Sea pollution blamed for mass fish death along Ganjam coast
‘Presence of high levels of ammonia near the fishing jetty’
•Seepage of urea from the fertilizer godowns at Gopalpur port is responsible for the mass death of fish and other marine animals in Ganjam district of Odisha, according to the State fisheries department.
Continuous rain
•Since June 26, a large number of dead fish and other marine animals have washed up along the fishing jetty adjacent to Gopalpur port. This happened after a few days of continuous rain.
•Since Tuesday, a team of the State fisheries department has been conducting an investigation into the mass death. Fisheries department deputy director Siba Prasad Bhoi, who is monitoring the investigation, said the presence of high levels of ammonia in the sea water near the fishing jetty could be the reason behind the mass death.
Seepage of urea
•"Seepage of urea from the fertilizer godowns of Gopalpur port near the fishing jetty is the reason behind the rise in ammonia levels at the coast,” Mr Bhoi said.
•He has already taken up the matter with the authorities of Gopalpur Ports Limited.
•“We found that some asbestos sheets on the roofs of the fertilizer godowns have been damaged. During continuous rain, water seeps from these openings and mixes with urea residue stored there, which later reaches the sea water,” Mr. Bhoi said.
Lack of oxygen
•According to Mr Bhoi, when urea mixes with sea water, it increases the ammonia level and drastically reduces the presence of dissolved oxygen in the water. Lack of oxygen for respiration kills the marine animals.
•The problem gets aggravated near the fishing jetty for another reason also. The mouth of the channel, which connects the fishing jetty to the sea, is blocked due to sand deposits. Because of this, the water near the fishing jetty is not able to mix with the water from the open sea easily.
GSAT-17 to add teeth to ISRO satellite fleet
The launch is scheduled for today
•GSAT-17, the country’s newest communication satellite to be launched, will soon join the fleet of 17 working Indian communication satellites in space and augment their overall capacity to some extent. The 3,477-kg spacecraft was set to be launched at 2.29 a.m. IST on June 29 from the European space port of Kourou in French Guiana at the time of writing this report. GSAT-17 is the second passenger on the European booster, Ariane-5 ECA VA-238, according to ISRO and the European launch company Arianespace.
•The 5,700-kg Hellas Sat 3-Inmarsat S EAN shared by two satellite operators was also put on the same booster as co-passenger. It was a pre-dusk launch in the South American space port.
•“GSAT-17 is designed to provide continuity of services of operational satellites in C, extended C and S bands,” ISRO said. Its chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar has earlier said they need double the number of communication spacecraft to support various users across the country.
Rs. 1,013 crore outlay
•The spacecraft was approved in May 2015 with an outlay of Rs. 1,013 crore, including its launch fee and insurance. GSAT-17, built mainly for broadcasting, telecommunication and VSAT services, carries over 40 transponders.
•Designed and assembled at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, GSAT-17 has been at the Kourou space port since May 15, undergoing pre-launch checks and tests. Project Director Prakash Rao and a rotating team of over 20 ISRO engineers have been attending to it during the period.
PLA constructing road in disputed territory at tri-junction, says Bhutan
Thimphu’s concerns may have led to border standoff
•Refuting the Chinese contention that it was constructing a road at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in an “indisputable” part of its territory, Bhutan has said it has conveyed to the Chinese government that this is not the case.
•In an indication that the trigger for the current standoff between India and China at Sikkim — which has led to Beijing closing the Nathu La route for Mansarovar yatris — possibly arose from Bhutan’s concerns, the Ambassador of the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in Delhi, Major-General Vetsop Namgyal, toldThe Hindu that the road construction by the Chinese Army was “progressing towards” a camp of the Royal Bhutan Army at Zom Pelri.
•“Bhutan has conveyed that the road construction by the PLA is not in keeping with the agreements between China and Bhutan [over boundary resolution],” Ambassador Namgyal said.
Not much impact of ransomware attack on India, says govt.
Operations hit at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai
•With the Petya global ransomware spreading to India, the government on Wednesday said it is “closely” monitoring the situation while maintaining that there has been no large-scale impact on India yet.
•The government has, however, sent Dr. Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), where one of three terminals was impacted, to “deal with the situation”.
•Operations at the Mumbai terminal of country’s largest container port, the JNPT, which is operated by Danish business conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk, was disrupted due to the ransomware attack.
