Land Acquisition Act 1894

Land Acquisition Act 1894 , provides power to state and central government for acquisition of private land for public utility purpose. The act also provides legal right to government on land that do not belong to anyone. The act has serious flaws and requires amendment for safeguarding interest of poor farmers, land less labours and community at large.

The Land Acquisition Act , states that state and central government may take private land in her possession for public purpose. The state government has to pay compensation to land owners at market price. The Act also states that since the acquisition is forceful in nature the compensation should be above market rate (normally 15% above the market rate)

While act consider compensation to landowners, it does not talk about other stake holder who are affected from acquisition. The land in rural India is normally in name of male family members, thus females are largely sufferers. The community ties are broken and service providers like barber, artisans, fisherman , self-employed are also affected due to displacement of village and community. The act believes that the farmers and poors to whom compensation is provided are fully aware of saving and investment opportunity available in market and compensation will take care of their livelihood. In fact these are mostly illiterate and compensation amount is usually utilized in consumption, leaving them mostly worse-off.

The Act is also silent on the definition of public utility. The term public purpose is vague and several interpretations can be made. In case of Baji Rao Kote case , the government has acquires land for providing way to Saibaba Temple. In the judgment court said that neither court is capable nor it is in its scope to define public purpose and said that the state if believes that the it is for public purpose then they can acquire land under land acquisition Law.

In the case of Yamuna ExpressWay the land acquisition was done and given to third party for utilization. Amusement parks were also developed on the land. The court in its judgment has said that the term public purpose has broader meaning then public utility and even if it satisfies the need of a particular class/community it is public purpose.

In sharan Vs UP state, state was acquiring fertile land for construction of jail, the court has defined public purpose as the act that serves purpose of larger community.

In another case of Radhey Shyam Vs UP State regarding acquisition of agricultural land for industrial purpose in Gautam Budh Nagar court has noticed that fertile land was begin acquired for residential purpose and the emergency clause of act was used when protest was made against acquisition of land. The victims are generally poor and unaware of their rights and accept it as their fate.Even if some of them are educated they are unaware of functioning of court.

Under the chapter-7 of act, the government can also acquire land for companies. The act specifies that in case whole of the amount is paid by company then the land is said to be acquire by company and company has to adhere to strict norms of chapter-7 , however if government also pays part of the acquisition amount even if this amount is Rs 100 or Rs 1 the acquisition is said to be done by government and company need not to go through chapter-7 rules. Now the government can give land to the company for public purpose i.e for setting up of industry. The government believes that industrialization will generate employment and will contribute to grow hence it is a public purpose.

The vague definition of public purpose has open the way for forceful acquisition of land and then transferring same to companies and third party developers for their private use.

The new proposed Land acquisition act is improvement over some of the lacunae. The word public purpose has been defined as betterment of general public. The chapter-7 in old acct has been removed. Now state government can acquire land for company if company is already having 70% of land. It also states that government can acquire land for joint ventures and when land has been acquired for giving it to third party for development and use for not more than 40 years. However the chapter 7 has been removed but it has opened new possibilities for acquiring land for industrialization. It has put the condition for owning 70% of land and not 70% consent. The 70% land can be acquired from 2% large land owners but this will make them eligible to ask more land from government without asking consent of remaining 98% .

The act has also included social impact analysis to assess and identify the real stakeholders that might get affected out of displacement. The act has setup a limit of 400 families in plains and 200 families in rural area for taking up rehabilitation program.

Although the act is positive step in direction of better identification of stake holders and their rehabilitation, but have escape clause making them prone for unworkable solutions. The government has given advantage to companies by making acquisition for easy. The government seems to be in favour of mass industrialization and still believes in trickle down theory.

Conditional Cash Transfer

Conditional Cash Transfer schemes are used to provide incentive for obtaining desired action from it's direct beneficiary. For example in India we have "Janani Suraksha Yojna", it is a centrally sponsored scheme aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality rates and increasing institutional deliveries in below poverty line (BPL) families. where cash is given for regular health checkup and availing health benefits from field workers.

