GS - International Happenings

Union Commerce and Industry Minister AnandSharma on March 31, 2010 released the final docu-ment of FDI Policy Framework that would nowcomprise the single document on FDI policy andmark the inception of a whole new chapter on FDIpolicy.

Mr. Sharma said the current exercise had been ini-tiated with the aim of integration of all prior regu-lations on FDI, contained in Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA), RBI circulars, and vari-ous Press Notes into one consolidated document,so as to reflect the current regulatory framework.Having a single policy platform would also easethe regulatory burden for Government. The inten-tion of this exercise is not to make changes in theextant guidelines, but to deal with them compre-hensively.

Limit in LLP firmsThe government said it was considering allowingFDI in limited liability partnership (LLP) firms andalso to clearly define whether shares and bondsissued to overseas investors could be treated as for-eign direct investment.

The government may also do away with ScheduleIV of the FEMA that deals with sale and purchaseof shares and debentures by NRIs and overseascorporate bodies on non-repatriable basis, Mr.Sharma said.

Foreign Direct Investment in IndiaSingle Policy Platform For FDI

There are many issues related with FDI policiesthat are currently under discussion in the govern-ment, he said after releasing a compendium. LLP,the fast emerging form of business structure, is ahybrid of companies and partnership firms, whichallows unlimited number of partners in an entitybut their liability is restricted to the extent of thestake held by them.

FDI Inflows TouchUS $ 1.72 Billion During

February 2010The Minister said that such consolidation wouldensure all information on FDI policy is available atone place, which is expected to lead to: simplifica-tion of the policy; greater clarity of understandingof foreign investment rules among foreign inves-tors and sectoral regulators, as also predictabilityof policy. Having a single policy platform wouldalso ease the regulatory burden for Government.Updation of this document will be carried out af-ter every 6 months. This consolidated Press Notewill be superseded by a Press Note to be issued onSeptember 30, 2010, ensure that the frameworkdocument on FDI policy is kept updated, ShriSharma said.

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Earlier, the draft document was released on 24December, 2009 and was open for comments untilthe 31st of January, 2010. The response to the draftdocument has been excellent. Comments from 60stakeholder organizations (including various Gov-ernment Departments, Reserve Bank of India, LawFirms, consultancy firms, Chambers of Commerceand private companies) have been received. Allcomments, received until date, have been consid-ered, before preparation of the final document.Even after receiving the responses, we held an-other round of discussions on the document witha number of consultancy firms that had offeredcomments on the draft, as also with the ReserveBank of India and the Department of EconomicAffairs.

There are a number of issues related to FDI policythat are currently under discussion in the Govern-ment, such as foreign investment in Limited Li-ability Partnerships (LLPs), policy on issuance ofpartly paid shares/warrants, rescinding ScheduleIV of FEMA, clarifications on issues related to PressNotes 2, 3 & 4 of 2009 and on Press Note 2 of 2005,as also certain definitional issues etc. When a de-cision on these is taken, the Government decisionwould be announced and thereafter incorporatedinto the Consolidated Press Note subsequently.

Foreign Direct Investment into India is a capitalaccount transaction under the Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA), 1999. The Governmentof India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regu-late such transactions. The Government comes upwith new regulations or amends/changes the ex-isting ones, keeping in view the requirements thatmay exist at a particular point in time. Various as-pects of FDI policy are, accordingly, pronounced/notified through Press Notes issued by DIPP, RBIcirculars, Acts and changes in regulations. DIPPitself has issued about 177 Press Notes since 1991,covering various aspects of FDI policy, includingcross border investment, policy liberalisation,policy rationalization and foreign technology col-laborations, Industrial Policy etc.

As far as FDI policy is concerned, it had been felt,through interaction with various investors, coun-

terpart government organizations and other stake-holders, that there is a need for further simplifica-tion and consolidation of the FDI policy frame-work, so as to make it more comprehensible to allinvestors and stakeholders. The Prime Minister,in his remarks at the World Economic Forum inDecember, 2008, had also announced that, Ourpolicy will be guided by the desire to make Indiaeven more attractive for Foreign Direct Invest-ment. We are particularly keen to rationalize andsimplify procedures so as to create an investorfriendly environment. The present exercise was astep in the above direction.

FDI InflowsFDI equity inflows for the month of February, 2010have been US $ 1.72 billion, which represents anincrease of 15%, in US $ terms, over the inflowsreceived in February 2009 (which were of the or-der of US $ 1.49 billion). FDI equity inflows forcurrent the financial year (i.e. April, 2009 to Feb-ruary, 2010) have been around US $ 24.68 billion.These are comparable to the FDI equity inflowsfor the comparable period of the previous year,which were around US $ 25.39 billion.

FDI inflows for almost all months in the currentfinancial year, from June onwards (excepting Sep-tember, 2009 and January, 2010) have shown anincreasing trend over the FDI inflows of the samemonths in the previous financial year (2008-09).The pace of inflows, therefore, is stable.

Accordingly, it is likely that the total inflows inthe current financial year (2009-10) are compa-rable to the total inflows received during the lastfinancial year (2008-09). This is despite the factthat the UNCTAD World Investment Report,2009, had noted a fall of global FDI inflows, from ahistoric high of 1.979 billion in 2007 to 1.697 bil-lion in 2008, a decline of 14%. UNCTAD had sub-sequently predicted a fall in global FDI investmentflows by 30%, from US $ 1.7 trillion in 2008 to US$ 1.2 trillion in 2009.


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It is relevant to note that the Organisation for Eco-nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD), inits latest report on investment, released in March,2010, has noted a significant stagnation in the glo-bal investment activity. It has noted that: Theaverage monthly Merger &Acquisition (M&A) ac-tivity in the past 12 months was just under US $50 billion. The last time monthly M&A activityfell below US$50 billion was in April 2006. Year-on-year, global M&A activity is now at its lowestlevel since the beginning of the global economiccrisis, at around 35% of the levels reached two yearsago (March, 2007 through February, 2008).


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The fourth G20 summit in less than two years has ended atToronto on 26-27 June, 2010. The summit ended with glo-bal leaders evolving a consensus of sorts on several issues ofeconomic importance. India, which was represented instrength at the summit, says it is happy with the outcome.The leaders of the world's most powerful economies pledgedto slash back spiraling debts on Sunday as they sought torebalance a global economy knocked off its axis by a finan-cial crisis.

The heads of the G20, which groups established world powers and the most dynamic emerging players,vowed to nurture the still shaky recovery with coordinatedmeasures to spur growth and ensure financial stability.

But observers quickly noted the agreements were not bind-ing and the summit statement was filled with caveats andexemptions, pushing many of the tougher decisions on tothe next G20 summit in Seoul in November.

The leaders' joint statement, released at the end of two daysof talks in Toronto, warned that "failure to implement con-solidation where necessary would undermine confidence andhamper growth."

"Reflecting this balance, advanced economies have committed to fiscal plans that will at least halve deficitsby 2013 and stabilize or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016," it promised.

Nevertheless, the group exempted Japan and its huge public deficit from the pledge and noted that mea-sures should be "tailored to national circumstances."

The statement called for "greater exchange rate flexibility in some emerging markets" but shied away fromspecifically fingering China, which is under pressure to allow the yuan to strengthen to ease trade imbal-ances.

Amid US fears that global growth may once again become overdependent on American consumers, theG20 called for "efforts to rebalance global demand to help ensure global growth continues on a sustainablepath."

"I understood thatfiscal consolidationobviously neededhigh priority in

those advanced nations thatwere experiencing exceptionalfiscal stress and in those wheresovereign debt was shaky."

G20 SummitLeaders Agree to Cut Deficits by 2013

By: Ram Kumar Pandey


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European leaders- Germany's Chancellor AngelaMerkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy andBritain's Prime Minister David Cameron -- cameto the talks calling for fiscal restraint and a newlevy on bank profits.

They made some headway on the former, but willbe forced to go it alone on the banking tax, as coun-tries like Australia, Canada and India that haveexperienced no banking failures rejected the pro-posal out of hand.

The G8 statement said "We agreed the financialsector should make a fair and substantial contri-bution towards paying for any burdens associatedwith government interventions." "We recognizedthat there are a range of policy approaches to thisend. Some countries are pursuing a financial levy.Other countries are pursuing different approaches."

Observers said the degree of divergence in thecountries' policies for dealing with the recoveryshowed that, now that the initial shock of reces-sion has passed, national agendas are once morecrowding out G20 cooperation.