•“The situation is being closely monitored…Since the congestion could create difficulties in traffic management, the JNPT has opened up its parking lots for cargo destined to this private terminal,” an official statement said.
•The Gujarat Pipavav Port was also partially impacted. “A.P. Moller-Maersk was hit as a part of a global cyber attack affecting multiple sites and business units, including the Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited,” the company said in a filing to the BSE.
•The Petya ransomware not only encrypts files, it locks the entire disk, making it basically unusable until the infection is removed. It shuts down the system and asks for a ransom of $300 in bitcoins on rebooting. “We have sent out warnings to the stock exchanges, the Airports Authority of India, the National Payments Corporation of India, and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre,” an IT Ministry official said. He added that the Ministry was in touch with security providers, including Kaspersky, Microsoft, McAfee and QuickHeal, as also with Computer Emergency Response Teams in the Asia Pacific region, including from Hong Kong, China and Japan. “Till Wednesday morning, no attacks were reported in these countries,” the official said.
More professional
•The Petya/Notpetya ransomware is the second major global ransomware since WannaCry hit over 3,00,000 computers across 200 countries in May. Petya, like the recent WannaCry ransomware that infected over 300,000 computers worldwide, uses the Eternal Blue exploit as one of the means to propagate itself. However, experts have warned of bigger damage this time.
•“…WannaCry’s damage was quickly minimised due to sloppy coding…Petya appears to be a much more professional attempt to employ similar methods,” Finland-based cyber security firm F-Secure said in a blogpost.
Govt. to shed stake in loss-making AI
Ministerial group under Arun Jaitley to work out the fine print for the airline’s strategic sale
•The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday took the first step towards divesting its stake in ailing national carrier Air India, with an ‘in-principle’ approval from the Cabinet and the formation of a ministerial group under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to work out the fine print for the airline’s strategic sale.
•Sixty-four years after the airline was nationalised and over a decade after the previous NDA government put a proposed sale of Air India in cold storage, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for its disinvestment, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
•Air India has been registering continuous net losses since over a decade.
•Plans to privatise the airline resurfaced when Mr. Jaitley told Doordarshan last month that the government would prefer investing money in social welfare sectors instead of financing the national airline’s debt of over Rs. 50,000 crore.
•A Group of Ministers has been formed to “guide the process” of disinvestment in Air India and five of its subsidiaries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would finalise the names of other members in the group which would report back to the Cabinet with a modus operandi for the sale.
•The Cabinet also approved hikes in allowances for Central government staff based on modified recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. This will benefit over 48 lakh employees and cost the exchequer Rs. 30,748 crore a year.
Niti Aayog moots new regulator for coal, gas
‘Energy market not fully developed’
•Niti Aayog has suggested creation of regulators for coal as well as oil and gas.
•“Coal and upstream petroleum sectors have lacked independent, statutory regulators. Due to several reasons, including strong presence of PSUs and limited number of private operators, it was so far not found useful to place the latter in position,” it said in a draft National Energy Policy.
•“But, now with increased private activity, the time is appropriate,” it said in the new licensing policy unveiled on Wednesday.
•“Ideally, there ought to be a single regulator to govern the energy market,” the Aayog said, pointing out that in India, the market has not fully developed.
•Hence, the regulators need to devote considerable attention to development of supply. “And looking to the large inherent complexities in different fuel sources, it is pertinent that there ought to be sectoral regulators,” the NITI Aayog said.
•The think-tank said that at the level of electricity, all fuels ultimately converge into a common product which is rightly governed by a single regulator.
Govt. unveils new hydrocarbon policy
Open acreage rules may enable exploration of 2.8 million square kilometres of sedimentary basins
•Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday introduced a new oil and gas block licensing policy that is expected to open up 2.8 million square kilometres of sedimentary basins to exploration and production activities.
•The Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the government’s Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) and the National Data Repository.
•The lack of seismic sedimentary basin data had been hampering the oil and gas exploration and production sector, the minister said, adding that 52% of India’s sedimentary basins had not been appraised as yet.
•The National Data Repository was expected to improve this situation, he said.
Option to select
•The OALP, a part of the government’s Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), gives exploration companies the option to select the exploration blocks on their own, without having to wait for the formal bid round from the Government. The company then submits an application to the government, which puts that block up for bid.
•The new policy will open up 2.8 million square kilometres of sedimentary basins for exploration and eventual production. Mr Pradhan said that initially the applications and related bids for the blocks would be held twice a year —in January and July — but said this could become more frequent as the industry becomes used to the new model.
