📰 At OIC meet, India flays terror funding
Dismantle terrorist camps: Sushma
•In a major diplomatic move, India on Friday hit out at Pakistan during a meeting of Foreign Ministers at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
•In a speech at the inaugural plenary of the 46th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stressed that the anti-terror fight was not a clash among civilisations.
•“If we want to save humanity, we must tell the states who provide shelter and funding to the terrorists to dismantle the infrastructure of the terrorist camps and stop providing funding and shelter to the terror organisations based in their country,” Ms. Swaraj said, hinting at Pakistan.
•From the archives: India, Pakistan and the OIC
•India is not a member of the OIC, but was invited to the Abu Dhabi meeting as the guest of honour.
•Reflecting the comments of the Minister, T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary in-charge of Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, said, “It is a historic day, which opens a new chapter in the engagement with the OIC. India has a civilisational and robust relationship with OIC countries.”
•The speech by the Indian Minister was overshadowed by the current tension between India and Pakistan. As Ms. Swaraj delivered her address that touched upon the rich relations between India and various Islamic countries, a chair meant for Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi remained empty as he had cancelled the trip to Abu Dhabi.
•In a strong statement, the Pakistan Foreign Minister protested the OIC’s decision to grant a “guest of honour” status to India. Mr Qureshi’s letter argued India has no “legal or moral grounds” for being present at the meeting.
Emphasises ties
•Ms Swaraj named countries like Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh for the support extended for building ties with OIC. The Minister also named Afghanistan, Indonesia, Brunei, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia and the African and Central Asian members of the OIC for maintaining historic and multi-layered ties with India.
•Laying out the Indian attitude to solve the terrorism problem, Ms. Swaraj said, “I would like to say that this menace could not be fought only through military, intelligence or diplomatic means.”
•Ms. Swaraj said the fight against terrorism and extremism does not amount to a clash of cultures and instead described it as a fight between ideas. She presented India’s pluralism and diversity as a source of strength and said Indian Muslims are a “microcosm” of India’s larger diverse culture.
•“They speak Tamil and Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi, Bangla and Bhojpuri or any of the numerous languages of India. They have diverse culinary tastes, myriad choices of traditional attire, and they maintain strong cultural and linguistic heritage of the regions they loved and have lived for generations,” she said, elaborating on India’s vast Muslim community.
‘December 20 notice was to ensure that only authorised agencies accessed data’
•The Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday that its December 20, 2018 notification allowing 10 central agencies to snoop on people is in fact a measure to protect citizens’ privacy.
•The government was responding to a PIL filed by advocate M.L. Sharma, challenging the December 20 notification as a violation of the fundamental right to privacy.
•The order allows central agencies, from the Intelligence Bureau to the Central Board of Direct Taxes to the Cabinet Secretariat (RAW) to the Commissioner of Delhi Police, to intercept, monitor and de-crypt “any information” generated, transmitted, received or stored in “any computer resource”.
•The order is based on Section 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act of 2000 and Rule 4 of the Information Technology 2009 Rules (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.
•Turning the argument on its head, the Centre said the order, in fact, limits the power of surveillance to these 10 central agencies and none other.
•“What has been done under the December 20 order is in fact restricting the exercise of powers, removing a possible vagueness and specifying the agencies/organisations who only would have the powers to utilise the powers of section 69 of the Act,” the Centre said.
‘Restricted powers’
•It said the very purpose of the December 20 order is to ensure that surveillance is done as per due process of law; that any interception, monitoring, decryption of computer resource is done only by authorised agencies and with approval of competent authority; to prevent unauthorised use of these powers by any agency, individual or intermediary so that the right to privacy of citizen is not violated.
•The government said surveillance is necessary “in the modern world where modern tools of information communication, including encryption, is used”. Surveillance is done only in the defence of India, to maintain public order, etc.
•“There is no blanket permission to any agency,” the government explained. Permission for surveillance needs to be got from the Union Home Secretary. Besides, the law mandates the Centre and States to constitute a review committee with the Cabinet Secretary.