In case of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Schemes responsibility of delivering services is shifted from scheme providers to the beneficiaries.In case of non-fulfillment of conditions ,the benefit is usually withdrawn.It has been observed that while government provides various benefits to targeted population ,but schemes are not successful because of poor understanding and negligence of targeted audience who are poor and uneducated.

CCT has three major components 1. identifying targeted people , 2 . monitoring 3. cash transfer in response to compliance. Major portion of scheme outlay is normally used in identification of target.In many cases government has to depend on BPL data, ration card and other in-direct sources for preparing list of eligible beneficiary. Implementation of schemes usually require creating awareness through education, advertisement, but problem still remains in taking follow-up of each individual.CCT can greatly reduce effort of creating awareness and follow-up. CCT involves direct benefit and most of the service takers are from BPL families , they have large opportunity cost involve in losing them.Usually non- compliance by beneficiaries are dealt with warning and withdrawal is only done upon repeated non-compliance.

As in case of Janani Suraksha Yojna (JSY) , identification of target was easy and cash transfer was instant , the scheme was successful. In many cases it has been observed that enrollment in scheme is high but the desired outcome is not achieved. for example in some counties where schemes involved increase in weight of child as one of the condition, it has been found that parents over-feed their child before monitoring. The scheme where it has been implemented for education of children it may provide better enrollments in school, but their attitude towards education is poor.

CCT may be a better tool to force beneficiary to follow certain behaviour but attitude of people cannot be changed. It is thus a challenge for policy makers to formulate CCT in such a manner that it not only provide greater participation but also better outcome.

सिविल सर्विस की प्रारंभिक प्रवेश परीक्षा और बहु चर्चित CSAT २०११

अब सिविल सर्विस की प्रारंभिक परीक्षा हो चुकी है . हमे बहुत दिनों से CSAT के नाम से डराया जाता रहा है . कभी नयी किताब तो कभी नयी कोचिंग तो कभी कभी लगा की भाई अगर यह सब एक साहित्य के विद्यार्थी को आता होता तो हम साहित्य ही क्यों लेते , हम भी सफ़ेद कोट पहन कर लाल - पीले रंगों से खेलते हुए यह बताने मे जुट जाते की Aspatame चीनी से २०० गुना मीठा होते हुए भी २०० गुना महंगा क्यों नहीं है |

csat मे दस तो प्रकरण थे और उन दस अनुच्छेदों पर कम से कम ३०-३५ सवाल थे. अनुच्छेदों को पढने मे ही १/२ घंटे का समय लग गया .ऐसा प्रतीत हो रहा था की यह परीक्षा मेरी पढने की गति को जांचने के लिए बनायीं गयी है.आज कल वैसे भी तेज़ गति से पढने वालो की प्रशासनिक सेवा मे बहुत जरूरत है, लोगो की शिकायते वैसे तो आम तोर से सीधे कूड़ेदान मे जाती है . अब कम से कम इस बात की तो तसल्ली रहेगी की कूड़ेदान मे जाने से पहले किसी ने पढ़ा तो सही, करवाई हुई ना हुई पर सुनवाई तो हुई|

एक सवाल के तो बनाने का कारण ही समझ मे नहीं आया . उस सवाल मे त्रिकोण गिनने को कहा गया था . अगर यह तर्क शक्ति से सम्बंधित सवाल था तो मुझे सवाल बनाने के पीछे का तर्क समझ नहीं आया | त्रिकोण गिनने के लिए या तो CAT / या बैंक PO की कोचिंग से गुर लेने होते है या फिर जैसे सब गिनते है वैसे ही गिनना होगा . यह तो मुझे भी पता है की, UPSC कोचिंग को बढ़ावा नहीं देती तो फिर मै यह सोचता हूँ की शायद वो मेरी १ तो १०० तक गिनने के कला को परख रहे थे.