•“OALP is a fundamental shift and a very transformative step in India's E&P history,” Sudhir Mathur, Acting CEO of Vedanta Cairn Oil and Gas said. “This policy reiterates GoI’s commitment to reduce administrative & regulatory burden, thus enhancing ease of doing business.”
•“A single license to explore all forms of hydrocarbons, no oil cess, reduced rates of royalty are just few of the many enabling provisions which will stimulate investments in the sector,” Mr. Mathur added. “This decision will go a long way towards reducing import dependence and achieving India's quest for energy security.”
Investment appetite
•Mr. Pradhan added that the recently-concluded discovered small field (DSF) bid round, though small, was encouraging as it gave an insight into the investment appetite of the sector.
•“The new policy environment has already started attracting investment into India’s upstream sector, which could help reduce imports and increase the share of gas in the country's energy mix,” Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry said.
•During his speech, Mr. Pradhan said that his Ministry was working on developing a gas trading hub to support a robust marketing network.
•“Steps should be taken to develop a South-East Asian natural gas hub in India, which would provide a fair price for domestic natural gas through gas-on-gas competition and help eliminate price vulnerabilities arising from the oil-indexed nature of LNG import contracts,” Mr. Banerjee said.
•“About 52% of India’s sedimentary basins are unappraised, with the last appraisal taking place 25 years ago,” Mr. Pradhan said during his speech. “The lack of seismic sedimentary basin data was hampering the exploration and production (E&P) sector of the oil and gas industry.”
Sri Lanka, India to set up solar unit soon
Plans to undertake a feasibility study and do the groundwork for the project
•Sri Lanka will soon kick-start the process of setting up a solar power plant in eastern port town Trincomalee after discussions with India, which is partnering the Government in the initiative.
•“The next step would be to undertake a feasibility study and do the groundwork,” spokesman of the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy Sulakshana Jayawardena told The Hindu on Wednesday.
•In April this year, the governments of Sri Lanka and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding, for cooperation in a host of development projects including the setting up of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in suburban Colombo and a solar power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee.
•“We have the required land to set up the 50 MW solar plant envisaged in the MoU. We have to now work out the process of executing the project, in consultation with India,” Mr. Jayawardena said.
NTPC venture
•Sri Lanka had initially planned to set up a coal power plant in Sampur, through an international joint venture with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation. However, in September 2016 the Power Ministry scrapped the project citing environmental concerns.
•A month later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Maithripala Sirisena in Goa, on the side-lines of the BRICS summit, where he flagged the possibility of New Delhi partnering Colombo in LNG and green energy projects.
•Sampur, where the solar plant is set to come up, is located in the strategically important port town of Trincomalee, on the north-eastern coast of the island. India and Sri Lanka have agreed to jointly operate a world war-era oil storage facility in the town, with the aim of developing it into a regional petroleum hub.
•The proposed solar power plant is in line with Soorya Bala Sangramaya (Battle for Solar Energy), an initiative that President Sirisena launched last year to add 220 MW of solar power to Sri Lanka’s energy grid by 2020. Currently, the island relies heavily on thermal sources that meet over 70 per cent of the country's energy needs.
Promises in the Rose Garden
In a well-calibrated programme, Prime Minister Modi’s U.S. visit reaffirmed an indispensable partnership
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much anticipated visit to Washington has come and gone. The chemistry was positive, and the physics (that is, the structural content and equilibrium) and the geometry (the angles and alignments along which the visit was pitched) well-calibrated. Mr. Modi’s fifth visit to the U.S. as Prime Minister concluded on a note of reassuring affirmation about relations between the world’s most important and largest democracies.
•President Donald Trump is a man of many moods and ‘humours’, a personification of impulse and impetuousness. The fact that the two leaders struck a good rapport, marked by mutual “respect and friendship”, despite the difference in their personalities, augurs well.
•In Mr. Trump’s own words, he had “tremendous success” in his meeting with Mr. Modi. Progress in bilateral relations over the last few years received the imprimatur of endorsement of the new President, and there were no missed heartbeats or gut-wrenching moments.
Arc of cooperation
•Besides claiming that both leaders were “world leaders in social media”, Mr. Trump’s Rose Garden statement spoke of both countries working together to create jobs and grow their economies (a foundational ideology for Mr. Trump which is not antithetical to priorities in Mr. Modi’s India) and ensuring a trading relationship that is fair and reciprocal. Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. will sign major contracts with India for the sale of natural gas, although he was trying “to get the price up a little bit”.
