A goal is a dream with a deadline.

THE HINDU Imp. News Feb.19th 2012 Page 1 India wants Italian ship captain to surrender: New Delhi wants the captain of Italian ship Enrica Lexia and two marksmen who shot dead two Indian fishermen to surrender to Kerala Police on Sunday after several rounds of diplomatic confabulations on Saturday culminated in a telephonic conversation between External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and his Italian counterpart. Rome wanted the three to be permitted to go in return for a joint investigation into the incident. But in the conversation late in the evening, Mr. Krishna turned down the offer an hour after Kerala Chief Minister Ooomen Chandy sought the Central assistance to persuade the captain and the two security personnel to give themselves up. Mr. Chandy said his government was left with no option but to arrest the Italians after receiving advice on the issue from the State's Attorney- General, said government sources here. The call from the Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata capped a hectic day of activity in Rome, where the Indian Ambassador was offered options such as the despatch of a multi-Ministerial team to Kochi and high level investigation of the incident. The sub-text was that somehow those responsible for the shooting should be sent home. CBI announces 10-lakh reward for clues to absconding IPS officer: Mr. Jain was Rajasthan's Additional Director-General of Police when charges were filed in June last year. He was declared absconder some months back. The investigating agency has also announced rewards of Rs.5 lakh each for information on three other police functionaries Inspector Rajesh Choudhary, Inspector Zulfikar Ali and Assistant Sub Inspector Arvind Bhardwaj. The encounter which led to the killing of alleged liquor smuggler Dara Singh took place on October 23, 2006, during the Vasundhara Raje regime. Suspected involvement of her senior Cabinet Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore is under investigation. The Dara Singh case was taken up by the CBI following a Supreme Court directive in the wake of his wife Sushila Devi approaching the apex court. Since then the Court has been monitoring the progress of investigations.

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INTERNATIONAL China sticks to its guns on Syria: China on Saturday reaffirmed that it continues to reject the western-backed Arab plan that calls for the exit of President Bashar Al Assad as the first step towards achieving a political transition in the strife-torn nation. Visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun made it plain to the media after talks with Syrian leadership, that contrary to western exhortations, China would unambiguously support the roadmap scripted by Mr. Assad for stabilising democracy. The plan calls for an end to violence by all sides and the conduct of a national referendum on February 26, where Syrians would vote for a constitution before the country heads for parliamentary polls. The new constitution which could anchor the fledgling democracy is expected to allow the participation of multiple parties during elections. Analysts say China is beginning to demonstrate exceptional boldness by openly defying the West on Syria a position that could not have been adopted without detailed deliberations within the various sections of the Chinese power elite. Signalling that China is recalibrating its stance, an editorial on Saturday in China's Global Times newspaper, published by the ruling Communist Party, said China's courage to truly express itself and to calmly stand its ground is worthy of merit . It added: The trajectory of China's influence on world politics is rising. Mirroring the tensions inside Syria, Reuters is reporting that thousands poured into the streets of Damascus calling for Mr. Assad's resignation, following Friday prayers. Opposition activists claim on Saturday that one person was killed on Saturday when security forces fired live rounds at a funeral procession for three protesters who were killed the previous day. They also alleged that there had been no letup in the assault by government troops in Homs, where the opposition stronghold of Baba Amr is being targeted with artillery and rocket fire a view that could not be independently confirmed. U.S. move on Balochistan tendentious: Pakistan Pakistan on Saturday reacted sharply to a resolution introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by three members asserting Balochistan's right to self-determination. Across the political spectrum, there was consensus that this amounted to an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty which could impact U.S.-Pakistan relations. In the official formulation of Pakistan's reaction put out by the Foreign Office Minister Hina Rabbani Khar took strong exception'' and said it was against the very fundamentals of long-standing Pakistan-U.S. relations. Maintaining that it was an isolated move, she said the draft resolution'' is contrary to the principles of the U.N. Charter and international law. Ms. Khar described the resolution as an unfriendly and irresponsible attempt by a few individuals to create distrust and hoped that this latest tendentious move'' will not be allowed to sail through the House by a vast majority of U.S. Congressmen who continued to support friendly bilateral relations. Referring to the unanimous resolution adopted by the National Assembly
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this week condemning the Congressional hearing , she said that clearly represented the legitimate reaction of the Pakistani people. Balochistan's affairs and issues are an internal matter of Pakistan and it is for the people of Pakistan and our democratic institutions to address these. We would advise those behind this resolution to reserve their concern and solicitude for problems closer to home. Needless to say provocations such as these will seriously impact the Pakistan-US relations. We value this relationship, but not at the cost of our dignity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' said the statement even as the U.S. embassy in Islamabad distanced itself from the resolution saying the American administration had nothing to do with it. One held for U.S. terror plot: The FBI has been working overtime on sting operations, it was evident, when it announced on Friday that it had arrested Moroccan Amine El Khalifi (29), an illegal resident in the United States, for plotting to detonate a bomb in a suicide attack on the United States Capitol Building. Khalifi's arrest, which occurred as he walked from a parking unit towards the main building wearing an inert