मै पेपर-१ से पहले से ही दुखी था की फिर एक जीव विविधता पर अनुच्छेद आ गया | परीक्षार्थी जिन्होंने जीव विविधता को कम समय दिया था उन्हें परीक्षा मे ज्ञान अर्जित करने का मोका दिया गया |

On Some Fatal Fallacies

1. Cereal  Consumption  Includes  Both Food  and  Feed  and  Should  Rise,  Not  Fall  as  Average  Income  Rises : Many Economist believe that cereal consumption is inversely related with income. 'coz consumer diversify away from cereals to animal products. cereal consumption demand includes feed grains embodied in animal products . Therefore per head cereal consumption should increase with increasing income . US had per head cereal consumption of nearly 1 tonne in 2005

2. What  Explains  Falling  Cereal  Demand  Per  Head  in  India  When  Average Income  Is  Rising  Fast? : decline is serious matter to worry. imply that cereal consumption is falling involuntarily for the poor.growth is so highly concentrated that is resulting in shift of income distribution of a particularly adverse type, namely, minority enrichment and mass demand deflation

3. Substantial  Decline  in  Real  Spending  in  Rural  India: deflating nominal spending by consumer price indices to obtain “real spending” is no longer capturing the actual situation . all elements of the original basket may not even be available in the later year, Over long periods of time the fixed basket to which price indices are applied has led to misleading results.

Source : EPW Nov 20 ,2010

Tibet and Pachsheel Agreement

Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India,' better known as the 'Panchsheel Agreement.'

Why Panchsheel Agreement was signed?

Hundred years ago (in July 1904) a young British colonel, Francis Younghusband, forced his way into the holy city of Lhasa. it was meeting of two different worlds for the first time.

Tibet was 'acknowledged' by London as a separate nation. China was extremely unhappy not to be a party to the accord.Ten years later (March 1914), wanting to show fairness, London called for a tripartite conference in Simla to settle the issue: The result was not fully satisfactory as the Chinese only initialized the main document and did not ratify it. The British and Tibetans however agreed on a common border demarcated on a map: the famous McMahon Line was born.

Treaty was in force when India became independent in August 1947

In October 1950, Mao's troops marched into Tibet. Lhasa appealed to the United Nations against China's invasion of Tibet. India was unable to stand up in favour of their peaceful neighbour against the might of Red China. In May 1951, some of the Dalai Lama's representatives signed -- 'under duress' -- a 17-Point Agreement with Communist China. For the first time in its 2,000-year history, Lhasa officially 'accepted' Tibet as a part of China

Panchsheel Agreement between India and China on April 29, 1954 marked the tail-end of events set in motion by the entry of Younghusband into Tibet.

It is composed of two parts: the Preamble (the Five Principles) and the content (regarding trade between India and Tibet and pilgrimage rights for Indians and Tibetans).

Five Principles of panchsheel agreement are :

1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty

2. Mutual non-aggression against anyone.

3. Mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs

4. Equality and mutual benefit

5. Peaceful co-existence

Drawback to India

-Chinese intrusions into Indian territory began hardly 3 months after the signature of the accord.

-Agreement opened the door to China's military control of the Roof of the World by the People's Liberation Army. This translated into building a network of roads and airstrips heading towards the Indian frontiers in NEFA and Ladakh.

-Damming and diversion of the Brahmaputra. because the people of Tibet have no say in what is happening in their country.

-India accepted Tibet as part of China. Though neither the Preamble (the Five Principles) nor the provisions of the agreement are in force today, the acceptance of Tibet as a part of the People's Republic of China remains a fact.

-China Captured sinkiang in ladakh.Tibet-Sinkiang highway' is cutting through Indian territory. Beijing in return recognited Arunachal Pradesh as being a part of India has been mentioned as a possible compensation. But this does not make any sense as the Chinese claim on Arunachal is legally and historically empty of any substance.

Indus Water treaty

After partition of India 80% irrigated area went to pak but headwater that serves these canals are in kashmir (India). World bank offered help to resolve dispute of water sharing between India and Pakistan. After 10 yrs of negotiation JL Nehru , Ayub Khan and World bank signed IWT

There are four elements of treaty

1. According to treaty 3 western rivers - Jhelum indus and chenab water to pak and
water from beas sutlej and ravi to india.
2. 20 % financing will be done by India for development of Tarbela dam on indus
mangla on jhelum and link canel in Pak.
3. Use of Pak's river for hydroelectric power generation may be done by India before they
reach Pakistan. dams could alter timing of water posing environmental risk thus restriction on
storage capacity on dams in India.
4. Dispute resolution machanism was set up between - India and Pak where IWT commissions
would resolve any dispute or by nutral party arbitrator as appointed by World bank or International court of arbitration.