Outcome For India

The first point was the civilian nuclear pact withCanada. Canada is an important supplier of Ura-nium and nuclear technologies. The pact is actu-ally going to help take Indias plans on that frontforward. In fact the bilateral that the India primeminster had with the Canadian prime minster ac-tually seems to signal a new beginning in the rela-tionship. Stephen Harper said that the 70s are overand in fact this is the first visit by an Indian primeminister after 1973. There were several other agreements for miningand other MoUs signed. Another key bilateral wasthe India US bilateral, Manmohan Singh meetingBarack Obama. Much of it was political; no War-ren Anderson extradition demand was raised there.The key thing was that India told the US to takedisclosures by Headley; the 26/11 accused moreseriously and wanted the United States to get Pa-kistan to act more on terror.

PM asks rich nations to resist protectionismMaking it clear that each country needed to de-vise its own strategy to weather the deepest globalfinancial crisis in decades, Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh on Sunday asked rich nations toresist protectionism.

Stating that the India was better placed in han-dling the situation with an average growth of 7per cent in the past two fiscals, the prime ministersaid emerging economies must also rely less onexports and push domestic demand.

As the leaders of the Group of 20 advanced andemerging economies listened in attention, theOxford-educated economist-prime minister saidIndia on its part will go for medium-term fiscalconsolidation and halve its fiscal deficit by 2013-14.

Manmohan Singh said he understood that fiscalconsolidation obviously needed high priority inthose advanced nations that were experiencingexceptional fiscal stress and in those where sover-eign debt was shaky.

"But other advanced countries should opt for amuch more caliberated exit from the stimulus. Weshould adopt a carefully differentiated approach,reflecting the circumstances of individual coun-tries," the prime minister added.

China sets strongest yuan rate in years after G20pressure:

China set the strongest yuan exchange ratein years after Beijing came under renewed pres-sure at the Group of 20 summit to let the currencyappreciate.

The People's Bank of China said it set thecentral parity rate -- the centre point of thecurrency's allowed trading band -- at 6.7890 to thedollar.

It was the strongest level policymakers haveset since China unpegged the currency in July 2005and moved to a tightly managed floating exchangerate.


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China had effectively pegged the yuan at about6.8 to the dollar for the past two years to prop upexporters during the global financial crisis. Criticssay the policy gives Chinese producers an unfairadvantage.

Manmohan meets Obama at G20 summit:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US Presi-dent Barack Obama held their second substantivedialogue in two months, during which they areunderstood to have discussed terrorism, globaleconomy and other issues of mutual concern.

Singh and Obama met on the sidelines of the G20Summit and are believed to have discussed the situ-ation in the region.

This was the the first meeting between the twoleaders after they met and reviewed bilateral tieson the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit inWashington in April.

During the meeting, the two leaders are also un-derstood to have discussed about the global eco-nomic recovery and the G20 Summit. At the Sum-mit, India and the US had cautioned against wind-ing up of the government funding.

Obama said the two countries would continue tosee how businesses of both countries can get towork together and then generating recommenda-tions to "each of us in terms of how we can im-prove ties between the United States and India."

What is the G-20The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers andCentral Bank Governors was established in 1999to bring together systemically important industri-alized and developing economies to discuss key is-sues in the global economy. The inaugural meet-ing of the G-20 took place in Berlin, on December15-16, 1999, hosted by German and Canadian fi-nance ministers.

MandateThe G-20 is the premier forum for our interna-tional economic development that promotes openand constructive discussion between industrial andemerging-market countries on key issues relatedto global economic stability. By contributing to thestrengthening of the international financial archi-tecture and providing opportunities for dialogueon national policies, international co-operation, andinternational financial institutions, the G-20 helpsto support growth and development across theglobe.

OriginsThe G-20 was created as a response both to thefinancial crises of the late 1990s and to a growingrecognition that key emerging-market countrieswere not adequately included in the core of globaleconomic discussion and governance. Prior to theG-20 creation, similar groupings to promote dia-logue and analysis had been established at the ini-tiative of the G-7.

The G-22 met at Washington D.C. in April andOctober 1998. Its aim was to involve non-G-7countries in the resolution of global aspects of thefinancial crisis then affecting emerging-marketcountries.

Two subsequent meetings comprising a largergroup of participants (G-33) held in March andApril 1999 discussed reforms of the global economyand the international financial system.

The proposals made by the G-22 and the G-33 toreduce the world economy's susceptibility to cri-ses showed the potential benefits of a regular in-ternational consultative forum embracing theemerging-market countries. Such a regular dia-logue with a constant set of partners was institu-tionalized by the creation of the G-20 in 1999.


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MembershipThe G-20 is made up of the finance ministersand central bank governors of 19 countries:

The European Union, who is represented by therotating Council presidency and the European Cen-tral Bank, is the 20th member of the G-20. To en-sure global economic fora and institutions worktogether, the Managing Director of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President ofthe World Bank, plus the chairs of the Interna-tional Monetary and Financial Committee andDevelopment Committee of the IMF and WorldBank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

The G-20 thus brings together important indus-trial and emerging-market countries from all re-gions of the world. Together, member countriesrepresent around 90 per cent of global gross na-tional product, 80 per cent of world trade (includ-ing EU intra-trade) as well as two-thirds of theworld's population. The G-20's economic weightand broad membership gives it a high degree oflegitimacy and influence over the management ofthe global economy and financial system.

AchievementsThe G-20 has progressed a range of issues since1999, including agreement about policies forgrowth, reducing abuse of the financial system,dealing with financial crises and combating ter-rorist financing. The G-20 also aims to foster theadoption of internationally recognized standardsthrough the example set by its members in areassuch as the transparency of fiscal policy and com-bating money laundering and the financing of ter-rorism. In 2004, G-20 countries committed to newhigher standards of transparency and exchange ofinformation on tax matters. This aims to combatabuses of the financial system and illicit activitiesincluding tax evasion. The G-20 has also aimed todevelop a common view among members on is-sues related to further development of the globaleconomic and financial system.

To tackle the financial and economic crisis thatspread across the globe in 2008, the G-20 mem-bers were called upon to further strengthen inter-national cooperation. Since then, the concerted anddecisive actions of the G-20 helped the world dealeffectively with the current financial and economiccrisis. The G-20 has already delivered a number ofsignificant and concrete outcomes. For examples,it committed to implement the unprecedented andmost coordinated expansionary macroeconomicpolicies, including the fiscal expansion of US$5 tril-lion and the unconventional monetary policy in-struments; significantly enhance the financial regu-lations, notably by the establishment of the Finan-cial Stability Board(FSB); and substantiallystrengthen the International FinancialInstitutions(IFIs), including the expansion of re-sources and the improvement of precautionarylending facilities of the IFIs.

Reflecting on these achievements and recognizingthat more needs to be done to ensure a strong, sus-tained and balanced global recovery, the G-20Leaders at Pittsburgh Summit designated the G-20 as the premier forum for international economiccooperation.

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Canada

China

France

Germany

India

Indonesia

Italy

Japan

Mexico

Russia

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Republic of Korea

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States of America


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ChairUnlike international institutions such as the Or-ganization for Economic Co-operation and Devel-opment (OECD), IMF or World Bank, the G-20(like the G-7) has no permanent staff of its own.The G-20 chair rotates between members, and isselected from a different regional grouping of coun-tries each year. In 2010 the G-20 chair is the Re-public of Korea, and in 2011 it will be France. Thechair is part of a revolving three-member man-agement Troika of past, present and future chairs.The incumbent chair establishes a temporary sec-retariat for the duration of its term, which coordi-nates the group's work and organizes its meetings.The role of the Troika is to ensure continuity inthe G-20's work and management across host years.

Meetings and activitiesIt is normal practice for the G-20 finance minis-ters and central bank governors to meet once a year.The last meeting of ministers and governors washeld in St. Andrews, UK on 6-7 November 2009. The ministers' and governors' meeting is usuallypreceded by two deputies' meetings and extensivetechnical work. This technical work takes the formof workshops, reports and case studies on specificsubjects, that aim to provide ministers and gover-nors with contemporary analysis and insights, tobetter inform their consideration of policy chal-lenges and options.

Interaction With Other International Organiations:

The G-20 cooperates closely with variousother major international organizations and fora,as the potential to develop common positions oncomplex issues among G-20 members can add po-litical momentum to decision-making in other bod-ies. The participation of the President of the WorldBank, the Managing Director of the IMF and thechairs of the International Monetary and Finan-cial Committee and the Development Committeein the G-20 meetings ensures that the G-20 pro-

cess is well integrated with the activities of theBretton Woods Institutions. The G-20 also workswith, and encourages, other international groupsand organizations, such as the Financial StabilityBoard and the Basel Committee on Banking Su-pervision, in progressing international and domes-tic economic policy reforms. In addition, expertsfrom private-sector institutions and non-govern-ment organisations are invited to G-20 meetingson an ad hoc basis in order to exploit synergies inanalyzing selected topics and avoid overlap.

