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INDEX

1. National news 1.1 India can’t be refugee capital’s govt

1.2 Indus script was written from right to left

1.3 Graduates from IIT, NIT to teach in rural areas

1.4 India’s growth depends on northeastern states

1.5 It’s complicated say Delhi’s notionally unwanted girls

2. International News 2.1 Maladives government declares emergency

2.2 Palestine asks Modi to mediate

2.3 India rejects Maladives offer

3. Polity and Governance 3.1 Jallikattu pleas go to constitution bench

3.2 Centre’s plan may boost farmer’s solar power use

3.3 Ayushman Bharat – new health scheme

3.4 SC flags exclusions under Aadhaar

3.5 When 2 adults marry, none should interface

4. Economy 4.1 Union Budget 2018-19 highlights

4.2 SEBI gets teeth to act against exchanges, new market outfits

4.3 Higher MSPs for farmer’s won’t accelerate inflation: analysts

4.4 RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6%

4.5 Ujjawala Yojana to benefit eight crore women now

5. Science and Tech 5.1 Agni I test fired off the Odisha coast

5.2 India test fires nuclear capable Prithvi II

5.3 India Health Fund to boost research on TB, malaria

6. Environment / Geography 6.1 Bhutan, Nepak, Bangladesh to be part of India’s tiger census

7. Security 7.1 INS Kararaj boosts Navy’s fire power

8. India and World 8.1 Indian aid for Palestine diplomatic institute


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Current Affairs (01 to 10 February, 2018)

1. National News

1.1 India can’t be refugee capital’s govt

“We do not want India to become the refugee capital of the world,” the Centre told the

Supreme Court.

The government was responding to a submission made by Rohingya refugees that the Border

Security Force (BSF) at the borders was “pushing back” their compatriots fleeing persecution in

Myanmar with chilli spray and stun grenades.

“People from every other country will flood our country,” Additional Solicitor General Tushar

Mehta, for the government, orally submitted before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak

Misra.

Mr. Mehta submitted that the government was in talks and should be allowed to take a

decision. There was no contingency as of now and this was not a matter for the court to

intervene.

Mr. Mehta said he needed time to respond to the allegations made by the refugees,

represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, about being driven back from the border.

Mr. Bhushan submitted that welcoming refugees, who had fled persecution, with violence was

against India’s international and humanitarian commitments. He pointed out that the Rohingya

refugees in camps in India lived in abject poverty and squalour.

1.2 Indus script was written from right to left

Two scientists working at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, (IMSc) have figured

out a way to computationally estimate whether a language is written from left to right or

otherwise. Most interestingly, they have studied the Indus script and

calculated that it must flow from right to left.

“Professor Iravatham Mahadevan [the well-known Indus scholar] was

one of the experts who had figured out that the Indus script ran from

right to left by observing how the writing got a little cramped as it ran

towards the left — suggesting that the writer started writing at the

right end and ended up running out of space as he or she reached the

left end,” says Sitabhra Sinha of IMSc, one of the scientist who carried out the study.

“In a workshop at Roja Muthiah Research library, he asked the audience whether it was possible

to come up with a mathematically rigorous technique to infer the ‘handedness’ of a script —

that is, to deduce whether the script was written from left to right or right to left,” adds Mr.

Sinha. This question set Mohammed Ashraf, a research scholar with B.S. Abdur Rahman

University, Chennai, thinking and led him to this collaboration and discovery.


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We know intuitively that in a language, some words are used more often than others. Similarly,

some letters of the alphabet occur more at the start of words and others are more common at

the end of words.

The variation faced by different letters may be measured using two independent statistical

indices — the Gini index and Shannon’s entropy. Mr. Sinha and Mr. Ashraf have established that

there is a difference between these measures when calculated for the first letter and the last

letter.

This difference between start and end of a word makes it possible for them to identify whether

the word is written from left to right or the other way around.

1.3 Graduates from IIT, NIT to teach in rural areas

More than 1,200 youngsters with Ph.D and M. Tech degrees from institutions like Indian

Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and National Institutes of

Technology will spend the next three years teaching at 53 government engineering colleges in

rural areas of districts lagging behind in technical education.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on Wednesday that

these teachers had already joined the colleges. The teachers will be there on a three-year

contract and get paid ₹70,000 a month.

Later, they can either choose to stay in academics or join the corporate world.

This initiative, entailing an expenditure of ₹370 crore, is a result of the Centre helping state

governments fill up vacancies in backward districts in 11 states where engineering students

were suffering because of dearth of teachers.