•On the security front, he expressed the joint determination of both countries to destroy “radical Islamic terrorism” as also to enhance military cooperation, with mention of the forthcoming ‘Malabar’ naval exercise involving the Indian, American and Japanese navies. He had a good word for Indian efforts to help Afghanistan and for India’s joining in sanctions against the North Korean regime — a regime that was causing “tremendous problems” and which had to be dealt with, “and probably dealt with rapidly”. This last aside, where Mr. Trump departed from prepared remarks, should get East Asia analysts and experts ready with their dissection tools to understand what looked like a clenched warning to Pyongyang.
•Mr. Modi, as an astute student of human psychology, was effusive in both body language (the three “diplohugs” directed towards what some call a “germophobic” President!) and words of warm appreciation for the First Lady and Mr. Trump. He invited Ivanka Trump to India, and she has accepted. His key words were “mutual trust” and “convergence” to describe his meeting with Mr. Trump, as he referred to the “common priorities”, and the “robust strategic partnership” that unites the two countries. He called the U.S. the “primary partner” for India’s transformation, stressing convergence between his vision for a new India and Mr. Trump’s vision of “making America great again”.
•Striking a high note, Mr. Modi spoke of Mr. Trump’s successful experience in the business world as lending “an aggressive and forward-looking agenda to our relations”. For his part, he said, he would remain “a driven, determined and decisive partner” of the U.S. The two leaders have set aside the “hesitations of history”, it would seem.
Close watch on Afghanistan
•Interestingly, on Afghanistan, Mr. Modi spoke of maintaining “close consultation and communication with the U.S. to enhance coordination between our two nations”, and terrorism in that country being “one of our common concerns”. This space must be watched to determine the contours of future cooperation. So too, the reference to the increasing consultations on West Asia in the joint statement, “in accord with India’s Think West policy” flags an issue of important ramifications, requiring more elaboration. The triangulations involving Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran are extremely complex today, and common India-U.S. perspectives (apart from eradicating Islamic radicalism) await more specific identification.
•The delineation of shared interests as “democratic stalwarts” and “responsible stewards” in the joint statement (“Prosperity Through Partnership”) on the Indo-Pacific (a formulation more India-inclusive than earlier ones) is to be noted. There is clear messaging to China in the call for respecting sovereignty and international law, with a distinct echo of the Indian position on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, when the statement called for “bolstering regional economic connectivity through the transparent development of infrastructure and the use of responsible debt financing practices, while ensuring respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, the rule of law, and the environment”. That is a good screen grab of Indian concerns about China’s strategic overreach and suggests that the U.S. has no fundamental disagreement with this assessment.
•The defence and security partnership (of interest was the Foreign Secretary’s designation of “defence, security and connectivity” as key concerns), and counter-terrorism remain central to the relationship. The naming of Hizbul Mujahideen’s Syed Salahuddin by the U.S. State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist as well as the launch of a new consultative mechanism on domestic and international terrorist listing proposals was a definite boost. The call on Pakistan to “expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators” of the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks was reiterated. The reference to these attacks being perpetrated by Pakistan-based groups is to be noted. The expansion of intelligence-sharing and operational-level counterterrorism cooperation signals greater mutual confidence about working to eliminate terrorist threats. It remains to be seen whether the affirmation of U.S. support for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism will translate into a more coordinated India-U.S. approach.
•Deepening security and defence cooperation between India and the U.S. has marked this bilateral relationship for some years now. Interoperability, given the growing proportion of U.S.-bought equipment with the Indian armed forces, is a concrete possibility. The offer of sale of Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Systems to India was confirmed and this will provide for an enhancement of Indian capabilities in maritime defence and deterrence. India’s offer of support for U.S. observer status in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium was flagged. The organisation has a membership of 22, including Iran and four observers, including China and Japan. Levels of activity have not been high in recent years.
Unfinished agenda
•Digital partnership was a concept projected in the briefing by the Foreign Secretary and found mention in Mr. Modi’s remarks and the joint statement. This is an omnibus term that can encompass many meanings — including innovation, technology flows, as well as the give and take of knowledge in the cyber sector (and its human-resource, professional component). The H-1B visa issue did not come up for specific mention in these public statements, but obviously remains on the agenda.