External CommunicationThe country currently chairing the G-20 posts de-tails of the group's meetings and work program ona dedicated website. Although participation in themeetings is reserved for members, the public isinformed about what was discussed and agreedimmediately after the meeting of ministers andgovernors has ended. After each meeting of min-isters and governors, the G-20 publishes acommuniqu which records the agreementsreached and measures outlined. Material on theforward work program is also made public.

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UPSCPORTAL Current Affairs : http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs

The World Wildlife Fund in Marchlisted the Ganges among theworlds 10 most endangeredrivers. In India, the river providesmore than 500 million people withwater for drinking and farming.More than 100 cities andcountless villages are situatedalong the 1,568-mile river, whichstretches from the foothills of theHimalayas to the Bay of Bengal,and few of them have sewagetreatment plants. But recentreports by scientists say theGanges is under greater threatfrom water pollution & evengreater from global warming.According to a U.N. climatereport, the Himalayan glaciersthat are the sources of the Gangescould disappear by 2030 astemperatures rise. The shrinkingglaciers also threaten Asias supplyof fresh water. The immediateeffect of glacier recession is ashort-lived surplus of water. But

eventually the supply runs out,and experts predict that theGanges eventually will become aseasonal river, largely dependenton monsoon rains.

Arrangement at the CentralLevel

The river cleaning program wasstarted with Ganga ActionPlan(GAP) in 1985 under theaegis of GPD established underthe Ministry of Environment &Forest. A CGA under thechairmanship of the PM wasconstituted to finalise the policyframework and to oversee theimplementation of GAP. TheChief Ministers of the concernedStates , Union Ministers andSecretaries of the concernedCentral Ministries and Expertswere its members. The GAP waslater extended to GAP II in 1993and was broad-based in the formof NRCP in 1995. The GAP IIwas merged with NRCP in

December 1996. Since then asingle scheme of NRCP is underimplementation as a CentrallySponsored Scheme. The CGAwas renamed as National RiverConservation Authority (NRCA)with a larger mandate to cover allthe programmes supported by theNRCD.

National Ganga River BasinAuthority

To face this challenge the CentralGovernment by a notification on20th February,2009, has set upthe National Ganga River BasinAuthority (NGRBA) as anempowered planning, financing,monitoring and coordinatingauthority for the Ganga River, toensure effective abatement ofpollution and conservation of theriver Ganga by adopting a holisticapproach with the river basin asthe unit of planning .The Authoritywill perform its function under theChairmanship of the Prime

GANGA, THE MOTHER IN A CURSE


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Minister. It has as its members,the Union Ministers concerned,the Chief Ministers of the Statesthrough which Ganga flows viz.,Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Jharkhand and WestBengal, among others.The Authority may co-opt one ormore Chief Ministers from any ofthe States having major tributariesof the river Ganga. The objectiveof the NGRBA is to ensureeffective abatement of pollutionand conservation of the riverGanga by adopting a river basinapproach for comprehensiveplanning and management; and tomaintain minimum ecological flowsin the river Ganga with the aim ofensuring water quality andenvironmentally sustainabledevelopment.

Key Functions of theNGRBA

The NGRBA would beresponsible for addressing theproblem of pollution in Ganga ina bolistic and comprehensivemanner. This will include waterquality, minimum ecological flows,sustainable access and other issuesrelevant to river ecology andmanagement. The NGRBA willnot only be regulatory body butwill also have developmental rolein terms of planning & monitoringof the river conservation activitiesand ensuring that necessaryresources are available. TheNGRBA would work formaintaining the water quality ofthe river Ganga upto theacceptable standards . Thepollution abatement activities willbe taken up through the existingimplementation mechanisms in theStates and also through Special

Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) at thepollution hotspots. The NGRBAwill ensure minimum ecologicalflow in the Ganga by regulatingwater abstraction and bypromoting water storage projects.The NGRBA will plan and monitorprogrammes for cleaning of Gangaand its tributaries. To begin with, it will concentrate on Gangamainstem. The NGRBA would drawupon professional expertise withinand outside the Government foradvice on techno-economicissues . The technical andadministrative support toNGRBA shall be provided by theMinistry of Environment &Forests.

Role of State Governmentunder NGRBA

The State government will be atthe forefront. Implementation willbe at the level of StateGovernment/ ULBs. The Statesmay take up steps forcomprehensive management ofthe river in the State through theirrespective State RiverConservation Authorities. TheState Government/ ULBs areexpected to generate resourcesthrough taxes, levies, cess, usercharges, etc., for abatement ofpollution in the rivers and forproper O&M of the assetscreated. Funds thus raised may beutilized for infrastructuredevelopment including sewageworks. During the finalization ofthe respective State Plans, theStates should make adequateprovisions in their budgets formeeting O&M expenditure.Compliance of the environmentalnorms by industries discharging

wastewater directly into the riveris under the purview of the StatePollution Control Boards. TheBoards will need to bestrengthened for betterenforcement and surveillance ofpolluting industries located on thebanks of the rivers. The publicfunds for the capital and recurringcosts may not be sufficient tomeet the demand. The States willtherefore have to introducepolicies which may attract privatesector investments, including fromthe financial institutions.

Salient Features of the NewApproach

River Basin will be the unit ofplanning and management. This isan internationally acceptedstrategy for integratedmanagement of rivers .Accordingly, a new institutionalmechanism in the form of NationalGanga River Basin Authority(NGRBA) will spearhead riverconservation efforts at thenational level. Implementation willbe by the State Agencies andUrban Local Bodies. The minimumecological flows for the entireGanga will be determined throughmodeling exercises. NGRBA willtake appropriate measures incooperation with the States toregulate water abstraction formaintaining minimum ecologicalflows in the river. Attentionwould also be paid to therestoration of living parts of theriver ecosystem for its holistictreatment to enable conservationof species like dolphin , turtles,fishes and other native andendangered species in the river.

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Measures Taken

To restore the ecological healthand biological wealth of the river,projects on biomonitoring and bio-conservation by having indicatorspecies approach were initiated inthe Himalayan segment, mahaseerfollowed by otters and crocodilesfrom Hardwar to Kanpur, majorcarps from Kanpur to Varanasiand dolphins in the stretch ofBihar have been identified asindicator species for thesestudies. Scientists of HemvatiNandan Bahuguna University,Garhwal, Jivaji University,Gwalior, Central Inland CaptureFisheries research Institute,Barrackpur and Patna Universityare involved in carrying out thebio-monitoring and bio-conservation studies.In order to evaluate the results ofimplementation of the pollutionabatement schemes under GAP,water quality monitoring in thestate of UP, Bihar and WB isbeing carried out regularly at 27monitoring stations with the helpof reputed research institutes anduniversities. The selection ofmonitoring stations and the resultsare reviewed by experts from timeto time. Amendments in WQMare provided by incorporatingneed based modifications.

Impact so far

Under GAP I, only about 35% ofthe total sewage generatedpresently in towns along the riverhas been tackled. On the otherhand, the facilities created totackle the targeted pollution loadare not being maintained properlyin States like UP and Bihar.Therefore, the impact of thecompleted works is not fullyvisible. However, with theimplementation of GAP, thewater quality of Ganga has shownimprovement over the pre-GAPperiod quality in terms of bothBOD & DO, two importantparameters to assess the riverwater quality. Despite theproblems of O&M in UP andBihar, the improvement in riverwater quality can be attributed todiversion of large quantities ofsewage in towns like Kanpur,Allahabad and Varanasi forirrigating the farmlands. Althoughthe river water quality alongKanpur and Varanasi hasimproved significantly, it still doesnot meet the prescribed standardof BOD of 3 mg/l. This is mainlybecause:

8 Only 160 out of 425 mld atKanpur and about 100 out of160 mld of sewage atVaranasi has been taken up

for interception and diversionunder GAP I.

8 The river stretch fromFarrukhabad to Varanasi ingeneral and Kanpur inparticular is critical in termsof the availability of thedesired minimum flow fordilution purpose. The qualityof river water qualitymonitoring leaves much tobe desired. There is lack oftransparency and professio-nalism in this effort.

Dolphin Conservation

Dolphin is considered to be oneof the major bio-indicators of theecological health of Ganga.Accordingly it has been declaredas a national aquatic animal. Aworking group for preparing onaction plan for Dolphinconservation has beenconstituted. Resultantly, as we allknow that we Indians treat riverGanges as Goddess & mother,we have to make sure thatgovernment take all the corrective& preventive measures to makeGanga clean and pure, and for thiswe all should also make valiantefforts as a sincere citizen,otherwise our next generationseldom get a chance to see theriver Ganga and they will get toknow about this only in storiesand text books.