•The affidavit explained how there are “grave threats to the country from terrorism, radicalisation, cross border terrorism, cyber crime, drug cartels”, and these cannot be ignored or under-stated. There is a need for “speedy collection of actionable intelligence” to counter threat to national interests.
•“It is therefore imperative that requests for lawful interception or monitoring must be dealt with by the executive authority to maintain speed in taking decisions. A well laid down procedure for oversight by a panel headed by the Cabinet secretary doubtlessly ensures that provisions of law, rules and SOP are adhered to,” the Centre said in its counter-affidavit.
📰 Ayushman Bharat cover for Uber cab drivers
No facility in States out of AB-PMJAY
•The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has joined hands with Uber to extend health cover to their driver and delivery partners.
•The facility will not be available in Delhi, Odisha and Telangana — States that have not joined AB-PMJAY. “About 30-40% of the driver partners would be eligible for healthcare services under the health insurance scheme,” a PMJAY spokesperson said.
•Under the agreement, Uber, under its Uber CARE initiative, will help set up common service centres (CSCs) at Partners Seva Kendras. “This is a pilot study,” the PMJAY spokesperson said. The CSC’s entrepreneurs will verify eligibility and issue e-cards to drivers with benefits worth ₹5 lakh to each family per year.
•National Health Agency CEO Indu Bhushan said: “Through this partnership with Uber, we hope to reach out to lakhs of people and their families in the driver and delivery community.”
📰 Ensure a minimum income for all
A basic income scheme will deliver benefits to the poor only if it comes on top of public services
•The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) is gaining ground globally. It has supporters among the political left and right, and among proponents as well as opponents of the free-market economy. A UBI requires the government to pay every citizen a fixed amount of money on a regular basis and without any conditionalities. Crucial to the appeal for such a demand — for a UBI — is that millions of people remain unemployed and are extremely poor, despite rapid economic growth in the last three decades. The National Democratic Alliance government has already unfolded a limited version of the UBI in the form of the Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN) which promises ₹6,000 per annum to farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land. Going by media reports, the election manifesto of the Congress Party may announce an even more ambitious version of the scheme.
Where it will work
•The UBI is neither an antidote to the vagaries of market forces nor a substitute for basic public services, especially health and education. Besides, there is no need to transfer money to middle- and high-income earners as well as large landowners.
•However, there is a strong case for direct income transfers to some groups: landless labourers, agricultural workers and marginal farmers who suffer from multi-dimensional poverty. These groups have not benefited from economic growth. They were and still are the poorest Indians. Various welfare schemes have also failed to bring them out of penury.
•A case in point is the access to institutional credit issued by banks and cooperative societies. According to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data from the 70th round, institutional credits account for less than 15% of the total borrowing by landless agricultural workers; the figure for marginal and small farmers is only 30%. These groups have to borrow from moneylenders and adhatiyas at exorbitant interest rates ranging from 24 to 60%. As a result, they do not stand to benefit much from the interest rate subsidy for the agriculture sector. Likewise, the benefits of subsidised fertilizers and power are enjoyed largely by big farmers. In urban areas, contract workers and those in the informal sector face a similar problem. The rapid pace of automation of low-skill jobs and formalisation of the retail sector mean the prospects of these groups are even bleaker.
•An income support of, say, ₹15,000 per annum can be a good supplement to their livelihoods — an amount worth more than a third of the average consumption of the poorest 25% households, and more than a fourth of the annual income of marginal farmers.
•This additional income can reduce the incidence of indebtedness among marginal farmers, thereby helping them escape moneylenders and adhatiyas. Besides, it can go a long way in helping the poor to make ends meet. Several studies have shown that at high levels of impoverishment, even a small income supplement can improve nutrient intake, and increase enrolment and school attendance for students coming from poor households.
Better productivity
•In other words, income transfers to the poor will lead to improved health and educational outcomes, which in turn would lead to a more productive workforce. It seems to be a good idea to transfer the money into the bank accounts of women of the beneficiary households. Women tend to spend more of their income on health and the education of children.