“5,000 people had applied. Out of those, 1,225 were selected and they have already joined,” Mr.

Javadekar said.

“As many as one lakh students in these developing states will benefit as a result of this.” Among

the over 1200 candidates selected, about 300 have PhD degrees and about 900 have M.Tech

degrees.

The focus is on states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha

and the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands.

1.4 India’s growth depends on northeastern states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India’s growth depends on how fast the eight-

State northeast grows.

Addressing potential investors and industry captains at an international event, Advantage

Assam, Mr. Modi said the northeast was destined to take the centre stage of the Centre’s Act

East Policy, which aims at taking India’s trade and cultural ties with eastern neighbours and the

ASEAN bloc to greater heights.


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Connectivity is key

Connectivity is key to developing the region, the reason why the government has adopted the

motto of “transformation by transportation” to change the face of the northeast, Mr. Modi said.

“The mindset that nothing can change in India has changed, and this is showing in the speed of

work such as expansion of road and railway network,” the Prime Minister said.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs. 47,000 crore for 115 new railway lines and Rs. 90,000 for rural

roads and National Highway projects in the region, he pointed out.

Mr. Modi also made it clear that the future of the northeast lies in its trade and cultural ties with

the ASEAN, a group of countries with whom India has enjoyed thousands of years of

relationship.

“Formal India-ASEAN ties may be 25 years old, but our association has been there for ages. So

have been our ties with Bangladesh and Bhutan,” the Prime Minister said.

1.5 It’s complicated say Delhi’s notionally unwanted girls

Sonia Malhotra, 42, says she never felt unwanted growing up, but remembers the subtle

differences in the way her parents treated their three daughters compared to the two sons.

“My sisters and I were not allowed to pursue sports or studies to the extent we wanted. Our

parents never explicitly talked about their decision, but they stopped having children after my

youngest brother was born. They had had one boy, followed by three girls and then a son,” she

says.


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While the Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament on January 29, says 21 million girls in India

were “unwanted”, families covered by the statistic say the situation is not that easy to explain.

Coming up with the first such estimate of “notionally unwanted girls”, the survey calculates the

difference between the actual sex ratio and the ideal sex ratio for each birth order. “While

active sex selection via fetal abortions is widely prevalent, son preference can also manifest

itself in a subtler form,” the survey says, leading to fewer resources for girls.

By looking at the sex ratio of the last child (SRLC), the survey is able to estimate if there is a

preference for a male child. If there was no preference, then the number of boys and girls born,

irrespective of the birth order, would be around the same.

Delhi, which ranks second after Haryana in terms of sex ratio at birth (with around 1,191 males

per 1,000 females), has an SRLC tilted heavily towards males. For every 1,000 females, there are

around 1,750 males when it comes to SRLC.


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2. International News

2.1 Maladives government declares emergency

The Maldives government declared a state of emergency for 15 days, amid a spiralling political

crisis in the island nation following a Supreme Court order last week to release Opposition

leaders from prison.

“During this time, though certain rights will be restricted, general movements, services and

businesses will not be affected.

The Government of Maldives also wishes to assure all Maldivians and the international

community that the safety of all Maldivians and foreigners living in and visiting the Maldives will

be ensured,” said a statement from President Abdulla Yameen’s office.

More power for officials

Sources said the state of emergency gives security officials extra powers to arrest suspects. The

development comes five days after the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of nine

Opposition leaders, including the exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed. It also ordered

that 12 MPs expelled earlier be reinstated.

Eva Abdulla, an MP and member of the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, said: “The

declaration of state of emergency is an indication of Mr. Yameen’s desperation. It only serves to

show an isolated man who no longer has the confidence of the people and independent

institutions.”

2.2 Palestine asks Modi to mediate

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Palestine is “historic” and will be important in the West

Asian peace process, says a key diplomatic official in Ramallah, indicating a greater role for India

in the political process with the decline of the U.S. role in mediation.

“Mr. Modi is visiting us at an important juncture when Palestine needs India to interact much

more with the region,” Majdi El-Khaldi, the diplomatic adviser to Palestinian President

Mahmoud Abbas told The Hindu, in an exclusive interview over telephone from the seat of the

Palestinian authority.

“The U.S. can no longer be the only mediator,” he said, referring to the U.S.’s decision to

recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “We are asking the European Union and EU countries to

mediate, and we are inviting India, which will be a strong leader in a multipolar world, to assist

the process.”

Mr. El-Khaldi’s words are significant as they come during a period of intensive engagement

between New Delhi and West Asia.

After Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India last month, the government is

pivoting its interests to Israel’s rivals: with the PM travelling to Jordan, Palestine, Oman and the

UAE this week, and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visiting Saudi Arabia.


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High-level visits

New Delhi is also preparing for three high-level visits, from the region’s most powerful leaders,

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Jordanian King Abdullah II in February, and Saudi King

Salman later this year.

Calling the renewed engagement in West Asia as “smart diplomacy” by India, Mr. El-Khaldi said

that India was one of the “few countries in the world” that had no problems with most of the

countries in the region.

Asked about Mr. Netanyahu’s statement during his visit to Delhi that one should “ally with the

strong”, not the weak, Mr. El-Khaldi said that while Palestine was the “weaker side” as it was

“under occupation”, and India had many technological requirements from Israel, it was wrong to

believe that India would “choose Israel over Palestine.”

“When it comes to specific disputes, Palestinians are mindful of their position, and we don’t

interfere in domestic issues. When our Ambassador [to Pakistan] didn’t follow this policy, even if

it was inadvertent, we said it was a mistake and withdrew him immediately,” Mr. El-Khaldi said.

2.3 India rejects Maladives offer

“Democratic institutions and the judiciary continue to be undermined and concerns ignored.

These issues need to be properly addressed,” they added.

The strain in ties between New Delhi and Male comes in sharp contrast to an attempt to boost

ties just last month. On January 11, Foreign Minister Mohamad Asim had travelled to Delhi and

met Mr. Modi and Ms. Swaraj, inviting Mr. Modi to visit Male and had affirmed Maldives’ policy

of “India First”.

Denying reports that President Yameen had intended to “bypass” India, Maldives High

Commissioner to India Ahmed Mohamed, who is at present in Male, said, “India was in fact the

first stop planned and proposed for a visit of a special envoy of the President of the Maldives.”

A press release from the Maldivian embassy said that Mr. Yameen had proposed to send Foreign

Minister Mohamad Asim to Delhi for a visit 8-9 February, but the visit was “cancelled on the

request of the Government of India”.


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3. Polity and Governance

3.1 Jallikattu pleas go to constitution bench

The Supreme Court referred to a Constitution Bench to decide whether the people of Tamil

Nadu can preserve jallikattu as their cultural heritage under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution

and demand its protection.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman referred to a

five-judge Bench a batch of petitions filed by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals and

activists to strike down the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of

2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Conduct of Jallikattu) Rules of 2017.

They contended that the amended laws had opened the gates for the conduct of the popular

bull-taming sport in the name of culture and tradition despite a 2014 ban by the Supreme Court.

It is for the first time the Supreme Court is considering the question of granting constitutional

protection to jallikattu as a collective cultural right under Article 29 (1), Article 29(1) is a

fundamental right guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution to protect the educational and

cultural rights of citizens.

Though commonly used to protect the interests of minorities, Article 29(1) mandates that “any

section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct

language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.

The Constitution Bench would also look into whether the 2017 jallikattu and bullock-cart races

laws would actually sub-serve the objective of “prevention” of cruelty to animals under the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960.

On the other hand, the apex court frames the question, “does it perpetuate cruelty to animals

and therefore, can it be said to be a means of cruelty to animals?”

The Bench would also consider whether the amended laws — in pith and substance — would

ensure “the survival and well-being of the native breed of bulls”.

Finally, the Bench would examine whether the new Jallikattu laws are “relatable” to Article 48 of

the Constitution, which says it is an endeavour of the State to organise agricultire and animal

husbandry on modern and scientific lines.

3.2 Centre’s plan may boost farmer’s solar power use

The Centre has announced a ₹1.4 lakh-crore scheme for promoting decentralised solar power

production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers, according to R. K. Singh, Minister of State for

Power and New and Renewable Energy.

The Centre will spend ₹48,000 crore on the ten-year scheme which was announced in the Union

Budget 2018-19. Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan or KUSUM scheme would

provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid

through solar power projects set up on their barren lands, the Minister said.

It would help in de-dieselising the sector as also the DISCOMS, he said.


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India had about 30 million farm pumps that include 10 million pumps running on diesel.

‘Positive outcomes’

The Minister said the positive outcomes that are expected when the scheme is fully

implemented across the country include promotion of decentralised solar power production,

reduction of transmission losses as well as providing support to the financial health of DISCOMs

by reducing the subsidy burden to the agriculture sector.

The scheme would also promote energy efficiency and water conservation and provide water

security to farmers.