12 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM

ndia has slipped by two places to51st in the World EconomicForum's global compe::venessrankings, while rival China hasmanaged to improve its standingto 29th. As per the WEF's GlobalCompe::veness Report 2010-11,released on Sept 9, 2010 switzer-land is No. 1 in the world in termsof its ability to provide the mostcompe::ve environment on sev-eral fronts.

Sweden, another technologypowerhouse in Europe, ranks sec-ond, followed by Singapore andthe United States, which both fellby two posi:ons from their rank-ing last year. The African na:on ofChad gures at the bo;om of thelist of 139 countries.

The global compe::venessrankings are viewed as a barome-ter of the business climate in 139countries and mirrors the assess-ments of leading businessmen ona range of poli:cal, social, andeconomic parameters.

Though Switzerland has"[state-supported] monopolies inkey sectors, it maintains overalleconomic stability and largelyopen trade and investment poli-cies," said Margareta Dryeniek

Hanouz, senior economist and di-rector of the WEF, who is also the

co-author of the report.India has been pushed down

to 51st posi:on from 49th due toits poor performance in a range

of social sector areas such as ed-uca:on, health and infrastruc-

ture.Though India has performed

well in complex nancial sectorareas, a;aining the 17th rank

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globally in terms of its nancialmarkets, 44th in business sophis-:ca:on and 39th in innova:on, ithas failed to improve the basicdrivers of compe::veness, thereport said.

Life expectancy is 10 yearsshorter in India as compared toChina and Brazil. Despite higheconomic growth, India con:n-ues to be plagued by budget

decits, high public debt and highina:on. In contrast, China hasover USD 2 trillion in forex re-serves and a sound macro-eco-nomic environment.

The WEF, which is a non-gov-ernmental organisa:on, is largelyknown for its annual Davos showof captains of industry and busi-ness and poli:cal leaders. In theface of a growing economic crisis

in the western world, the WEFhas increasingly promoted "com-passionate capitalism" as an eco-nomic model, analysts said.

Global CompetitivenessReport

The Global Compe::veness Re-port is a yearly report published

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by the World Economic Forum.The rst report was released in1979. The 2009-2010 report cov-ers 133 major and emergingeconomies, down from 134 con-sidered in the 2008-2009 reportas Moldova was excluded due tolack of survey data.

Switzerland leads the rankingas the most compe::ve econ-omy in the world, as the United

States, which ranked rst for sev-eral years, fell to fourth place dueto the consequences of the nan-cial crisis of 20072010 and itsmacroeconomic stability. Chinacon:nue its rela:ve rise in therankings reaching 27th.

The report "assesses the abil-ity of countries to provide highlevels of prosperity to their ci:-zens. This in turn depends on

how produc:vely a country usesavailable resources. Therefore,the Global Compe::veness Indexmeasures the set of ins:tu:ons,policies, and factors that set thesustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosper-ity."

Description

Somewhat similar annual reportsare the Ease of Doing BusinessIndex and the Indices of Eco-nomic Freedom. They also look atfactors that aect economicgrowth, but not as many as theGlobal Compe::veness Report.

One part of the report is theExecu:ve Opinion Survey whichis a survey of a representa:vesample of business leaders intheir respec:ve countries. Re-spondent numbers have in-creased every year and iscurrently just over 11,000 in 125countries.

The report ranks the world'sna:ons according to the GlobalCompe::veness Index. The re-port states that it is based on thelatest theore:cal and empiricalresearch. It is made up of over 90variables, of which two thirdscome from the Execu:ve OpinionSurvey, and one third comes frompublicly available sources such asthe United Na:ons. The variablesare organized into nine pillars,with each pillar represen:ng anarea considered as an importantdeterminant of compe::veness.

The report notes that as a na-:on develops, wages tend to in-crease, and that in order tosustain this higher income, laborproduc:vity must improve inorder for the na:on to be com-pe::ve. In addi:on, what createsproduc:vity in Sweden is neces-

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sarily dierent from what drivesit in Ghana. Thus, the GCI sepa-rates countries into three specicstages: factor-driven, eciency-driven, and innova:on-driven,

each implying a growing degreeof complexity in the opera:on ofthe economy.

In the factor-driven stagecountries compete based on theirfactor endowments, primarily un-skilled labor and natural re-sources. Companies compete onthe basis of prices and sell basicproducts or commodi:es, withtheir low produc:vity reected inlow wages.

To maintain compe::venessat this stage of development,compe::veness hinges mainlyon well-func:oning public andprivate ins:tu:ons (pillar 1), ap-propriate infrastructure (pillar 2),a stable macroeconomic frame-work (pillar 3), and good healthand primary educa:on (pillar 4).As wages rise with advancing de-velopment, countries move into

the eciency-driven stage of de-velopment, when they mustbegin to develop more ecientproduc:on processes and in-crease product quality. At this

point, compe::veness becomesincreasingly driven by higher edu-ca:on and training (pillar 5), e-cient markets (pillar 6), and theability to harness the benets ofexis:ng technologies (pillar 7).

Finally, as countries moveinto the innova:on-driven stage,they are only able to sustainhigher wages and the associatedstandard of living if their busi-nesses are able to compete withnew and unique products. At thisstage, companies must competeby producing new and dierentgoods using the most sophis:-cated produc:on processes (pillar8) and through innova:on (pillar9). Thus, the impact of each pil-lar on compe::veness variesacross countries, in func:on oftheir stages of economic develop-ment. Therefore, in the calcula-

:on of the GCI, pillars are givendierent weights depending onthe per capita income of the na-:on. The weights used are thevalues that best explain growth inrecent years For example, the so-phis:ca:on and innova:on fac-tors contribute 10% to the nalscore in factor and eciency-dri-ven economies, but 30% in inno-va:on-driven economies.Intermediate values are used foreconomies in transi:on betweenstages.

2010-2011 rankings

The following are the top 30countries in the 2010-2011 Re-port.

1. Switzerland 5.632. Sweden 5.563. Singapore 5.584. United States 5.435. Germany 5.396. Japan 5.377. Finland 5.378. Netherlands 5.339. Denmark 5.32

10. Canada 5.3011. Hong Kong SAR 5.2712. United Kingdom 5.2513. Taiwan 5.2114. Norway 5.1415. France 5.1316. Australia 5.1117. Qatar 5.1018. Austria 5.0919. Belgium 5.0720. Luxembourg 5.0521. Saudi Arabia 4.9522. South Korea 4.9323. New Zealand 4.9224. Israel 4.9125. United Arab Emirates 4.8926. Malaysia 4.8827. China 4.8428. Brunei 4.7529. Ireland 4.7430. Chile 4.69

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Global Hunger Index 2010

Hunger haunts India

India is among 29 countries withthe highest levels of hunger,stunted children and poorly fedwomen, according to the Interna-6onal Food Policy Research Ins6-tute (IFPRI)s Global Hunger

Index 2010 released on Oct 11,2010. Despite a strong economythat was last week predicted toovertake Chinas within threeyears by The Economist maga-zine, India ranked 67th among 85countries in terms of access tofood.

The report points to wide-spread hunger in a country that is

the worlds largest producer ofmilk and edible oils, and the sec-ond-largest producer of wheatand sugar.

The country has a highhunger score of 24.1 and ranksbehind all its neighbours, barringBangladesh. Values between 20and 29.9 on the index denote analarming hunger situa6on.

Globally, the world isnowhere near mee6ng the targetof the UNs goal of halving thepropor6on of hungry people.

India also runs the worldslargest free-meal programme forschool-going children. Yet, the2010 hunger report reveals thatmore than 90 per cent of theworlds stunted children (whoseheight is low for their age) live inAsian countries, such as India andBangladesh, apart from someAfrica countries.

The highest regional hungerindices sugges6ng the worst

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performers are almost thesame for South Asian countries,such as India, and Sub-SaharanAfrican na6ons, such as Congo.

India is among countries withhunger levels considerablyhigher that their gross na6onalincome per capita would sug-gest. Its kind of ironic, AshokGula6, Asia director of the Wash-ington-based IFPRI said.

The IFPRI hunger index complied in partnership with Ger-man NGO Welthungerhilfe, andConcern Worldwide rankscountries on three equallyweighted indicators: the propor-6on of undernourished, the pro-por6on of underweight childrenunder ve, and the child mortal-ity rate.

The UN Food and AgricultureOrganisa6on (FAO) deneshunger as the consump6on offewer than 1,800 kilocalories aday the minimum required tolive a healthy and produc6ve life.