•The effect of an income transfer scheme on unemployment is a moot point. In principle, cash transfers can result in withdrawal of beneficiaries from the labour force. However, the income support suggested above is not too large to discourage beneficiaries from seeking work. In fact, it can promote employment and economic activities. For instance, income receipts can come in handy as interest-free working capital for several categories of beneficiaries (fruit and vegetable vendors and small artisans), thereby promoting their business and employment in the process.
•Moreover, such a scheme will have three immediate benefits. One, it will help bring a large number of households out of the poverty trap or prevent them from falling into it in the event of exigencies such as illness. Two, it will reduce income inequalities. Three, since the poor spend most of their income, a boost in their income will increase demand and promote economic activities in rural areas. Nonetheless, an income transfer scheme cannot be a substitute for universal basic services. The direct income support to the poor will deliver the benefits mentioned only if it comes on top of public services such as primary health and education. This means that direct transfers should not be at the expense of public services for primary health and education. If anything, budgetary allocation for these services should be raised significantly. Programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should also stay. With direct income support, the demand for the programmes will come down naturally. However, in the interim, it will serve to screen the poorest in the country and give them a crucial safety net.
Using datasets
•If basic public services are maintained, there is limited fiscal space for direct income support. It will have to be restricted to the poorest of poor households. The Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 can be used to identify the neediest. Groups suffering from multidimensional poverty such as the destitute, the shelter-less, manual scavengers, tribal groups, and former bonded labourers are automatically included. The dataset includes more than six crore landless labourers. It also includes many small farmers who face deprivation criteria such as families without any bread-earning adult member, and those without a pucca house.
•The other needy group, small farmers, missing from the SECC can be identified using the dataset from the Agriculture Census of 2015-16. Together, these two datasets can help identify the poorest Indians, especially in rural India. However, many households such as marginal farmers belong to both datasets. The Aadhaar identity can be used to rule out duplications and update the list of eligible households.
•As an approximation, the number of eligible households is 10 crore. That is, even in its basic form, the scheme will require approximately ₹1.5 lakh crore per annum. The PM-KISAN Yojana can be aligned to meet a part of the cost. Moreover, the tax kitty can be expanded by reintroducing wealth tax. Nonetheless, the required amount is beyond the Centre’s fiscal capacity at the moment. Therefore, the cost will have to be shared by States. States such as Telangana and Odisha are already providing direct income support to their farmers. These States can extend their schemes to include the ‘non-farmer poor’. The other States too should join in.
📰 The mixed signals from Pakistan
One can get a fair idea of the Pakistani military’s thinking by analysing the politicians’ statements and actions
•Now that the first round of military tit-for-tats is over, it is important that New Delhi settles down to parsing the mixed signals coming out of Pakistan. While keeping all options open, it is important for the government to make a definitive assessment regarding Pakistan’s intentions before taking the next step in both the military and diplomatic spheres. This is a difficult job, among other things because the real decision-makers in Pakistan are not the Prime Minister and his cabinet but the top generals ensconced in General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
•Nonetheless, one can get a fair idea of the thinking by Pakistani decision-makers by analysing the statements and actions of politicians because they are often orchestrated by the military high command. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s pronouncements are, therefore, worth following closely. His most recent statement in the Pakistan Parliament betrays the internal conflict in both his and his generals’ assessment of the current India-Pakistan standoff and its impact on the standing of the Pakistani military in the eyes of the country’s population.
•Mr. Khan has, on the one hand, emphasised his desire for de-escalation without accepting blame for the initial action, the Pulwama terrorist attack, that triggered the present crisis. While ostensibly addressing the Indian government, he has attempted to present a reasonable face to the international community by expressing his yearning for peace in the subcontinent. He has especially emphasised the fact that both countries are nuclear powers and, therefore, any further escalation could lead to disastrous results.