The components of the scheme include building 10,000 MW solar plants on barren lands and

providing sops to DISCOMS to purchase the electricity produced, ‘solarising’ existing pumps of

7250 MW as well as government tube wells with a capacity of 8250 MW and distributing 17.5

lakh solar pumps.

The 60% subsidy on the solar pumps provided to farmers will be shared between the Centre and

the States while 30% would be provided through bank loans. The balance cost has to be borne

by the farmers.

3.3 Ayushman Bharat – new health scheme

The NDA government lost precious time in its first three years in initiating a health scheme that

serves the twin purposes of achieving universal coverage and saving people from high health

care costs.

It announced two years ago in the Budget a health protection scheme offering a cover of ₹1 lakh

per family, but ultimately that did not extend beyond ₹30,000. Fresh hopes have been raised

with the announcement of Ayushman Bharat in Budget 2018.

The plan has the components of opening health centres for diagnostics, care and distribution of

essential drugs as envisaged in the National Health Policy, and a National Health Protection

Scheme (NHPS) to provide a cover of up to ₹5 lakh each for 10 crore poor and vulnerable

families for hospitalisation.

These are challenging goals, given the fragmented nature of India’s health system. Some States

already purchase health cover for the poor, but do not regulate private secondary and tertiary

care services or treatment costs.

The task before the Centre, which has provided ₹3,200 crore for the programme areas, is to now

draw up an implementation roadmap.

Future progress and Challenges

Developing countries that launched universal health coverage schemes over a decade ago, such

as Mexico, had to address some key challenges.

These included transfer of resources to provinces, recruitment of health personnel, and

purchase and distribution of medicines to the chosen units.


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All these apply to India. Moreover, the steady growth of a for-profit tertiary care sector poses

the additional challenge of arriving at a basic care package for those who are covered by the

NHPS, at appropriate costs.

A national health system will also have to subsume all existing state-funded insurance schemes.

This will give beneficiaries access not just within a particular State but across the country to

empanelled hospitals.

In the case of the local health centres that are planned under the Ayushman Bharat programme,

there is tremendous potential to play a preventive role by reducing the incidence and impact of

non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

Such centres can dispense free essential medication prescribed by all registered doctors and

procured through a centralised agency. But the efficiency of a large-scale health system depends

on strict regulation.

The early experience with state-funded insurance for the poor shows that some private

hospitals may resort to unnecessary tests and treatments to inflate claims. Determination of

treatment costs by the government is therefore important.

This will also aid those with private health insurance, since it eliminates information asymmetry

and provides a comparison point. The Centre must share details of the next steps.

3.4 SC flags exclusions under Aadhaar

SC asked the government and UIDAI whether it was not their obligation to ensure that ordinary

people, especially pensioners and the marginalised sections, were able to access their

entitlements till an “adequate mechanism” for authentication of identity under the Aadhaar Act

is put in place.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, one of the judges on the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak

Misra hearing the challenge to the Aadhaar law, was responding to Additional Solicitor General

Tushar Mehta, who read out a communication by the Cabinet Secretary in December last year,

informing that possession of Aadhaar is enough to access entitlements if online authentication is

not feasible.

Nationwide problems

“This shows that the Cabinet Secretary, as late as this, perceived a countrywide problem,”

Justice Chandrachud reacted.

But the government insisted that the law does not exclude anyone from accessing their

entitlements merely because of authentication failures by fingerprint and iris scanners.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, on the five-judge Constitution Bench, termed exclusion of people

from their rightful entitlements because of biological reasons like old age was of a “permanent

nature” unlike exclusion due to infrastructural failure like lack of electricity, Wi-Fi or biometric

scanners in certain regions of the country. The latter can be remedied, while the former cannot,

the judge pointed out to the government.


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The court was hearing submissions by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, on behalf of petitioners, that

Aadhaar was a scheme which “works against people like the poor, the marginalised and the old

who already have entitlements.”

He submitted that the elderly were unable to get their pension because the scanners were

unable to read or scan their fingerprints or irises.

“Nobody is being excluded. It is enough to furnish proof of Aadhaar number wherever

infrastructure is not functioning. That is what the government wants,” senior advocate Rakesh

Dwivedi, for UIDAI, countered by reading out provisions from the Aadhaar Act.

Lack of awareness

“But many people are illiterate and may not know about these provisions. You (government)

have to take care of them,” Justice A.K. Sikri, on the Bench, reacted.

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal intervened to say that there was no need for an interim order

as the government had extended the deadline for Aadhaar linkage to subsidies, benefits and

services to March 31, 2018. Chief Justice Misra said there was no need to pass any interim

orders for now and the hearing should proceed. “We are not taking any note of that,” Chief

Justice Misra said.