What is Global HungerIndex

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is

a mul6dimensional sta6s6cal toolused to describe the state ofcountries hunger situa6on. TheGHI measures progress and fail-ures in the global ght againsthunger. The GHI is updated oncea year.

The Index was adopted andfurther developed by the Interna-6onal Food Policy Research Ins6-tute (IFPRI), and was rstpublished in 2006 with theWelthungerhilfe, a German non-prot organiza6on (NGO). Since2007, the Irish NGO ConcernWorldwide joined the group asco-publisher.

The 2009 GHI was calculatedfor 121 developing countries andcountries in transi6on, 84 ofwhich were ranked. Every year,the GHI report focuses on a maintopic: in 2009 the Index measuresthe connec6on between hungerand gender equality. In addi6on,the impact of the nancial crisison the hunger situa6on was ana-lyzed. In addi6onal to the yearlyGHI, the Hunger Index for theStates of India (ISHI) was pub-lished in 2008 and the Sub-Na-6onal Hunger Index for Ethiopiawas published in 2009.

Calculation of the Index

The Index ranks countries on a100 point scale, with 0 being thebest score ("no hunger") and 100being the worst, though neitherof these extremes is achieved inprac6ce. The higher the score,the worse the food situa6on of acountry. Values less than 4.9 re-ect "low hunger", values be-tween 5 and 9.9 reect"moderate hunger", values be-tween 10 and 19.9 indicate a "se-rious", values between 20 and29.9 are "alarming", and valuesexceeding 30 are "extremelyalarming" hunger problem.

The GHI combines threeequally weighted indicators: 1)the propor6on of the undernour-ished as a percentage of the pop-ula6on; 2) the prevalence ofunderweight children under theage of ve; and 3) the mortalityrate of children under the age ofve.

The data used for the 2009GHI are for the period from 2002to 2007 the most recent avail-able global data for the threecomponents of the GHI. The data

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on the propor6on of undernour-ished come from the Food andAgriculture Organiza6on of theUN (FAO) and are for 2003-2005.Data on underweight of childrenunder 5 are based on data col-lected by the World Health Or-ganiza6on (WHO), UNICEF andMEASURE DHS for the latest yearin the period 200207 for whichdata are available and data onchild mortality are for 2007 fromUNICEF. The 2009 GHI and the re-calculated base value of 1990 GHIare not directly comparable topreviously calculated GHI values.

Global and regional trends

The 2009 GHI report shows howthe hunger situa6on has devel-oped since 1990 at global, re-gional, and na6onal levels.Globally, the GHI fell nearly oneforth from 20 to 15.2 points. Re-gardless of this posi6ve trend, theglobal ght against hunger isstagna6ng and not reaching itsgoals fast enough. The global av-erages hide drama6c dierencesamong regions and countries. 29countries s6ll have an alarming(20-29.9) or extremely alarming( 30) hunger situa6on. The 2009GHI had fallen by 13% in Sub-Sa-haran Africa compared with the1990 GHI, by about 25% in SouthAsia, and by 32% in the Near Eastand North Africa. Progress inSoutheast Asia and La6n Americawas especially great, with the GHIdecreasing by over 40%.

Sub-Saharan Africa and SouthAsia share the highest regionalGHI scores (22.1 and 23.0 respec-6vely), but food insecurity in thetwo regions stems from dierentreasons: In South Asia, the majorproblem is a high prevalence ofunderweight children under ve,

which is a result of lower nutri-6on and educa6onal status ofwomen. In contrast, the high GHIin Sub-Saharan Africa is due tohigh child mortality rates and thehigh propor6on of people whocannot meet their calorie re-quirements.

Hunger and Conflict

The report shows that conictand poli6cal instability and eco-nomic collapse have increasedhunger in a number of Sub-Saha-ran African countries and NorthKorea.

Hunger and Gender Inequality

A comparison of the GHI 2009 re-sults with the respec6ve rankingsin the World Economic Forums2008 Global Gender Gap Indexshows that hunger and gender in-equalitypar6cularly inequali-6es in educa6on andhealtho'en go hand in hand.Hunger in India: 'The real cause islack of poli6cal will'

The poker is glowing red hotin the ames of the burningwood. Suklal Hembrom holds aleaf against his stomach and war-ily eyes theolder man sit-6ng on theother side ofthe re. Sud-denly ThakurDas takes holdof the pokerand lunges to-wards theboy's stomach.

Eve r yo n ein the villageknows what

should happen next. The childwill scream loudly as the esh be-gins to blister. Held down, he willwrithe in agony. Again and again,the poker will jab at his belly. Themore the child screams, the hap-pier everyone will be, becausethe villagers of Mirgitand inIndia's Jharkhand state believethe only way they can "cure" thedistended stomachs of their fam-ished children is by brandingthem with pokers.Das sees nothing wrong with theprocedure. Nor does anyone inthe village most have scars oftheir own. Even though somechildren have died, the villagerscon6nue because the alterna6ve providing enough nutri6ousfood to sustain their children orpaying for medical treatment issimply not an op6on. In commonwith millions of others in theworld's 11th largest economy,they face a daily ba7le to puteven the most basic meal on thetable.

A report out today warns thateven in a fast-growing economylike India, failure to invest in agri-culture and support small farmshas le' nearly half the country'schildren malnourished, with one'h of the one billion plus popu-la6on going hungry.

Ac6onAid, which published

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the report ahead of next week'ssummit in New York to discussprogress on the millennium de-velopment goals, says hunger iscos6ng the world's poorest na-6ons 290bn a year more than10 6mes the es6mated amountneeded to meet the goal of halv-ing global hunger by 2015.

India now has worse rates ofmalnutri6on than sub-SaharanAfrica: 43.5% of children underve are underweight and Indiaranks below Sudan and Zim-babwe in the Global HungerIndex. Even without last year'sdisastrous monsoon and the en-suing drought and crop failures,hunger was on the increase.

The government has prom-ised a new food security bill toprovide cheap food for the poor,but progress has been slow. Thereality is that a country desperateto take its place at the world's toptable is unwilling to commit tofeeding its own popula6on.

Last month the country'ssupreme court cas6gated thegovernment for allowing 67,000tonnes of badly stored grain torot enough to feed 190,000people for a month and or-dered it to distribute 17.8mtonnes in imminent danger ofro8ng.

India's prime minister, Man-mohan Singh, protested, sayingthe court had crossed the lineinto policy-making and warningthat distribu6ng free food to thees6mated 37% of the popula6onliving below the poverty line de-stroyed any incen6ves for farm-ers to produce. The court stoodrm. It was an order, not a sug-ges6on, the judges said.

According to Ac6onAid,global hunger in 2009 was at thesame level as in 1990. The charityurged developed countries to

make good on 14bn pledge toght hunger, announced at lastyear's G8 summit in Italy.

"On the eve of the most im-portant development summit forve years, a billion people will begoing to bed hungry," saidMeredith Alexander, the charity'spolicy head. "Despite promises tothe contrary, one-sixth of human-ity doesn't get enough to eat. Butwe grow enough food to feedevery man, woman and child onthe planet. The real cause ofhunger isn't lack of food, it is lackof poli6cal will."

The UN Food and AgriculturalOrganisa6on announced todaythat the number of hungry peo-ple worldwide has dropped by 98million to 925 million in the pastyear. However, Oxfam warnedthe decline is largely down toluck, such as two years offavourable weather pa7erns,rather than ac6on from worldleaders.

Abandoned to its fate

Mirgitand lies in hills about195km east of the state capitalRanchi, at the end of a stony, ver-6ginous track. It is part of India,but at the same 6me not part ofit: abandoned to its fate by thestate, in the hands of Maoist Nax-alite guerillas who hold the secu-rity forces at bay with apparentease.

Das squats next to the re,poking it with a s6ck. The pokerlies cooling on the ground. This6me he did not make contact,warned in advance that the childmust not be harmed for thedemonstra6on, though he cameworryingly close.

Instead, the villagers instructthe children to show their scars.

Molilal Kisku li's his shirt. He isve, with a large, distended belly.There are dark circles on the skinfrom where the poker was ap-plied. There is not a child un-scarred.

Manoranjan Mahta, 44, sitson a log, watching. He works forthe post oce, he says: he is aneducated man. Yet he submi7edhis son, Hemanth, to the process.

"My son had a protrudingbelly. We went to many doctors,but they didn't cure it," he says.

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"In this village when a child has abig pot belly we put a piece of ba-nana leaf on the skin and then weput burning charcoal or a burningrod on the leaf. If the child iswrithing in pain, the no6on isthat the germs are dying."