The de-escalatory ladder
•His announcement on Thursday that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would be released “unconditionally” falls in this category of de-escalatory signals. His statement also made it clear that he wanted to link the release to the reopening of negotiations with India in order to find a way out of the current crisis.
•While India welcomed this move, it refused to give Pakistan credit for what Islamabad considers a humanitarian gesture. India has characterised it as an act undertaken in consonance with the Geneva Convention that Pakistan, as a signatory, is compelled to follow. Therefore, Islamabad does not deserve extra credit for merely fulfilling its international obligations.
•In the same speech, Mr. Khan warned the Indian leadership, “Do not take this confrontation further”, saying otherwise Pakistan will be “forced to retaliate”. He also made no apologies for the terrorist acts committed by jihadi groups spawned by Pakistan’s military intelligence. Instead, he once again asked New Delhi for proof that the Pulwama attack could be traced to Pakistan despite the Bahawalpur-based Jaish-e-Mohammad’s acknowledgement, immediately after the suicide bombing, that it was responsible for the incident.
•There are various reasons one can decipher for Pakistan’s double-speak. Mr. Khan’s de-escalatory rhetoric is in part the result of external pressure, especially from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Foreign Minister made a dash to Islamabad to advise the Pakistan government not to let the crisis get out of hand. It was also clear from U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement in Hanoi, in which he suggested that good news was about to emanate from South Asia, that Washington had put pressure on Islamabad and possibly on New Delhi not to engage in further military action.
•It is true that the fear of escalation to the nuclear level haunts both Indian and Pakistani decision-makers and acts as a formidable restraint preventing both from intensifying the conflict. An action-reaction dynamic, such as the one that started with the Pulwama attack, can conceivably graduate to the nuclear level if Pakistan, which does not accept the “no first use” doctrine, decides to take recourse to tactical nuclear weapons, which it has stockpiled, if it finds itself unable to withstand India’s superior conventional power.
•On the other hand, the Indian nuclear doctrine does not make a distinction between tactical and strategic nuclear strikes and implies that India will respond through massive retaliation even if a tactical weapon use does only a limited amount of damage. It is, therefore, difficult to predict in this context where the escalatory process, if left unchecked, would end.
•However, all these very real concerns about uncontrolled escalation have to be measured against the Pakistani military brass’s obsession with its honour and credibility among its people. Both have been severely damaged by its inability to anticipate and thwart the Indian aerial attack on Balakot deep inside Pakistani territory. The military is the real power behind the throne in Pakistan. Mr. Khan’s ascent to office was deftly managed by the military high command, which, unlike in India, is also in control of the country’s nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
The need for care
•These facts make any future escalatory scenario look very scary. For, if pushed to the wall and in danger of losing control of the state, the Pakistani military can employ a highly reckless strategy that would unleash an unprecedented catastrophe in the Indian subcontinent. It is no wonder that Mr. Khan has to speak with both sides of his mouth in a desperate attempt to preserve the military’s honour while attempting to get off the escalatory ladder that can lead to unpredictable consequences.
📰 J&K quota ordinance will benefit 36 lakh, says Centre
Help for border residents and those from weaker sections
•The Home Ministry has said the Union Cabinet’s ordinance on reservation in Jammu and Kashmir cleared on Thursday will benefit around 36 lakh people in the State.
•The Cabinet on Thursday approved the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance to extend reservation in jobs, education and promotions to people living along the International Border in Jammu.
•The Cabinet also cleared an ordinance to implement the 10% reservation for candidates belonging to the economically weaker sections in the State.
•By the census, the economically weaker sections constitute 12.5 lakh of the 1.25 crore population in J&K. The new reservation will be in addition to existing quotas in the State, a senior Ministry official said.
•J&K Governor Satyapal Malik had told The Hindu earlier that the ordinance in no way affected the rights of the people of the State nor tinker with Article 35-A, which provided special rights and privileges to permanent residents of J&K. An official said the Governor had the power to recommend such amendment as per Clause 1 (d) of Article 370.“Benefit of promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which includes Gujjars and Bakarwals, has been made available to J&K. After 77 years, the 77th Constitution Amendment of 1995 has now been applied to J&K,” the official said.