Justice Chandrachud, however, at a later point in the hearing, observed that “authentication is

at the heart of the matter”.

3.5 When 2 adults marry, none should interface

Two adults are free to marry and “no third party” has a right to harass or cause harm to them,

said Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, speaking against honour killings on Monday.

“When two people get into wedlock, no one should interfere. Neither parents, society, khap or

panchayat... no one at all,” said Chief Justice Misra, leading a three-judge Bench that upheld the

fundamental right of two people who wish to marry and live peacefully.

‘Honour killing’

When activist Madhu Kishwar brought up the issue of Ankit Saxena, a young man who was

allegedly murdered by his lover’s parents, the Chief Justice said, “We are not into that. That is

not before us.”

Ms. Kishwar said “honour killing” was “too soft a word” for such crimes against young people.

“They should be called hate crimes,” she submitted.

Marriage within the same gotra led to genetic deformity in children, the counsel argued.

“We encourage inter-caste marriages. In Haryana, because of the skewed gender ratio, we get

women from other States,” the counsel said.

Freedom of adults


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But the Chief Justice said the court was not concerned about khap panchayats either. “We are

not writing an essay here on traditions, lineages, etc. We are only concerned with the freedom

of adults to marry and live together without facing harassment,” he said.

The counsel for khaps agreed that "custom is not above human lives".

The court is hearing a petition filed by Shakti Vahini, an NGO, to make honour killing a specific

crime.


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4. Economy

4.1 Union Budget 2018-19 highlights

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that India is expected to register a growth rate of 7.2-

7.5% in the second half of the current fiscal and is on way to becoming the 5th largest economy of the

world.

While unveiling the Budget 2018-19, the finance minister said, India has grown on an average of 7.5 per

cent in the first three years of the current government and has become a USD 2.5 trillion economy. Here

are the important announcements made by the finance minister Arun Jaitley.

* Rs 14.34 lakh crore to be spent for rural infrastructure. Eight crore free gas connections to women

under UJJWALA and 4 crore electricity connections to the poor under Saubhagya Yojana

* Agri-Market Development Fund with a corpus of 2000 crore to be set up for developing agricultural

markets. 470 APMCs have been connected to #eNAM network, the rest to be connected by March 2018

* Minimum Support Price of all crops shall be increased to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost.

Allocation in for Ministry of Food Processing is being doubled; specialised agro-processing and financial

institutions to be promoted by the government


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* India now a $2.5 trillion economy and firmly on path to achieve 8% plus growth soon. Government to

invest Rs 1 trillion in development of premium education infrastructure over next four years

* From Rs 10 lakh crore to Rs 11 lakh crore credit for agricultural activities

* Fishery and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Fund

to be set up with corpus of Rs 10,000 crore

* Restructured National Bamboo Mission to be launched with allocation of Rs 1,290 crore to promote

sector in a holistic manner

* Rs 500 crore for Operation Green

* Eklavya schools to be started for Scheduled Tribe population. Integrated B.Ed programme to be

initiated for teachers to improve quality of teachers

* Propose to set up Rs 3 trillion plan for lending under Mudra scheme in 2018/19.

* Eight crore free gas connections to women under UJJWALA and 4 crore electricity connections to the

poor under Saubhagya Yojana

* Have decided to take healthcare protection to a new aspirational level. Launching a flagship National

Health Protection Scheme to cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, benefiting approximately 50

crore people

* Providing Rs 5 lakh per family per year for medical reimbursement, under National Health Protection

Scheme. This will be world's largest health protection scheme

* Air pollution in Delhi NCR is a cause for concern; special scheme will be implemented to support

Haryana, Punjab, UP and Delhi NCT to address this and subsidise machinery for management of crop

residue

* Scheme for revitalising school infrastructure, with an allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore over four years.

Called RISE - Revitalizing Infrastructure in School Education

* Government plans to construct two crore more toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission

* One government medical college to be ensured for every three parliamentary constituencies by

upgrading 24 district-level colleges

* Govt will evolve a scheme to provide a unique ID to every enterprise on lines of Aadhaar

* Rs 1,48,528 crore capital expenditure for Indian Railways for 2018-19

* All trains to be progressively provided with Wi-Fi, CCTV and other state-of-the-art amenities

* UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads


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* Revised emoluments for President - Rs 5 lakh, Vice President - Rs 4 lakh and Governors - Rs 3.5 lakh;

Automatic revision of MPs' emoluments every five years, indexed to inflation

* No change in personal income tax rates for salaried class

4.2 SEBI gets teeth to act aginst exchanges, new market outfits

As part of the proposed amendments in the Finance Bill 2018, the government has given more

power to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to impose monetary penalties on

important market intermediaries such as stock exchanges and clearing corporations and also act

against newer categories of participants likes investment advisers, research analysts, real estate

investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).