But it was Hemanth who suc-cumbed. The wound became in-fected and he died on 21December 2007. He was sevenyears old.Struggle for survivalIndia may be thriving economi-

cally but it is s6ll dogged bypoverty and hunger.

A recent Oxford University re-port found 410 million peoplewere living in poverty in just eightIndian states more than in the26 countries of sub-SaharanAfrica.

Last year's Global HungerIndex placed India in the "alarm-ing" category, ranked 65 out of 84countries, below even NorthKorea. Across the country, hun-dreds of millions are malnour-

ished. A study released in Maywarned that 66% of childrenunder the age of six in Delhi'sslums were malnourished. Thereport noted that the most vul-nerable sec6ons of society werenot covered under governmentschemes which were supposed tosupport them.

In Jharkhand state, a study of20 villages carried out last yearrecorded 13 deaths from starva-6on and 1,000 families sueringfrom chronic hunger syndrome. Itis es6mated that each year,nearly 50,000 children in thestate die before their rst birth-day. It does not help that Jhark-hand's doctors are among themost poorly paid in India, earningbarely half what their contempo-raries in Delhi might earn. Thismay explain why 2,200 of the2,468 doctors recruited by thestate ve years ago have movedon. The state is said to need morethan 800 primary health centres,although it has just 330.

The situa6on in the centralIndian state of Madhya Pradeshis, if anything, worse than inJharkhand. More than half a mil-lion children below the age of vehave died in the past ve yearsand 60% of its children are cate-gorised as malnourished. Thegovernment es6mates that 37%of the popula6on subsist on lessthan the ocial poverty line of327 rupees (4.57) per month inrural areas and 570 rupees inurban areas. In May, televisionand newspaper pictures showed100,000 tonnes of wheat ro8ngin the open in the state.

And in Ganne, in U7arPradesh, children have resortedto ea6ng mud. When the reportsbegan to surface, ocials appar-ently sent some food and told thevillagers to keep quiet.

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Today the main challenge in frontof international community is tosustain and accelerate the processof poverty eradication and ensurefood and energy security,particularly to developingcountries while shifting graduallyto a Green Economy. A greeneconomy approach todevelopment holds the potentialto achieve greater convergencebetween economic andenvironmental objectives .Agriculture plays a critical role indetermining food, water,ecological and livelihood security.Integrating the strategies andpolicies for a green economy intoagriculture has to proceed with anabsolute imperative of ensuringthese and not forgetting thedifferentiated needs of subsistenceagriculture and market-orientedcrops.

Also, transitioning to a greenermodel of agriculture will depend

on the expeditious provision ofgreen technologies and financialsupport to developing countriesfor productivity enhancement,improved resilience anddiversification of productionsystems.

Sustainable development andmanagement of agriculture wouldbenefit from sharing of bestpractices including farm and non-farm development, improvedpost-harvest management,

integration of supply chains andstrengthening of public distributionsystems. Eradicating poverty is anindispensible requirement forsustainable development. A majorcause aggravating poverty is theunsustainable pattern of

GROWTH FOR ALL WITHSUSTAINABLE USE OF RESOURCES

consumption and production.Poverty eradication remains anoverriding objective ofgovernments in developingcountries, and efforts to buildgreen economies should

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contribute substantially torealizing that objective.Integrating green economystrategies and policies intopoverty eradication, food securityand energy security is animperative for sustainabledevelopment.Food security andaccess to affordable clean energyare both crucial to eradicatingpoverty and promoting socialdevelopment.The issue of energysecurity and universal energyaccess is intricately linked witheconomic development andgrowth, and rising energy needs tomeet it.Energy poverty coexists withinefficient energy use in much ofthe world, which givencontinued heavy dependence onfossil fuels has been a majorcontributor to greenhouse gasemissions. Understanding theflexibility or lack of flexibility ofeach country to change thisenergy mix and devisinginnovative methods to secureenergy security are the need of thehour without compromising on theneed for high economic growth tomeet the aspirations of the people,especially in developing countries.

Energy security is a multi-facetedconcept. In the current context,the primary focus is on poorpeoples securing adequate energysupplies to raise their livingstandards , including throughimproved income generation,health and education. Renewableenergy should be considered as anintegral part of the solution to theenergy needs of the poor, but thatwill only be feasible if it isaffordable and technologicallyaccessible. As affordability is afunction in part of large-scaledeployment and learning, the

strategy to address energypoverty needs to be linked to abroader alternative energystrategy as part of a greeneconomy.With respect to energysecurity, rural energy accessremains seriously deficient inmany developing countries, withwell over a billion people lackingaccess to electricity and cleancooking and heating fuels. At thesame time, even in urban areas,electricity is often underprovidedand unreliable, especially for urbanpoor communities . Thisexacerbates poverty and closesoff escape routes by limitingincome generation opportunitiesas well as educationalopportunities especially for girls.

What is Green Economy?

A green economy is typicallyunderstood as an economicsystem that is compatible with thenatural environment, isenvironmentally friendly, isecological, and for many groups,is also socially just. Theseattributes are the conditions thatmust be imposed on an economyfrom the perspective of manygreen economy advocates. Thisconventional concept of a greeneconomy may be alternativelydescribed as the greening of aneconomy.

Some fundamental criteria formeeting these conditions havebeen established since Rio, suchas using renewable resourceswithin their regenerative capacity,making up for the loss of non-renewable resources by creatingtheir renewable substitutes ,limiting pollution within the sinkfunctions of nature, and

maintaining ecosystem stabilityand resilience. A Green Economyis a system of economic activitiesrelated to the production,distribution and consumption ofgoods and services that results inimproved human well-being overthe long term, whilst not exposingfuture generations to significantenvironmental risks and ecologicalscarcities. Conditions for socialjustice may include: 1) notcompromising future generationscapability to meet their needs; 2)the rights of poor countries andpoor people to development andthe obligations of rich countriesand rich people to changing theirexcessive consumption levels; 3)equal treatment of women inaccess to resources andopportunities; and 4) ensuringdecent labor conditions. A greeneconomy is one that results inimproved human well-being andsocial equity, while significantlyreducing environmental risks andecological scarcities.

A green economy is a economy oreconomic development modelbased on sustainable developmentand a knowledge of ecologicaleconomics.Its most distinguishingfeature from prior economicregimes is direct valuation ofnatural capital and ecologicalservices as having economics valueand a full cost accounting regimein which costs externalized ontosociety via ecosystems arereliably traced back to, andaccounted for as liabilities of, theentity that does the harm orneglects an asset.


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Green Economy defined byKarl Burkart is based on sixmain sector s ,which are asfollows :

8 Renewable energy (solar,wind, geothermal, marineincluding wave, biogas, andfuel cell)

8 Green buildings (greenretrofits for energy andwater efficiency, residentialand commercial assessment;green products and materials,and LEED construction)

8 Clean transportation(alternative fuels, publictransit, hybrid and electricvehicles, carsharing andcarpooling programs)

8 Water management (Waterreclamation, greywater andrainwater systems , low-water landscaping, waterpurification, stormwatermanagement)

8 Waste management(recycling, municipal solidwaste salvage, brownfieldland remediation, Superfundcleanup, sustainablepackaging)

8 Land management (organicagriculture, habitatconservation andrestoration; urban forestryand parks, reforestation andafforestation and soilstabilization)

UNEP Green EconomyInitiative (GEI)

The Green Economy Initiativelaunched by the United NationsEnvironment Programme inOctober 2008 is aimed at seizingthe opportunities this modern

concept of a green economy hasto offer. It seeks to accomplishtwo tasks. First, it tries to makea beyond-anecdotal macroe-conomic case for investing insectors that produce environ-mentally friendly orenvironmentally enhancingproducts and services (greeninvestment). By amacroeconomic case, it mainlyrefers to the contribution of greeninvestment to output and jobgrowth. Second, the initiative triesto provide guidance on how toboost pro-poor green investment.The goal is to encourage andenable policymakers to supportincreased green investment fromboth the public and privatesectors.

The UNEP GEI activities includeproviding advisory services tocountries interested in greeningtheir economies ; producingresearch products, such as TheGreen Economy Report, TheEconomics of Ecosystems andBiodiversity (TEEB) series ofreports , and the Green JobsReport; and engaging partners toeffectively promote andimplement green economystrategies.

Concept of InclusiveGrowth

Rapid and sustained povertyreduction requires inclusive growththat allows people to contributeto and benefit from economicgrowth.Inclusive Growth refersboth to the pace and pattern ofgrowth, which are consideredinterlinked, and therefore in needto be addressed together.

