, all the services companies having pan-India operations, which typically includes sectors like technology, advertising, consulting, logistics, etc, are faced with this situation of not having state-level GSTIN (Goods and Services Tax Identification Number), with just over two weeks to go,” Mr. Jaising explained.
•While the Government has indicated that the portal shall be open for fresh registration before July 1, with just 15 days remaining it may lead to a lot of confusion and rush towards the deadline, experts said.
•“Right now, the GSTN is allowing provisional registration only for companies with VAT and service tax registration,” a tax expert told The Hindu on the condition of anonymity.
•“Hence, we have seen that the migration of VAT dealers has largely gone off well as compare to the service sector.”
Multiple States
•“Services, especially software companies, need to do business in several states,” the expert added. “If they are not registered in those states, then how will they get the GST number for their invoices? Maybe the government will do some relaxation by saying the GST number is not needed on the invoice, but only needed by the date of filing returns.”
•For any person to migrate to GST, they are required to be registered under the current law either as a service provider or as a dealer. Based on that, they are given a user name and password, using which they can log on to the GSTN website to register under the new regime and upload documents.
•Bhavesh Chandra, senior consultant at Taxmann, one of the 34 registered GST Suvidha Providers, said it was not a big issue. “Even if fresh applications are accepted from July 1 onwards, it will create a problem only in that the invoices will be printed without the GST number… It’s a one-time pain.”
•MS Mani, Senior Director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells said the registration process was not complicated, and if the software works, then it happens quickly.
Nod for Insolvency Bill for financial entities
Bill approved by Cabinet covers banks
•The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the introduction of a new Bill to resolve bankruptcy cases affecting financial sector entities, including banks and insurance companies.
•The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017, when enacted, will have a provision for the setting up of a Resolution Corporation, and would also see the repealing or amendment of several resolution-related provisions in Acts pertaining to the particular sectors. The passage of the Act will also lead to the repealing of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 in order to transfer the deposit insurance powers and responsibilities to the Resolution Corporation.
•The Bill seeks to decrease the time and costs involved in resolving distressed financial entities and complements the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 for the insolvency resolution of non-financial entities, according to an official statement. “Once implemented, this Bill together with the Code will provide a comprehensive resolution framework for the economy.”
•It aims to limit the use of public money to bail out distressed firms during a financial crisis.
India aims to lift ‘doing business’ ranking
Nation was ranked 130 out of 190 countries last year in the World Bank’s report
•India is banking on major reforms it carried out in areas such as ‘starting a business’ and ‘dealing with construction permits’ to significantly improve its ranking in the next edition of the World Bank’s (ease of) Doing Business report, which is likely to be released in October.
World Bank team
•In the report released last year, India was ranked 130 out of 190 countries — where the country was placed 155 in ‘starting a business’, and 185 in ‘dealing with construction permits.’
•A World Bank team is slated to start a three-week visit to India from June 26 to assess the country’s performance, official sources said.
•“This time, the strategy was to carry out major reforms in areas such as ‘starting a business’ and ‘dealing with construction permits’ where we were down in the list,” the official, who didn’t wish to be named, said. “We expect India’s ranking to vastly improve, mainly due to reforms in these areas and to a certain extent in other parameters including ‘resolving insolvency’.”
•However, a higher ranking will depend on factors including the World Bank accepting these measures, the response from firms on whether these reforms have helped them as well as the performance of other countries, the official added.
Mumbai, Delhi
•On ‘starting a business’, the time to start/operate a limited liability company in Mumbai and Delhi (the cities covered by the World Bank) – “including the procedures needed before, during and after registration – has been brought down from 26 days last year to just one day now,” according to the Government.
•The ‘Simplified Proforma for Incorporating a Company electronically’ (SPICe) is now the only default application for incorporation of companies, the government said in its response to the World Bank Group.
Simplified procedures
•The “mandatory” SPICe form combines five procedures — incorporation of a company, obtaining Director Identification Number, reservation of company name, application for Permanent Account Number as well as an application for Tax deduction and collection Account Number (TAN) — into one procedure, it added.
•Besides, procedures associated with Employee State Insurance Corporation and Employee Provident Fund Organization have been made electronic and are now provided in real time. Inspection procedures associated with both have also been dispensed with.