The proposed amendments to the SEBI Act and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act now

allow the capital markets regulator to impose a monetary penalty of at least ₹5 crore on stock

exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories for non-compliance with regulatory norms.

The penalty can go up to ₹25 crore or three times the amount of gains made out of such failure

or non-compliance. Hitherto, SEBI only had the power to censure or warn against any form of

failure.

Incidentally, the new powers come at a time when the National Stock Exchange is under the

SEBI scanner in the co-location matter, with regard to which it has been alleged that a certain

set of brokers were given preferential access allowing them to make undue gains.

The amendments also allow SEBI to act against entities that furnish false or incomplete

information to the regulator. Earlier, it could act only if the entity did not furnish any

information.

The whole-time members of SEBI have also been given additional powers to act against

wrongdoers. “[Powers to] punish for filing of false, incorrect or incomplete information, return,

report, books or other documents was very much needed for SEBI,” said Sumit Agrawal, a

regulatory lawyer and an ex-SEBI official.

Quality of disclosure

“It will increase the quality of disclosure rather than just tick-the-box approach. Twin-fold

penalty powers with the wholetime member and adjudicating officer (AO) is welcome for

efficient use of human resources.

Minimum penalty of ₹5 crore proposed on market intermediaries such as stock exchanges,

clearing corporations and depositories [has emerged] for the first time and is likely to be used

rarely,” he added.

This is not the first time that the government has used the Union Budget to empower the capital

market regulator.

While presenting the Budget for 2015-16, finance minister Arun Jaitley proposed the merger of

the then commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission with SEBI. This followed

the ₹5,600 crore settlement scam at the National Spot Exchange Ltd., which came out in the

open in July 2013.


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“India is giving exposure to a lot of hybrid funds such as AIF, InvIT and REITs. Though there were

applicable laws for their incorporation, management and functioning, there was a need felt to

impose deterrents.

In the long run, it is expected that more investors will be investing in such funds and will have

investment exposure. Hence such a deterrent is necessary,” he explained.

₹1 lakh per day penalty

Incidentally, REITs and InvITs along with research analysts and investment advisers, will have to

be more careful now as the Finance Bill allows SEBI to impose a penalty of up to ₹1 lakh per day

for the period of non-compliance.

Interestingly, the government has also allowed the regulator to pursue cases against the legal

representatives of defaulters if in case a defaulter passes away during the course of regulatory

proceedings.

“Provided that, in case of any penalty payable under this Act, a legal representative shall be

liable only in case the penalty has been imposed before the death of the deceased person,” the

Finance Bill states.

4.3 Higher MSPs for farmer’s won’t accelerate inflation: analysts

The announcement of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) of 1.5 times the farmer’s cost will likely

not have a strong upward impact on overall inflation but could spur a waning of the sharp

slowdown in food price gains seen in 2017, according to officials and economists.

In the short term, a slight increase in prices of non-perishable farm products is possible as

producers hold on to produce till the higher MSPs come into effect around September or

October.

The increase in MSPs would come into effect when the Kharif crop came into the market,

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had told The Hindu, adding he did not expect

any impact in the first six months.

However, there was the possibility of an induced effect as farmers held stocks in expectation of

a higher price, he said.

Price expectations

Farmers would hold on to crops only if current prices were lower than 1.5 times the cost of

production, economists said, adding that the inflationary impact of higher MSPs would be felt

only if food prices fall fell below that level.

“If prices are currently depressed and we know that in the future it will be 1.5 times the cost,

then the prices may start going up right now,” said Ranen Banerjee, partner and leader - Public

Finance and Economics at PwC India.

Food inflation decelerated in 2017 at both the wholesale and retail levels. The ‘food and

beverages’ category of the Consumer Price Index went from a strong growth of 7.2% in May

2016 to a contraction of 0.2% in May 2017.


18


Similarly, the food part of the primary articles segment of the Wholesale Price Index went from

a growth of 6.82% to a contraction of 2.13% over the same period. These plummeting prices due

to excess supply had hurt farmers, forcing the government to act.

The nature of MSPs and the fact that government has limited funds to use to buy crops at that

price, would contain inflationary expectations, said D.K. Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor at EY

India.