Inclusive growth by its verydefinition implies an equitableallocation of resources withbenefits accruing to every sectionof society, which is a utopianconcept. But the allocation ofresources must be focused on theindented short and long termsbenefits and economic linkages atlarge and not just equitablemathematically on some regionaland population criteria.Utopia it isbecause it dreams of an idealstate which we all strivetowards.The inclusive growthapproach takes a longer termperspective as the focus is onproductive employment ratherthan on direct incomeredistribution, as a means ofincreasing incomes for excludedgroups. The inclusive growthdefinition is in line with theabsolute definition of pro-poorgrowth, but not the relativedefinition.

By focusing on inequality, therelative definition could lead tosub-optimal outcomes for bothpoor and non-poor households.Inclusive growth focuses on ex-ante analysis of sources of, andconstraints to sustained, highgrowth, and not only on onegroup the poor.

Key components of InclusiveGrowth (IG)should be asfollows : -

8 IG focuses on economicgrowth which is a necessaryand crucial condition forpoverty reduction.

8 IG adopts a long termperspective and is concernedwith sustained growth.(i) For growth to be

sustained in the long


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linkages of a green economy forpoverty eradication and broad-based, inclusive growth.Integrating green economystrategies and policies intopoverty eradication, food securityand energy security is animperative for sustainabledevelopment.

Objectives of the MinisterialDiscussion were:-

(i) To obtain a comprehensiveupdate on the recent greeneconomy developmentswithin major internationalpolicy forums and throughthe UNEP-led greeneconomy initiative;

(ii) To discuss how the conceptof the green economy can befurther implemented at thecountry level;

(iii) To build on existing policiesand processes that aresupporting the shift tosustainable consumption andproduction and a greeneconomy;

Conclusively we can say,designedproperly, green economy policiesand programmes with inclusivegrowth mechanism can directlycontribute to poverty eradication.Successful examples can offerlessons and possible models for

replication. For instance, Indiasrural employment guaranteeprogramme is at one and the sametime an anti-poverty programmeand an ecosystem restorationprogramme.

Understanding the flexibility orlack of flexibility of each countryto change this energy mix anddevising innovative methods tosecure energy security are theneed of the hour withoutcompromising on the need for higheconomic growth to meet theaspirations of the people,especially in developing countries.

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The space activities in thecountry were initiated withthe setting up of IndianNational Committee forSpace Research(INCOSPAR) in 1962. Inthe same year, the work onThumba EquatorialRocket Launching Station,

(TERLS) near Thiruvananthapuram was alsostarted. The Indian space programme wasinstitutionalized in November 1969 with the formationof Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). TheGovernment of India constituted the SpaceCommission and established the Department of Space(DOS) in June 1972 and brought ISRO under DOSin September 1972. Department of Space (DOS) hasthe primary responsibility of promoting developmentof space science, technology and applications towardsachieving self reliance and assisting in all rounddevelopment of the nation. Both the DOS and ISROHeadquarters are located at Bangalore. Thedevelopment activities are carried out at the Centresand Units spread over the country.

FIRST FEW STEPS TOWARDS SPACEIndia launched its first experimental satellite,Aryabhatta, in 1975 this was followed by a series ofexperimental satellites like Bhaskara , Rohini,stretched Rohini satellite series, SROSS. The firstIndian experimental satellite, APPLE, was launched.Indian space programme reached the new stage withthe launch of the series of INSAT (Indian National

INDIA IN SPACE :A BAG FULL OF SUCCESS

Satellite) in1983, we have entered the fourthgeneration of these satellites. The first generations ofINSAT satellites were imported from United States.

DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGYIndia has indigenously developed the subsequentgeneration of INSAT satellites. The INSAT satellitesystem was jointly owned by the departments ofTelecommunications, Space, All India Radio,Doordarshan, Indian Meteorology department. Thesuper cyclone of Orissa has highlighted the limitationof Indian space programme. This led to thedevelopment of exclusive satellites. The first everexclusive satellite for weather monitoring calledMETSAT was launched. This was named Kalpanaafter the Indian born American astronaut KalpanaChawla who died in Colombia crash.India hadlaunched an exclusive satellite for education calledEDUSAT. This has revolutionized the fields ofeducation and health too. The tele education and telemedicine projects got further boost with thesuccessful launching of this exclusive satellite. Indialaunched the series of remote sensing satellites in1988. The latest in this series was RESOURCE SAT.Apart from satellites and satellite launch vehicles,India developed an impressive space infrastructure.For instance, the Vikram Sarabai Space Centre-VSSCat trivendrum, National Remote Sensing Agency inHyderabad, Space Application Centre-SAC, inAhmedabad., Thumba Equatorial Rocket LaunchingStation - TERLS at Thumba in Kerala. PhysicalResearch laboratories - PRL in Ahmedabad , and ahost of satellite tracking ground stations in India and

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Abroad. Several universities, research institutions arealso actively associated with the development of spaceprogramme in India.

OBJECTIVES & SPECIALITIES OFINDIAN SPACE PROGRAMMESThe Space Commission formulates the policies andoversees the implementation of the Indian spaceprogramme to promote the development andapplication of space science and technology for thesocio-economic benefit of the country. The specialityof Indian space programme is that it is dedicated tothe socio economic development of our country. Evenbefore India had its first experimental satellite, Indiaconducted the Satellite Instructional TelevisionExperimen t- SITE in 1975-76. The American satelliteATS-6 was leased out for this purpose. As a part ofthis experiment, television programmes were beamedto 2500 villages using satellite. This experiment pavedthe way for the development of television in India. In1977-79, India successfully conducted SatelliteTelecommuni-cation Experimental Project - STEP.The Franco German satellite, Symphony was takenon lease for this purpose. The INSAT satellitesprovided benefits ranging from televisionbroadcasting to weather prediction.Telecommunication, tele education, tele medicineprojects are carried out with the help of INSATsatellites. The myriad hour multi channel televisionboom would not have been possible without theINSAT satellite system. The information revolutionand telecommuni-cation revolution were also theresult of the INSAT satellites. Indian National Satellite(INSAT) programme for telecommunications, TVbroadcasting, meteorology, developmental education,etc. Remote Sensing programme for application ofsatellite imagery for various developmental purposes.Indigenous capability for design and development ofspacecraft and associated technologies forcommunications, resources survey and space sciences.Design and development of launch vehicles withindigenous technology for access to space and orbitingINSAT, IRS spacecraft and space science missions.

Research and development in space sciences andtechnologies as well as application programme fornational development.

REMOTE SENSING SATELITESThe Remote Sensing satellites provide a range ofbenefits. They include the Exploration of naturalresources, flood zone mapping, drought assessment,desert land identification and reclamation, estimatingthe forest cover, assessing the extent of smokegenerated by thermal power stations, estimating thecrop yield and crop acreage, providing locationspecific development information, monitoring ofcommand areas, etc. India is conducting NationalNatural Resources Management Systems- NNRMSusing remote sensing data provided by these satellites.We are also conducting Integrated Mission forSustainable Development-IMSD, with the serviceprovided by these satellites. The Vanjuvankawatershed in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh isalso part of IMSD. These satellites are the mostadvanced and sophisticated satellites making usleaders in the area of remote sensing. For instance,the OCEAN SAT can measure the oxygen quantityin the algae underneath the oceans thereby giving anaccurate estimate of marine resources. Biennial forestsurveys are conducted using the data provided byremote sensing satellites. Our remote sensing satellitescan provide reasonably accurate data about the extentof crops sown helping us to undertake agriculturalplans. These remote sensing satellites can estimate thepossible crop yield one month before harvest.Monitoring of command areas using these satelliteswould ensure supply of irrigation water to the tail endfarmers. The very small aperture terminals VSATswere set up to support the national information andcommunication network.