Nutrient-Based Fertiliser Subsidy

The government has decided to fix the subsidy on nutrients i.e.- Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) Potash (K) and Sulphur (S) contents.

In addition to the fixed subsidy on above mentioned nutrients, there will be an additional per tonne subsidy for subsidised fertiliser carrying other secondary nutrients and micro nutrients in formulations approved under FCO 1985.

Fertilizer subsidy is second largest subsidy after food and has become sensitive political issue. Proper pricing and application of fertilizers could reduce subsidy bill. Moreover with complex grade of fertilizers there was a need for simplified pricing formula. India also has obligation under AOA to reduce it's agriculture subsidy. Nutrient - Based subsidy will provide incentive to farmers to test their soil and recommendation of crop and doses of nutrient. Fertilizer uses can be considerably reduced by applying recommended doses of fertilizer.

There are growing evidences to show that underground water quality in rural area is deteriorating due to excessive use of nitrogen based fertilizers. There is little private cost with unbalanced application of nutrients but large environmental and negative externalities are associated. Bio- fertilizers is another option, but willingness to adopt bio- fertilizers is more among those who have better access to agricultural information , high income and animal husbandry.

Bimal Jalan Report

Bimal Jalan Committee was setup by SEBI to 'Review Ownership and Governance of MII (Market Infrastructure Institutions) .
Background
Formation of NSE ended investor-unfriendly pratices of existing exhanges and povided tehnologial innovations and reform in industy. NSE was able to capture market in equity , daivative tradings. But with rise of MCX , the monopoly of NSE in derivative trading is threaten by MCX. Now MCX wants to enter equity domain by MCX-SX. SEBI turned down the application on grounds of ownership structure. MCX-SX has taken SEBI to court . SEBI has constituted the Bimal Jalan Committe to "review the ownership and and Governance of MII"
What is MII ?
MII create, facilitate capital market in its operation by providing infrastructure for trading , clearance. It includes depositories, exchanges and clearing corporation.

The number of stock exchange in India has shrunk. Currently there are only two main exchanges BSE and NSE. Since exchanges are profitable business it is expected that many new exchanges will come up in near future. New rules and regulations are requires for ownership and effective governance of exchange.

Suggestions by Bimal Jalan Committee.
1. Non- Listing of MII on stock exchange.
The propose is to avoid foul playing in price of MII stock. Since MII owns exchange there is possibility of foul play with price of MII stock. Non - Listing will led to non- availability of price for trading of MII stock and fewer exit options for investor. This can discourage investors from investing in MII.
2. MII will not be allowed to make unreasonable profit.
Report states that since MII are facilitating market and is public utility it should earn reasonable profit. Profits of MII are capped. Investing in MII and raising resources for MII will become difficult with profit cap. and non- listing.
3. Only banks and public finance institutions can be anchor institution.
To make it more lucrative for banks and PFI, committee has increased the maximum holding limit from 15% to 24%. Anchor institution will take lead in setting up of MII . Since Banks and PFI 's core line of business is not MII hence they always remain passive investors.
4. Minimiun capital required for exchange is rs 100 Crore.
Rs 100 Cr is very less. To setup an exchange of NSE and BSE level an investment of more than Rs 1000 Crore is required.
5. Clearing house should have net worth of Rs 300 cr.
Banks and Insurance companies have higher risk involved as compared to clearing house still the networth requirement for Banks and Insurance is Rs 300 Cr. and Rs 100 Cr. Setting high net-worth requirement may discourage investors.
6. Capping vaiable pay to Executives.
This would reduce pay performance link in executive compensation. As a result one can hardly expect executives to be ever-ready to adopt the latest global best practices and technological innovations to maintain service standards.

Biggest criticisms of the Jalan Committee recommendations is that it would perpetuate NSE’s monopoly and restrict competition in the sector which, in turn, will slow down innovations in an extremely dynamic in-dustry and possibly reduce service quality.