Tax processed foods: FSSAI panel
‘Ban ads promoting products high in fat, salt & sugar during children’s TV shows’
•A committee of medical experts and nutritionists has recommended a tax on “highly-processed” foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. The body, tasked by the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI), which is a Union Health Ministry body, has also advocated a ban on advertisements promoting foods high in FSS (fat, salt, sugar) during TV shows and channels aimed at children. “In fact, we should progress towards a total ban, as being done in a few other countries like Chile. Celebrity endorsements of such foods need to be discouraged,” says the report on the FSSAI website.
WHO guidelines
•The 11-member committee has compiled existing scientific literature on the consumption of fats, sodium and sugar in foods, across socio-economic groups in the country, and endorsed that the proportions of these food constituents not exceed guidelines by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
•A salient finding was that Low Income Groups (LIG) reportedly consumed more fried snacks and sweets than High Income Groups (HIG) and, the highest consumption of bakery items was in slums, said a study on urban populations cited in the report.
Detailed labels must
•The panel also recommended that all packaged food carry detailed labels specifying the energy value in kcal (kilo calories); the amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat; and the amount of any other nutrient for which a nutrition or health claim is made. If relevant, the label should also specify the amount or type of fatty acids or the amount of cholesterol, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids in gram (g) and cholesterol in milligram (mg), the panel said. While many companies provide a breakdown on the nutritional constituents, they are not systematically enforced.
•“Taxation is not within the remit of FSSAI,” Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, told The Hindu , “but several of these recommendations are being put in place.” The FSSAI is yet to enforce a long standing order that requires food companies to ensure no more than 5% of the daily calorie requirement of their products derives from fats.
India’s Security Council seat bid gets Dutch help
The Netherlands eager to upgrade trade and commerce ties
•The Netherlands has extended support to India’s membership bids for the United Nations Security Council and a host of export control regimes. Visiting Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said on Tuesday that the Netherlands was eager to upgrade trade and commerce between the two countries and expressed the hope of overcoming the shock of Brexit.
•“We continue to support Indian membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). We will continue to make our position known in discussion with other members. We also support Indian membership of the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and Australia Group (AG),” the Dutch Minister said in an email interview. He reiterated that the Netherlands has been a steady supporter of India’s admission into export control regimes. India accepted membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) last year when the Netherlands had the chairmanship of the multilateral organisation.
‘Regulated globalisation’
•Mr. Koenders also came out in support of regulated globalisation to overcome the shock of Brexit and asked for structural adjustments in the international community.
•“We believe that the U.N. is best served by inclusive and transparent decision-making by its Security Council. India would be an obvious candidate for such a permanent seat,” he said.
•The visiting minister who arrived in India on Monday announced that a new Consulate General of the Netherlands would be opened in Bengaluru later this year. He also inaugurated the Barapulla drain cleaning project in Delhi and pledged to contribute to the flagship programmes of the Indian government.
•On Tuesday, he held discussion with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Delhi and expressed the hope that trade-related issues between India and the EU could be resolved soon. Following bilateral discussions, the MEA said terrorism was a common concern.
•“Minister Sushma Swaraj sought the support of the Netherlands for early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), at the U.N.,” a statement from the MEA stated.
‘Tallest bridge built can withstand blasts’
Konkan railway, executing project across the Chenab, says mega structure can resist quakes too
•The world’s tallest railway arch bridge over the Chenab river in Jammu, providing rail connectivity to Kashmir, will be capable of handling high intensity blasts and resisting the worst possible natural disaster.
•“This is for the first time globally that a bridge is designed to handle high level trinitrotoluene (TNT) blast load. We consulted the Defence Research and Development Organisation to ensure safety of the bridge architecture,” said Rajendra Kumar, Project Director at Konkan Railway Corporation Limited which is executing the Rs. 1,200-crore Chenab rail bridge project.
•The 1.3 km long bridge over the Chenab at a height of 359 metres will be 35m taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and five times the height of the Qutab Minar in Delhi.
•The bridge will be a crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra (Jammu) and Banihal (Kashmir) which is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla section of the railway project aimed at linking Kashmir through rail with the rest of the country.
•The project site located barely 60 km from the Pakistan border — has faced several delays since its inception.
•The construction work of the Chenab Bridge – declared as a national project — was awarded in August 2004 with a completion target of April 2007. However, the project has since missed several deadlines as the Railways was in the process of addressing bridge alignment and safety issues.
Indo-Pak. tensions hold up Samjhauta blast case trial
India is yet to summon 13 Pakistani witnesses for deposition in the case
•The current tensions in India-Pakistan relations may affect the ongoing trial of the 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast case as India is yet to serve summons to 13 Pakistani witnesses.
•A special NIA court in Panchkula had on March 17 issued summons to 13 Pakistani witnesses asking them to depose before July 4.
•The summons were to be served by the Ministry of External Affairs, but the diplomatic row after the May 1 incident at the Line of Control, when two Indian soldiers were beheaded by Pakistan’s Army, is said to have derailed the process. Pakistan High Commission officials said they had no knowledge about the “summons.”
•An NIA official however, said the 13 Pakistani witnesses were “not critical” to the case and the trial was at an advanced stage. The Pakistani witnesses include persons injured in the blast and relatives of those killed.
•Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Aseemanand is one of the prime accused in the case and the delay in summoning witnesses could delay the verdict.
•Out of 299 witnesses, over 250 have been examined and the NIA is expecting a verdict in the case this year.
•“As and when the Pakistani witnesses come here, their security would be our responsibility. Earlier there was a plan to construct a makeshift court at the Wagah-Attari border for their convenience, but now we have decided that they depose at the Panchkula court itself,” said an NIA official.