INDIA IN ELITE LEAGUE & MARKETING PROCESSApart from satellites, India developed capabilities inlaunch vehicle technology too. Starting with asimple Satellite Launch Vehicle-SLV, India went onto develop the Augmented Satellite Launch vehicle-



ASLV, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-PSLV,the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-GSLV . India has also indigenously developed theVIKAS engine used in the PSLV. The PSLV is usedfor the launching of remote sensing satellites in earthspolar orbit. The PSLV was also used in theChandrayan, Indias first ever Lunar Mission. TheGeo Synchronous satellite launch vehicle is used in the launching of communication satellites in earthsGeo Synchronous orbit. India has also indigenouslydeveloped the cryogenic engine used in the GSLV.India is not only self sufficient in space programme,but infact attained international recognition. Thishelped us to enter into highly competitive global spaceproducts market. A special agency called ANTRIXCorporation was set up for this purpose within theDepartment of Space. Indias INSAT- 2 Etransponders were leased to INTELSAT, InternationalTelecommunication Satellite. India has also enteredinto an agreement with the European space agencyAERIAN space for the marketing of its LaunchVehicle Technology. We have also reached anagreement with the American Remote SensingCompany SIO SAT for marketing its remote sensingdata. India conducted a programme called sharing ofexperience in space, shares to train the third worldspace personnel. India is also becoming part of Russias GLOSNOS project. Indian Space Programmedeveloped many products which are now used inindustry. The space programme has several spin offbenefits which include production of low weightmaterial used in creation of artificial limbs.Againstthis impressive background, India has now embarkedupon the ambitious programme of lunar mission. Thesuccess of Chandrayaan-1 revealed to the world, Indias capability in one of the highly sophisticatedareas of science and technology.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF ISRO SO FAR IN BRIEFSo far, 51 Indian Satellite Missions, and 27 Launchesfrom Sriharikota have been conducted.Namely theyare as follows:-

2011

PSLV-C16 successfully launches ThreeSatellitesRESOURCESAT-2, YOUTHSAT,X-SAT from Sriharikota (April 20, 2011).

2010

GSLV-F06 launched from Shriharikota (Dec25, 2010). GSAT-5Pcould not be placed intoorbit as the GSLV-F06 mission was notsuccessful.

PSLV-C15 successfully launches Five Satellites CARTOSAT-2B, ALSAT-2A, twonanosatellites-NLS-6.1 & 6.2 and a pico-satellite-STUDSAT from Sriharikota (July 12,2010).

GSLV-D3 launched from Sriharikota (Apr 15,2010). GSAT-4satellite could not be placed inorbit as flight testing of the IndigenousCryogenic Stage in GSLV-D3 Mission was notsuccessful.

2009

PSLV-C14 successfully launches SevenSatellites OCEANSAT-2, Four CUBESATSatellites and Two RUBIN-9 from Sriharikota(Sept. 23, 2009).

PSLV-C12 successfully launches RISAT-2 andANUSAT from Sriharikota (April 20, 2009).

2008

PSLV-C11 successfully launchesCHANDRAYAAN-1 from Sriharikota(October 22, 2008).

PSLV-C9 successfully launches CARTOSAT-2A, IMS-1 and 8 foreign nano satellites fromSriharikota (April 28,2008).

PSLV-C10 successfully launches TECSARsatellite under a commercial contract withAntrix Corporation (January 21, 2008).



2007

Successful launch of GSLV (GSLV-F04) withINSAT-4CR on board from SDSC SHAR(September 2, 2007).

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C8, successfully launched Italian astronomicalsatellite, AGILE from Sriharikota (April 23,2007).

Successful launch of INSAT-4B by Ariane-5from Kourou French Guyana, (March 12,2007).

Successful recovery of SRE-1 aftermanoeuvring it to reenter the earths atmosphereand descend over the Bay of Bengal about 140km east of Sriharikota (January 22, 2007).

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C7 successfully launches four satellites Indias CARTOSAT-2 and Space CapsuleRecovery Experiment (SRE-1) and IndonesiasLAPAN-TUBSAT and ArgentinasPEHUENSAT-1 (January 10, 2007).

2006

Second operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F02)from SDSC SHAR with INSAT-4C on board.(July 10, 2006). Satellite could not be placedin orbit.

2005

Successful launch of INSAT-4A by Ariane fromKourou French Guyana, (December 22, 2005).

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C6, successfully launched CARTOSAT-1 andHAMSAT satellites from Sriharikota(May 5,2005).

2004

The first operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F01) successfully launched EDUSAT fromSDSC SHAR, Sriharikota (September 20,2004)

2003

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C5, successfully launched RESOURCESAT-1(IRS-P6) satellite from Sriharikota (October17, 2003). Successful launch of INSAT-3E byAriane from Kourou French Guyana,(September 28, 2003).

The Second developmental launch of GSLV-D2 with GSAT-2on board from Sriharikota(May 8, 2003).

Successful launch of INSAT-3A by Ariane fromKourou French Guyana, (April 10, 2003).

2002

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C4, successfully launched KALPANA-1satellite from Sriharikota(September 12, 2002).

Successful launch of INSAT-3C by Ariane fromKourou French Guyana, (January 24, 2002).

2001

ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C3,successfully launched three satellites Technology Experiment Satellite (TES)ofISRO, BIRD of Germany and PROBA ofBelgiuminto their intended orbits (October 22,2001).

The first developmental launch of GSLV-D1with GSAT-1 on board from Sriharikota (April18, 2001).

2000

INSAT-3B, the first satellite in the thirdgeneration INSAT-3 series, launched by Arianefrom Kourou French Guyana, (March 22,2000).

1999

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-P4(OCEANSAT), launched byPolar Satellite



Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C2) along with KoreanKITSAT-3 and German DLR-TUBSAT fromSriharikota (May 26, 1999). INSAT-2E, the lastsatellite in the multipurpose INSAT-2 series,launched by Ariane from Kourou FrenchGuyana, (April 3, 1999).

1998

INSAT system capacity augmented with thereadiness of INSAT-2DTacquired fromARABSAT (January 1998).

1997

INSAT-2D, fourth satellite in the INSAT series,launched (June 4, 1997). Becomes inoperableon October 4, 1997. (An in-orbit satellite,ARABSAT-1C, since renamed INSAT-2DT,was acquired in November 1997 to partlyaugment the INSAT system).

First operational launch of PSLV with IRS-1Don board (September 29, 1997). Satellite placedin orbit.

1996

Third developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P3, on board (March 21, 1996). Satellite placedin polar sunsynchronous orbit.

1995

Launch of third operational Indian RemoteSensing Satellite, IRS-1C(December 28, 1995).INSAT-2C, the third satellite in the INSAT-2series, launched (December 7, 1995).

1994

Second developmental launch of PSLV withIRS-P2, on board (October 15, 1994). Satellitesuccessfully placed in Polar SunsynchronousOrbit.

Fourth developmental launch of ASLV withSROSS-C2, on board (May 4, 1994). Satelliteplaced in orbit.

1993

First developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-1E on board (September 20, 1993). Satellitecould not be placed in orbit

INSAT-2B, the second satellite in the INSAT-2series, launched (July 23, 1993).

1992

INSAT-2A, the first satellite of theindigenously-built second-generation INSATseries, launched (July 10, 1992).

Third developmental launch of ASLV withSROSS-Con board (May 20, 1992). Satelliteplaced in orbit.

1991

Second operational Remote Sensing satellite,IRS-1B, launched (August 29, 1991).

1990

INSAT-1D launched (June 12, 1990).1988

INSAT-1C launched (July 21,1988).Abandoned in November 1989. Seconddevelopmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-2on board (July 13, 1988). Satellite could notbe placed in orbit.

Launch of first operational Indian RemoteSensing Satellite, IRS-1A(March 17, 1988).

1987

First developmental launch of ASLV withSROSS-1 satellite on board (March 24, 1987).Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

1984

Indo-Soviet manned space mission (April1984).

1983

INSAT-1B, launched (August 30, 1983).



Second developmental launch of SLV-3. RS-D2 placed in orbit (April 17, 1983).

1982

INSAT-1A launched (April 10, 1982).Deactivated on September 6, 1982.

1981

Bhaskara-II launched (November 20, 1981).APPLE, an experimental geo-stationarycommunication satellite successfully launched(June 19, 1981). RS-D1 placed in orbit (May31, 1981)First developmental launch of SLV-3.

1980

Second Experimental launch of SLV-3, Rohinisatellite successfully placed in orbit. (July 18,1980).

1979

First Experimental launch of SLV-3 with RohiniTechnology Payloadon board (August 10,1979). Satellite could not be placed in orbit.

Bhaskara-I, an experimental satellite for earthobservations, launched (June 7, 1979).

1977

Satellite Telecommunication ExperimentsProject (STEP) carried out.

19751976

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment(SITE) conducted.

1975

ISRO First Indian Satellite, Aryabhata,launched (April 19, 1975).BecomesGovernment Organisation (April 1, 1975).

19721976

Air-borne remote sensing experiments.1972

Space Commission and Department of Spaceset up (June 1, 1972). ISRO brought underDOS.

1969

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)formed under Department of Atomic Energy(August 15, 1969).

1968

TERLS dedicated to the United Nations(February 2, 1968).

1967

Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station setup at Ahmedabad.

1965

Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC)established in Thumba.

1963

First sounding rocket launched from TERLS(November 21, 1963).

1962

Indian National Committee for Space Research(INCOSPAR) formed by the Department ofAtomic Energy and work on establishingThumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station(TERLS) started.

Source : Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO)

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