📰 Fires are a crucial component of some forest systems, says group of scientists
‘Complexities of forest fires need to be understood and managed better’
•Fires are sprouting in forest tracts, especially across southern India. As harried Forest Departments and Fire Services personnel douse flames, and photographs of wildlife and trees burnt to cinder make the rounds, a group of scientists is asking a question that would seem almost unbelievable under the current circumstances: are some forest fires necessarily as bad as we make them out to be?
•Six scientists who study fire-prone forest systems across India have written an open letter on the importance of “fighting fire with fire.” The letter, signed by Dr. Abi Tamim Vanak, Dr. Ankila Hiremath and Dr. Nitin Rai of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE); Dr. Raman Sukumar of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc); Dr. Jayashree Ratnam of the National Centre for Biological Sciences’ (NCBS); and Tarsh Thekaekara of The Shola Trust, says that “there is an urgent need for a more nuanced view of forest fires.”
•The reasons for this — based on history, ecology, science and indigenous knowledge — are many. According to the scientists, forest fires have been occurring in India from at least 60,000 years ago, ever since modern humans appeared here. They added that “forests that we think are natural and ‘pristine’ have often been created by anthropogenic burning for thousands of years.”
Dormant seeds revive
•In fact, several native trees and plants in these landscapes have “co-evolved” with fire: fire helps revive dormant seeds of many species. A study by Dr. Sukumar and Dr. Nandita Mondal showed that, in Mudumalai, even young woody trees survive ground fires and have higher growth rates immediately post-fire, until they reach a certain height.
•Another study, published just a month ago by Dr. Ratnam and her co-authors, reveals that fires, along with seasonal droughts, which are again painted as problematic, are important drivers of dry deciduous tracts across Andhra Pradesh-Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Yet, the concept of fires being entirely detrimental to these ecosystems, argue the signatory scientists, has been derived from a colonial concept that looked at forests only for their timber potential. As a result, fire exclusion and suppression is the norm.
•More evidence points to fires even suppressing invasive species. Over a decade of working with the Soliga communities at Karnataka’s Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, Dr. Rai and some of his colleagues at ATREE find that the exclusion of tribal communities from the reserve had in turn stopped their traditional use of small “litter fires” just before the dry season set in. Dr. Rai’s work, as well as other studies, link this to the abundance of invasive lantana that now chokes other native plants there.
•According to Soligas’ accounts, hairy mistletoe — a parasitic shrub that affects mature trees — has also thrived due to fire suppression. Studies corroborate this too: mistletoe-induced tree deaths are high and have resulted in the decline of wild gooseberry trees, which the Soligas rely upon for forest produce.
•But what about large fires, such as the recent one in Karnataka’s Bandipur National Park?
•High-intensity fires would have negative effects, agree the scientists, but they happen only because dry biomass has been allowed to build up and low-intensity controlled burning has been stopped.
‘Important tool’
•Fire is indeed an important tool in forest management, said A.K. Dharni, Kerala’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests-Forest Management. Controlled fires in areas that have huge fuel loads (dry litter and biomass on the forest floor) around December can help prevent as well as reduce the impact of large fires later in the season, he said.
•“If an area is continuously protected from fire, it could catch fire once in four years or so because of the high accumulation of grass, wood and twigs,” he said. “But fire [as a tool] has to be used very intelligently,” Mr. Dharni added.
‘Push for changes’
•In their letter, the signatory scientists request policy makers and Forest Departments “to push for changes in legislation that allow for more scientific and thoughtful management of forests”. They also suggest that NGOs and activists engage with these complexities and nuances about forest fires rather than advocating “blanket ‘stop forest fire’ campaigns.”