Pakistan’s charge
•Pakistan has accused India of weakening the Samjhauta blast case as the NIA did not oppose the bail plea of Aseemanand earlier. He was recently acquitted in the Ajmer Dargah blast case and is out on bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. The NIA is yet to challenge his acquittal.
•Pakistan has also asked India to send 24 witnesses to depose before an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial. India is yet to act on the request.
Duplication isn’t synergy
Indian science needs hard work and a critically large base of experts, not more management
•SPARK (Sustainable Progress through Application of Research and Knowledge) is a proposed initiative to synergise science activity in India. A new, more efficient way of managing science is surely welcome, but one needs to put in a lot of thought before taking any action.
•The existing systems of science governance in this country are robust with departments reporting to ministers who in turn report to the Union Cabinet. There is no lack of sound advisory bodies and committees within these departments. As for overarching bodies, we already have the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister and the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. Why are there two such similar bodies? Have any of their recommendations resulted in concrete actions? In the end, they have remained toothless. Do we need a third such body?
•The science departments are too different from one another to come under the purview of one “overarching” body like SPARK. The Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology are purely funding and outreach organisations. The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has a special and tricky mandate which involves interaction with industry.
•The Department of Atomic Energy, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Space and others are into mission-mode projects. There is hardly a government department or ministry that science does not touch.
Reality of Indian science
•The goals of SPARK seem to be most closely attuned with NITI Aayog, and it might well be effective only within this parent organisation, taking inputs from various quarters such as industries, the ministries themselves and NGOs to make proposals, some of which could move forward to become major initiatives. What one needs is a management technique that effectively identifies scientific challenges and links the resulting breakthroughs with national problems.
•However, the issue is not that we need a new system of science management. The bald fact is that we do not have so much to manage. The report of top science administrators that recommended the setting up of this independent authority is correct in that “the stature of Indian science is a shadow of what it used to be” but this is not because of “misguided interventions”.
•It is because there is a lack of scientific expertise across all levels. We have failed in our educational system to harness the enormous latent talent in our country and build a solid foundation of science.
•Science does not end with the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and other elite institutions. I disagree with the report’s contention that “there is a huge support system”, and “global goodwill” which is “positive”. We have none of these.
•Anyway, India does not need global goodwill to succeed in science. It needs hard work, honest management and a critically large base of experts.
•Soothing yet baffling expedients to solve the problems of Indian science might make for good copy in the short run but they are not going to yield real results. For example, SPARK is not even required to “closely work with industry and evolve public private partnerships”. That is the mandate of CSIR.
•Decisions on new initiatives like SPARK should not be taken within government departments in Delhi following a proposal from one closed administrative group to another. A broad-based consultation with stakeholders is a must.
•Even if SPARK is constituted, it needs financial independence; given the relationship between the Ministry of Finance and its Department of Expenditure on the one hand and the science departments on the other, this remains a moot point.
•Large systems that work even moderately satisfactorily should not be tinkered with too much, for we may then have to face unintended consequences. Indian science is certainly not in a good state of health today. But what is wrong is not the structure of the system. The wrongs emanate from the many sins of omission and commission over the years by the individuals who have led the system.
Data may understate cash crunch impact: IMF
‘Official statistics don’t cover worst-hit informal economy’
•The International Monetary Fund’s latest regional outlook has projected a slowdown in India due to the lingering effects of a cash crunch caused by demonetisation even as economic growth is expected to remain robust in the Asia and Pacific region compared with the levels forecast in October 2016.
•India’s national accounts statistics may understate the economic impact of the cash crunch, at least in the near term, according to the IMF’s May 2017 Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific.|
Cash-based sectors
•“Specifically, the impact on the informal economy and cash-based sectors, which are relatively large and have been affected the most by the cash crunch, is likely to be understated because these sectors are either not covered in the official statistics or are proxied by the formal sector activity indicators,” it said.
•However, these were likely to be short-term impacts and demonetisation was likely to have medium and long-term gains, especially in terms of fiscal gains, increases in bank liquidity, and the push towards cashless transactions and digitisation, the IMF noted.
•An analysis by IMF’s staff suggested that compared with the October 2016 forecasts, cash shortages were likely to have slowed India’s GDP growth in financial year 2016-17 by about 4/5ths of a percentage point and would drag down output by about half a percentage point in fiscal 2017-18.
•“The recent growth momentum in the largest economies in the region remains particularly strong, reflecting policy stimulus in China and Japan, which in turn is benefiting other economies in Asia,” the IMF observed in the report.
•“More broadly across the region, forward-looking indicators such as the Purchasing Managers’ Index suggest continued strength in activity into early 2017.”
‘NPA ordinance may have limited impact’
Stressed assets’ value low: Moody’s
•The effect of the ordinance empowering the Reserve Bank of India to deal more effectively with non-performing assets will be limited as operational problems of the stressed sectors remain, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report.
•“The government's recent ordinance provides RBI with greater legal authority to intervene in non-performing loans (NPL) resolution,” according to the report. “RBI can now direct banks to initiate insolvency proceedings with respect to specific borrowers who are in default, and can appoint advisory committees to advise banks on the resolution of stressed assets.”
•These measures were aimed at encouraging banks to be more proactive in NPL resolution as well as improve co-ordination among banks. The RBI could now direct banks to undertake a plan of action for specific assets if it felt that banks were not taking a prudent approach, it added.
‘Credit positive’
•“These moves are credit positive for Indian banks,” Moody’s said.
•The ordinance followed regulatory steps taken by the Centre to address the NPL issue.
•“The reason for the limited success of the various regulatory measures so far is that they do not address related structural factors.”
•The current market value of the stressed assets were far lower and the banks will have to take a significant hit when they write-down the value of these assets to market value, according to the report.