bomb vest earlier supplied to him by an undercover FBI officer, comes in the wake of a string of similar operations that has netted the FBI numerous would-be terrorists in recent years. The FBI case against Khalifi noted that during the various meetings he had at that residence, one individual produced what appeared to be an AK-47, two revolvers and ammunition... and Khalifi allegedly expressed agreement with a statement by this individual that the war on terrorism was a war on Muslims and said that the group needed to be ready for war. BUSINESS Pranab Mukherjee holds parleys with regulators on budget: In possibly the last in the series of pre-budget consultations ahead of the Union Budget on March 16, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday had a meeting with the financial sector regulators to discuss ways and means of improving the investment climate and boosting a sagging economy. The meeting attended, among others, by Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao and SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Chairman U. K. Sinha and top officials of the Finance Ministry was described by the apex bank chief as a pre-budget meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) headed by the Finance Minister. Floor bid for FII investment in corporate debt cut: To encourage greater participation by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has reduced the minimum bid amount to Rs.1 crore for allocation of investments in long-term infrastructure corporate debt for such investors. Based
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on the assessment of the utilisation of the limits to FIIs for investments in corporate debt longterm infra category (with one year lock in and one year residual maturity clause), it has been decided to allocate the unutilised limits. The bidding of this limit will be done on the National Stock Exchange on February 29, SEBI said in a circular. Page 5 FATF nod for revised proposals for combating money laundering: The plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) being held in Paris has approved the revised recommendations for combating money laundering and financing of terrorism. According to an official statement here, the plenary also discussed the fourth follow-up report on India's progress on the action plan that it had committed to in June 2010 and appreciated the progress it made with regard to the international Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) standards. An Indian delegation led by Bimal Julka, Additional Secretary & Director General (Currency) in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is attending the FATF plenary meeting. The FATF is an inter-governmental body that sets international standards for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. India became a member of the body in June 2010. A number of FATF member countries, including the Russian Federation, South Korea, Japan, China, Brazil, Argentina, the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Germany, Australia, and the Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, lauded India on its achievements in fulfilling the action plan. New excise policy for Haryana: The Haryana Government on Saturday decided not to increase the maximum basic quota of country liquor and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) for the third year in a row and keep the maximum number of retail outlets at the same level as in the current year. Talking to media persons after presiding over a Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said there will be 3,500 vends, including 2,265 of country liquor and 1,235 of IMFL. The rates of import duty have been increased to protect the local manufacturers of liquor and incentives have been announced for the local winery, wine being a low-alcohol content drink. The rate of VAT has been reduced from 25 per cent to 15 per cent for all bars. The excise duty on beer and wine will remain unchanged.

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PERISCOPE High on logic: The National Policy on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances unveiled by the Government for the first time in the country's history is a timely step at a time when substance and drug abuse by gullible young people goes on unchecked in major cities. It is no doubt delectable to note that the policy bids fair to curb the menace of drug abuse and is replete with provisions for treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration of victims of drug abuse. It is equally satisfactory to note that the policy plumps for production of Concentrate of Poppy Straw (CPS) in India by a company or body corporate which would facilitate India to retain its status of a traditional supplier of Opiate Raw Material (ORM) to the rest of the world. Indubitably, the government's new narcotics policy is a salutary statement but a reality check is in order. In its last annual report, the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) maintained that in the past 10 years, progress in drug abuse prevention has been 'modest at best' and demanded governments the world over to make availability of narcotic drugs for medical purposes a priority of public health issue. "More than 80 per cent of the world's population has no or insufficient access to pain relief drugs and are suffering unnecessary pain because of it", the Board rightly rued. Narcotic drugs such as opioids are needed in the palliative care of cancer patients while psychotropic substances are a basic ingredient in the treatment of mental illnesses. It is also a good augury that the new policy lays due emphasis on adequate access to morphine and other opioids necessary for palliative care, a strategy to address street peddlers of drugs, periodic surveys of drug abuse to gauge the extent, pattern and nature of drug abuse in the country and recognition to de-addiction centres. All these measures are over-due as the menace is glaringly staring across big cities and in semi-urban centres. A research from an NGO citing a UN report estimates that one million heroin addicts had been registered in India a couple of years ago, unofficially there are as many as five million with more of revision of the former numbers in the intervening years with new and designer-drugs catching the caprice of the youth. Cannabis, heroin and Indian-produced pharmaceutical drugs are the most frequently abused drugs in the country. INCB President Prof.Hamid Ghodse, while addressing a high-level meet of the General Assembly on Non-communicable diseases in New York in September 2011, said that the Board stood ready to foster and implement national policies and to build capacity for effective drug regulatory systems at national level. But the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Bill 2007 to propose the creation of a central drug authority with the sole remit for grant of drug manufacturing licences remains in limbo for close to five years! The Amendment provision, if put in place, would help reduce the countrywide variation in surveillance and law enforcement that would effectively end drug counterfeiting by centralising licensing for the manufacture and sale of drugs which today are under the control