📰 Drought situation ‘grim’ as 156 taluks in Karnataka face water crisis
Govt. urges Centre to immediately release funds as stipulated under NDRF
•The government has described the drought situation in the State as “grim and devastating” as 156 of the total 176 taluks have been reeling under severe water crisis owing to deficient rainfall during kharif and rabi seasons in 2018–19, worsening the condition of farmers.
•Revenue Minister R.V. Deshpande, Animal Husbandry Minister Venkatarao Nadagouda, and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Friday held a review meeting on drought with a nine-member inter-ministerial Central team headed by Abhilaksh Likhi that visited 14 districts to assess crop damage.
•Mr. Deshpande told reporters after the meeting that the government had urged the Centre to immediately release funds as stipulated under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the State.
Loss estimates
•It is estimated that loss owing to natural calamities, including floods/landslips and drought during both kharif and rabi seasons is ₹32,335 crore.
•The Centre so far has released ₹949.49 crore as against the NDRF norm of ₹4,460 crore, according to the Minister.
•“We have apprised the Central team about non-release of financial assistance from the Centre to the State,” Mr. Deshpande said.
•The team, which had interacted with farmers and farm labourers during its visits to villages, would submit a report to the Centre soon, the Minister said.
•The State had suffered agricultural crop loss on about 19.46 lakh hectares of land while horticulture crops on 23,313.37 hectares too had dried up during the 2018–19 rabi season. The total estimated loss during rabi was about ₹22,384.47 crore, the Minister said.
Drinking water supply
•He said the deputy commissioners have over ₹647 crore at their disposal to take up drought relief works in their respective districts. Over 370 villages were being provided drinking water through 706 tankers and 401 villages through hired private borewells. In urban areas, 181 wards were being provided drinking water through tankers.
Jobs
•About 10.68 lakh works have been provided and more than nine crore man-days have been generated till date under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. A total of 19.58 lakh households have been provided employment while 1.37 lakh households have completed 100 days of employment, Mr. Deshpande said.
📰 Assam to be oil exporting hub for Southeast Asia
‘Many projects are nearing completion’
•Assam is slated to soon become one of India’s major oil exporting hubs catering to the eastern neighbours of the country and Southeast Asia, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday.
•The Minister based his prediction on a slew of projects for augmenting oil exploration, refining and transportation capacity in various stages of completion in the region.
•Eight of these projects under Hydrocarbon Vision 2030, worth more than ₹1,500 crore, were inaugurated in Guwahati.
•“Assam will soon send petrol and diesel to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Southeast Asian countries,” Mr. Pradhan said.
📰 Scientists divided on causes of Palghar quake
•Palghar district has seen thousands of small earthquakes since November 2018, but Friday’s quake measuring 4.3 on the moment magnitude (Mw) scale was the first time the magnitude crossed 4 here.
•Scientists, however, are divided on the primary cause of this phenomenon. Some believe it is related to groundwater levels, and others attribute it to tectonic activity. If high groundwater is the cause, the quakes may remain small. This phenomenon, called hydroseismicity, is common across the Deccan plateau.
•However, another hypothesis is that intra-plate tectonic forces could be generating stresses along faults in Palghar. Such a mechanism is believed to be behind the 1993 Latur earthquake. If intra-plate activity is the cause, Palghar could see larger, more destructive quakes.
•Till a while ago, seismologists believed the driver behind the Palghar activity was hydroseismicity. In this phenomenon, rainwater enters the faults in the earth’s crust. This increases pressure, which is released through small earthquakes. In 2017, after heavy rains, such a phenomenon occurred in Hyderabad’s Borabanda suburb. “It continued for a month and a half and stopped,” said D. Srinagesh, chief scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad. Such earthquakes typically measure less than 4 Mw and subside by December. They are also very shallow, typically emerging from within 4-5 km underground.
•In contrast, the Palghar quakes have continued into February, indicating that tectonic activity is at play, says Dr. Srinagesh. Also, a few of the temblors originated from 15 km underground, deeper than most hydroseismic quakes. With magnitude crossing 4 Mw this month for the first time, “all we can say is that disaster mitigation procedures should be set into motion,” he said.