•Finding creative ways to enhance bilateral trade and increased market access including in agriculture (a particular U.S. concern) and information technology (of Indian interest), as mentioned in the joint statement, will be monitored carefully. The energy partnership has survived the visit, contrary to apprehensions, and besides U.S. natural gas (read shale), there was mention of clean coal and renewable resources and technologies for India – in order to “promote universal access to affordable and reliable energy”.
•Civil nuclear energy cooperation merited a brief mention, but just that. The resolve to sealing the contractual agreements between the financially stressed Westinghouse Electric Company and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. and related project financing over the next few months offers hope without the promise of finality. On another front, U.S. support for India’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council, Indian membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Australia Group has been reiterated.
•There is a final footnote to the visit. And it involves President Abraham Lincoln. There are some in India who regard Mr. Modi as similar to the 16th U.S. President, as unusual as this may seem. The fact that Mr. Modi chose to give Mr. Trump a commemorative stamp issued by India in 1965 to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln should offer interesting and intriguing insights about our Prime Minister.
Fighting an old battle
The disabled have been affected by the high GST rates on essential aids and appliances
•There are just a few days left. On June 30, at the midnight hour, when the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime kicks in, almost all aids and appliances that disabled people use such as a wheelchair, or a Braille typewriter or a hearing aid will become at least 5% more expensive. And, if the confusion over Chapter 90:9 in the GST Bill is not resolved between now and then, then some orthopaedic appliances such as crutches and surgical belts will get 12% more expensive.
Making matters worse
•Even small cars in India are treated as some type of a luxury item; the GST Council has levied a whopping 18% tax. It is another matter that in the absence of accessible buses or even taxis, modified cars specially adapted for the physically disabled are not really a luxury item but an absolute necessity.
•Since 2006, these items were not taxed! So, even 5% GST, let alone 12% or 18%, will make life that much more difficult for persons with disabilities. It is already extremely difficult for the average disabled person in India with accessibility issues and additional costs of living. Now with the GST, things of daily use/necessity which are already beyond their reach, will become even more expensive.
•It is not clear why the GST Council is taxing disabled citizens of India. While items such as kajal are being taxed at 0% and rough precious and semi-precious stones are being taxed at a mere 0.25%, most disability goods are being charged at 5% — the same as kites ( patang ) and agarbattis and cashew nuts. This decision of the Council blatantly violates the provisions of the newly passed Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, 2016.
•Chapter 8 – Duties and Responsibilities of Appropriate Governments of the RPWD Act clearly states: “The appropriate Government shall develop schemes programmes to promote the personal mobility of persons with disabilities at affordable cost to provide for,— (a) incentives and concessions; (b) retrofitting of vehicles; and (c) personal mobility assistance.”
Precedent for zero tax
•It has been six months since we passed the new disability law. By now, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities should have at least set up a committee or a working group to seriously look into the mandate imposed by Chapter 8, i.e. to develop incentive schemes and concessional programmes to ensure that disability aids and appliances are made available at an affordable cost. Instead, the Finance Ministry has decided to ruthlessly tax its disabled citizens! In the first round, Braille typewriters were taxed at 18% GST and Braille watches at 12% GST. It is only after the disability sector was up in arms that these two and some other items have been brought down to 5% GST. This happened in the June 11 meeting of the GST Council. When we found out a few days later, we could have proclaimed victory and had a celebration, but we chose not to. We are very clearly demanding a complete rollback. We are asking the government for a zero-tax regime as was the case in the last decade, from 2006 onwards.
•I have the misfortune of working on this issue for the second time. It is like going back in a time capsule to the 1990s when wheelchairs were taxed at 30% and crutches at 25%! I remember taking up this issue, for the first time, in 2001 when Yashwant Sinha was India’s Finance Minister. At the meeting, he heard us out patiently and decided not to do anything. A few years later, when Jaswant Singh became the Finance Minister, he brought down the taxes to a 5% slab. Again, in 2006, the then Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, brought down the tax from 5% to 0%. It has been like this for the last 10 years. Now it seems that all that hard work will once again go down the drain and we will be back to the 2002-2004 position.
Investing in the disabled
•India must invest in its disabled population — there are 70 million of us. If the disabled are able to step out of their homes; go to schools and colleges; get jobs on merit; and go to their workplaces and perform, they will obviously contribute to the nation’s growth and its economic progress. Good quality and affordable aids and appliances are an essential prerequisite to this dream story of the disability sector thought leaders like me.