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of individual State governments. Reports of fake drugs sold in states and substance abuse by adolescents would be a thing of the past if the regulatory machinery is robust to avert flagrant misuse. As India is proud to proclaim its demographic dividend, the deplorable lack of due primary health to millions and the burgeoning menace of drug and substance abuse by not only poor but affluent younger generation cannot be brushed under the carpet. It is time the authorities beefed up pending legislative bills on this front. A wealthy India as it aspires to be in the developed country league by 2020 should also be a healthy Bharat. Self-sustainable and sailing: Sustainable development seems to be part and parcel of state-run Steel Authority of India Limited's (SAIL) social responsibility agenda in the country. The company has taken up development of 79 villages spanning the eight states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal as model steel villages (MSVs). All these villages are in backward areas and are deprived of basic needs of a quality life. The development work undertaken in these villages include medical and health services, education, roads, connectivity, sanitation, community centres, income generation, sports facilities. The coverage of population in these adopted villages includes 17.44 per cent scheduled castes and 27.38 per cent of scheduled tribes. In these villages SAIL is creating physical and social infrastructure for their overall developmental growth and self sustainable model of villages. Most of the residents here did not have access to clean drinking water and drinking water supply has been provided with boring, overhead water tanks and tapped water supply to the households. Primary Health Centres have been set up and operationalised to address the most neglected but essential requirement of health in rural India. Regular health camps, eye camps and free distribution of medicines are common phenomenon in MSVs. According to SAIL chairman, C.S. Verma, in the target villages it was found that poor quality of primary education, lack of basic infrastructure like toilet and potable water and high drop outs are major concern and to cope with these issues, SAIL has constructed extra class rooms, toilets and water facilities. Mr. Verma said that for this activity to become self sustainable, the company has introduced income generation schemes, livelihood programmes, self help groups, training programmes, with technical and financial assistance arranged for the beneficiaries. The income generation schemes include rural skill based activities like fisheries, poultry, goatery, sewing, knitting, harvesting of mushrooms. Marketing of products and their influx in local markets are also supported. Social audit is a vital part of the development activities in these model steel villages and for this purpose gram sabhas are always taken into confidence for all the activities. Enlightened self-interest is driving greening initiatives in India The Indian government, state governments, corporates as well as small and medium industry have shown interest and commitment to adopting UNIDO's Green Industry' initiative. But that by itself is not enough as there are financial barriers. However, the UNIDO chief expressed
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confidence that with the right level of commitment, both financial and political, carrot-and-stick incentives and strict monitoring and regulation, India can attain the current standards of countries such as Singapore and South Korea within a decade. UNIDO has been laying a lot of emphasis on greening of industries. Can you spell out the concept of Green Industry' and its relevance for developing countries? Well, Green Industry' means economies striving for a more sustainable pathway of growth by undertaking green investments and implementing public policy initiatives that encourage environmentally responsible private investments. Greening of industry is a method to attain sustainable economic growth and promote sustainable economies. It includes policymaking, improved industrial production processes and resource-efficient productivity. Green Industry' promotes sustainable patterns of production and consumption, that is, patterns that are resource and energy efficient, low-carbon and low waste, non-polluting and safe, and which produce products that are responsibly managed throughout their lifecycle. Under the greening agenda, all industries continuously improve their resource productivity and environmental performance and the initiative also aims to create green industries that deliver environmental goods and services, including waste management and recycling services, renewable energy technologies, and environmental analytical and advisory services. How responsive has India been in adopting UNIDO's green initiative? The Indian government and companies combined are very sensitive to ensuring that the industrial manufacturing sector becomes more energy efficient and resource efficient. And India is no different in terms of interest and commitment from other countries like China and other major developing countries. Why, for what is driving the green energy initiative that I have seen in a number of key Asian emerging economies is national self interest. If you are more energy efficient, there is good demand management, you have to invest less in energy and power generation. UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. Yumkella on how the organisation's Green Industry' initiative will help India and the challenges that lie ahead. SPORT India rides roughshod over Singapore: The rout was expected and the result was a foregone conclusion. The margin of victory was the only thing to predict and India thumped Singapore, separated by 31 slots in the world ranking, 15-1 to open its campaign in the Olympic qualifiers in style. The verdict at the National Stadium here on Saturday was much bigger than India's 9-0 victory over the same rival in their last meeting in the 1998 Asian Games.

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