•However, Vineet Gahalaut, Director of the National Centre for Seismology, New Delhi, said hydroseismicity couldn’t be ruled out yet. The Mw 4.3 quake was not necessarily significant, he said, because previously, quakes measuring Mw 3.7 had occurred. This small increment in magnitude was consistent with the ‘swarm’ pattern of hydroseismicity, he said. Further, according to him, the quakes were clustered within a small area, again a feature of hydroseismicity. Yet, he cautioned that it was impossible to discount tectonic activity as a cause.
•Previously, scientists had estimated that Palghar could see a “maximum credible earthquake” measuring Mw 6.5.
•The MCE is the largest quake that can occur in a region. All of Palghar’s buildings must be prepared for this, seismologists say, though the timing cannot be predicted.
📰 ‘High GST rate hit housing sector’
Uneven diligence by NBFCs added to cash crunch: economist Indira Rajaraman
•The high rate of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on under-construction properties (which was reduced recently) led to the fund crunch in the housing sector and also among non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), according to Indira Rajaraman, economist and a former member of the Reserve Bank of India’s board.
•“In the earlier funding model (prior to GST regime), for construction of houses, housing companies obtained working capital through sale of apartments before the construction even began.
•“This had the property of getting consumer commitment [even] before the start of the projects,” she said, delivering the sixth Raja J. Chelliah Memorial Lecture on the topic ‘The Evolving GST’.
‘Distortionary content’
•Dr. Rajaraman was pointing out to the construction sector being one of the examples of distortionary content under the GST.
•She pointed out that for under-construction property, the GST was 18% and with one-third abatement of value of land, the effective rate was 12%. “Clearly, the taxation of pre-construction purchase at 18% with simultaneous exemption of completed housing implied the intent to shatter that financing model, perhaps to squeeze out the use of untaxed cash (black money) in the construction sector,” Dr. Rajaraman said.
•Post-GST, the construction sector turned for funding to NBFCs which had already received investible funds after demonetisation flooded banks with cash in November 2016. This was followed subsequently by financing from mutual funds, she added.
•“The impact of this avenue of funding replacement in conjunction with uneven diligence by NBFCs and credit rating failure were among the many factors leading to the serial defaults by Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Company (IL&FS) in September 2018 and the contagion impact on NBFCs thereafter. There is also presently a huge build-up of unsold inventories of housing units,” Dr. Rajaraman said.
•The GST Council does not seem to have thought through the implication of shattering that business finance model of the sector (housing), which played a key role both in terms of job creation and fulfilling the housing needs, she added.
•Dr. Rajaraman also said she flagged this issue to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during a meeting in Delhi.
•Now, the rates on under-construction properties had been reduced to 5% without credit for taxes and to 1% for affordable under-construction properties, recently, she said.
•“The move should help in gradual pick up of housing demand and improve the health of housing sector and NBFCS,” Dr. Rajaraman said.
📰 Hizb was backed by JeI: Centre
•A day after it banned the Jammu and Kashmir-based group Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) under the anti-terror law, the Centre said the organisation was responsible for the formation of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the largest terrorist organisation active in the State.
•A senior Home Ministry official said the JeI had been providing all kinds of support to the HM in terms of recruits, funding, shelter, and logistics. “In a way, the HM is a militant wing of JeI (J&K),” the official said.
•The organisation was banned twice in the past — in 1975 for two years by the J&K government and in April 1990 by the MHA which continued till December, 1993.
•“JeI is the main organisation responsible for propagation of separatist and radical ideology in the Kashmir Valley,” said the official. “Jel has been pursuing the agenda of setting up an independent theocratic Islamic state by destabilising the government,” said the official.
•According to him, a sizeable section of JeI cadres overtly worked for militant organisations, especially HM. “Its cadres are actively involved in the subversive activities of HM by providing hideouts, and ferrying arms.”
•“The strong presence of HM in the area of influence of JeI is a clear reflection of separatist and radical ideology of the organisation,” the official said.