“MSPs don’t come into effect until market prices dip. And even if they dip, government’s ability

to purchase at MSP is based on budget allocation. Currently, only limited purchases are done

due to budget and quality considerations. If all the crops were to be bought, then the budgetary

allocation would have to be much higher,” he said.

4.4 RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6%

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday held the policy repo rate at 6% as the central bank’s

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the estimate for fourth-quarter inflation and flagged concerns

about the future outlook for price gains.

Fuel prices impact

“Domestic pump prices of petrol and diesel rose sharply in January, reflecting lagged pass-

through of the past increases in international crude oil prices,” the MPC said in its resolution.

“Considering these factors, inflation is now estimated at 5.1% in Q4, including the HRA (house

rent allowance) impact.”

The RBI had in December projected inflation to range between 4.3-4.7% for second half of the

current financial year.

The central bank also projected retail inflation in the range of 5.1-5.6% for the first half of 2018-

19, while assuming a normal monsoon — effectively ruling out any rate reduction in the near

future.

The MPC has a mandate to ensure inflation remains in a band between 2% and 6%. For the

second half of the next fiscal, inflation is projected at 4.5-4.6%, with ‘risks tilted to the upside’.

Among the upside risks to inflation, the MPC noted that pick-up in global growth could exert

further pressure on crude oil, with the higher minimum support price to farmers, announced in

the Budget, adding to the uncertainty.

However, the exact impact of higher MSP on inflation could not be fully assessed at this stage,

the RBI said. The proposed increase in customs duty on a number of items and fiscal slippage

could also impinge on inflation outlook, the RBI added.

‘No yield target’

Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said the RBI’s infusion of liquidity should not be seen as an effort

to manage bond yields. “Except in rare, extraordinary economy-wide circumstances, the goal of

RBI’s liquidity operations is not to manage directly the prices of any particular long-term asset

market.”


19


The benchmark 10-year bond’s yield eased 4 bps to 7.53% on Wednesday. The RBI pared its

2017-18 GVA growth estimate to 6.6%, from December’s 6.7%.

4.5 Ujjawala Yojana to benefit eight crore women now

The Union Cabinet took a slew of decisions across sectors, including increasing the minimum support

price for copra, increasing the target and budgetary allocation for the Ujjwala Yojana, extending the

Discovered Small Fields Policy to include more oil and gas fields, approving several bilateral agreements

signed by India, and giving its ex post facto approval to the changes made in the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Bill.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for increase in the minimum

support price (MSP) for fair average quality (FAQ) of ‘milling Copra’ to ₹7,500 a quintal for 2018

season from ₹6,500 per quintal in 2017,” the government said in a press statement.

“The MSP for FAQ of ‘ball copra’ has been increased to ₹7,750 per quintal for the 2018 season

from ₹6,785 per quintal in 2017.”

2020 deadline

The Cabinet also approved the increase in the target for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana,

meant to provide LPG connections to rural women, to eight crore from the earlier five crore,

adding that this has to be achieved by 2020.

It also approved an additional allocation for the scheme of ₹4,800 crore.

“The Union Cabinet has approved the incorporation of the official amendments to the Major

Port Authorities Bill 2016, which is pending in Parliament,” another release said.

“The amendments are based on the recommendations of the department-related Parliamentary

Standing Committee.”

The amendments include increasing the number of labour representatives that can be

appointed to the Port Authority Board, stipulating the term of office on the Board for a member

representing the interests of the employees, and setting the number of independent members

on the Board of the Port Authority.


20


5. Science and Tech

5.1 Agni I test fired off the Odisha coast

India successfully test-fired its short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-1 with a strike

range of over 700 km from a test range off the Odisha coast, Defence sources said.

The indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile was launched as a part of a periodic

training activity by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army to consolidate operational

readiness, they said.

The state-of-the-art missile was launched around 8.30 a.m. from a mobile launcher at Pad 4 of

the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at the Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler

Island, the sources said.

Describing the trial a “complete success”, they said that all the mission objectives were met

during the test.

The sophisticated Agni-I missile is propelled by a solid rocket propellant system and is equipped

with a specialised navigation system that ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of

precision, the sources said.

5.2 India test fires nuclear capable Prithvi II

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part

of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha, Defence sources said.

The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out

from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near

Balasore.

The perfect test launch came after successful trial of Agni-5 on January 18 and Agni-1 missile

conducted from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast on February 6.

Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kilogram of warheads and is thrusted by liquid

propulsion twin engines.

The state-of-the-art missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory

to hit its target, they said.

The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities

were carried out by the specially formed Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army and

monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part

of training exercise, they said.

“The missile trajectory was tracked by radars, electro- optical tracking systems and telemetry

stations by the DRDO along the coast of Odisha,” the sources said.

The downrange teams onboard the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay

of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown.

5.3 India Health Fund to boost research on TB, malaria


21


The India Health Fund (IHF), an initiative by Tata Trusts, in collaboration with the Global Fund

has come forward to financially support innovations and technologies designed to combat

tuberculosis and malaria.

The IHF aims to support new products and strategies that impact the entire lifecycle of TB and

malaria, from prevention to post-cure recovery. It has recently invited project proposals.

Tough challenge

TB and malaria pose long-standing health challenges for India.

The two diseases account for over 4.23 lakh deaths and around 15 million lab-confirmed cases

every year.

Four research areas

The four areas of research for which applications are invited are: use of technology and data science to

strengthen surveillance of TB and malaria, inform early warning systems, and improve early detection

and prompt treatment; promotion of robust molecular diagnostic facilities feasible for primary

healthcare in low-resource settings; innovations on effective communication strategies that will prevent

transmission of TB and malaria, and enable people to protect themselves from the diseases, and, finally,

research on innovative approaches to vector surveillance.


22


6. Environment / Geography

6.1 Bhutan, Nepak, Bangladesh to be part of India’s tiger census

India’s tiger census, which began late last year, will see coordination with Bhutan, Nepal and

Bangladesh in estimating the territorial spread of the animal in the subcontinent.

While India has engaged with Nepal and Bangladesh in previous tiger counts, this is the first

time all countries are uniting in arriving at tiger numbers, particularly in regions with shared

borders.

Since 2006, the WII — a Union Environment Ministry-funded body — has been tasked with

coordinating the tiger estimation exercise. The once-in-four-years exercise calculated, in 2006,

that India had only 1,411 tigers.

This rose to 1,706 in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014 in later editions on the back of improved

conservation measures and new estimation methods. The survey — divided into four phases —

began last winter and is expected to reveal its findings in early 2019.

Commissioned by the Union Environment Ministry’s National Tiger Conservation Authority, the

₹10 crore exercise this year involves 40,000 forest guards traversing 4,00,000 sq. km. of forests;

wildlife biologists independently assessing them; approximately a year’s duration of field work;

14,000 camera traps; and coordination with 18 States.

Along with tigers, the survey also collects information on the prey population of deer and other

animals.


23


7. Security

7.1 INS Kararaj boosts Navy’s fire power

The Navy’s third state-of-the-art Scorpene class submarine, INS Karanj, was launched by Reena

Lanba, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba. The new submarine is named after the

earlier Kalvari class INS Karanj, which was decommissioned in 2003.

Six Scorpene class submarines are being built under Project 75 by the Mazagon Dock

Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), Mumbai, under a $3.75 billion technology transfer signed in

October 2005 with the Naval Group of France.

However, the programme has been delayed by four years due to construction delays. On

Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office conveyed its annoyance to the Defence Ministry for not

taking stringent action against the Naval Group and MDSL for the delay.

The Scorpene class is the Navy’s first modern conventional submarine series in almost two

decades, since INS Sindhushastra was procured from Russia in July 2000.

INS Kalvari, the first to be launched, was commissioned in December 2017 by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. INS Khanderi, which was launched in January 2017, is currently undergoing

deep dive trails and is expected to be commissioned later this year, according to Navy officials .


24


8. India and World

8.1 Indian aid for Palestine diplomatic institute

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly from Amman in Jordan on February 10 to arrive in

Palestine where he is expected to lay the foundation stone of a new diplomatic training

institute, a source familiar with the planning of the visit said.

Mr. Modi’s visit will be the first by an Indian Prime Minister to Palestine and comes weeks after

India voted in favour of Palestine’s rights over Jerusalem in the United Nations General

Assembly.

“The Government of India has already sanctioned US$4.5 million for the Indo-Palestine

Diplomatic Institute which will be a unique institute in the region and it is one of the several

events that are likely to feature in the PM’s visit to Ramallah,” said the source, requesting

anonymity.

Officials say the visit is aimed at de-hyphenating India’s policy towards Israel and Palestine that

was reflected in Mr. Modi’s 2017 visit to Tel Aviv when he skipped Palestine.

Continuing with the same strategy, Mr. Modi is expected to reach Amman and land in Ramallah

in the West Bank territory of Palestine in a helicopter.

“India has traditionally provided humanitarian and educational support which also included IT

training for younger generation of Palestinians, and the visit is expected to boost bilateral ties,”

the source said.


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