NDC to be scrapped, NITI Aayog

council likely to get its powers

After the Planning Commission, the Narendra Modi-led government is set to bring down the
curtains on another Nehruvian legacy: the National Development Council (NDC).
The Cabinet will, in early January, take up its closure and also pass a resolution for transferring its
powers to the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog,
chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After getting the Cabinets approval, Mr. Modi will take up the resolution with the Chief Ministers
at a meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog,
This will be on the lines of a discussion Mr. Modi had with the Chief Ministers at the first meeting of
this council about a year ago for replacing the Planning Commission with the NITI Aayog,
he said.
Fresh opposition
The Centre anticipates fresh opposition again on the NDC as well and so,
the source said,
The Prime Ministers likely to want to do it not just executively but also through a meeting of the
full Governing Council of the Chief Ministers.

The National Development Council, set up on 6 August, 1952 by an executive order of the
government, served as the highest decision- making authority in the country on development
matters.
One of the most significant of its decisions was the creation
(as part of the Gadgil-Mukherjee exercise) of
special category of States, and the criteria for determining whether a State could receive the
status and related financial support from the Centre.
The National Development Council was set up by a Cabinet resolution

and
so its metamorphism into the NITI Aayogs Governing Council will also be through a resolution of
the Cabinet,
the source said. It was on recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission that the
NDC was reconstituted and its functions redefined on October 7, 1967.
Initially, it comprised the
Prime Minister,
the Chief Ministers of all States and the
members of the Planning Commission.
In the first meeting of the NDC held on 8-9 November 1952,
its first chairman and Indias first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru
stated that the NDC is essentially a forum for intimate cooperation between State governments
and the Centre for all the tasks of national development.
The reconstituted NDC comprised of
the Prime Minister,
all the Union Cabinet Ministers,
the Chief Ministers of all States and Union Territories and
the Members of the Planning Commission.
The Delhi Administration is represented in
the Council by the Lt. Governor and
the Chief Executive Councillor,
and the remaining Union Territories by their
respective Administrators.
In the reconstituted Council,
the Secretary of the Planning Commission acted as Secretary to the NDC.
In all, 56 meetings of the NDC have been held, the last being on
22nd October 22, 2011 to consider the approach to the 12th Plan.
The 50th meeting of the NDC, held on December 21, 2002, was chaired by the then Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Location
growth

too

matters

for

NEW DELHI
What matters more for development: location or community?
New official data show that while some communities do better than others in sex ratio and
literacy,
State-level differences can be as important.
Newly released data from the Census shows that on average nationwide,
Christians, followed by
Muslims, continue to have the
most gender equal child sex ratios of
958 girls for every 1,000 boys and
943 respectively.
Buddhists follow, with
Hindus,
Jains and
Sikhs,
recording the lowest child sex ratios;
the numbers for Jains and Sikhs have, however, improved since 2001,
while those of all other communities have worsened.
However, a look at the State-wise data shows that communities are not monoliths.
In the States with better sex ratios, including
the States with high tribal populations and the
southern States,
the sex ratios of all communities tend to be higher than they are in other States.

In Kerala, for instance,

Hindus, Muslims and Christians have nearly the same sex ratio among the 0-6 year child
population
, around 965 girls for every 1,000 boys,
which is higher than the national average for each of those communities as well.

In Haryana, the State with the worst sex ratio,

on the other hand, the sex ratios of the
child populations of
Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Muslims
are all lower than the national average.
Muslim sex ratios are particularly unaffected by location; while
Christian child sex ratios dip below 900 girls for every 1,000 boys in Haryana,

Rajasthan and Punjab, for instance,

the Muslim child sex ratio only falls below 910 in one State: the Muslim- majority Jammu &
Kashmir.
The State which had a far more gender-equal sex ratio of 941 in 2001 has seen one of the
sharpest ever declines.
Consequently, the sex ratio of the child population of all communities in the State is
now below 900,
except among Buddhists.

A similar combination of location and community is at play when it comes to literacy.

For the country as a whole,
Muslims have the lowest literacy rates for both men and women, while
Jains have the highest for both.
In Kerala, however, the literacy rate among Muslim women (79 per cent) is higher than it is for
men of all communities in Bihar.
`National averages hide other State-level variations

Beijings race for the

Eurasian heartland
China switched to a counter-attack mode in 2015, focussing on
extending the influence of Silk Road nations
It is possible that amid the turbulence and violence radiating from
West Asia and impacting large parts of the globe, especially Europe,
The worlds focus may have been diverted from a game changing development Chinas
remarkable riposte to the Pivot to Asia doctrine of the Barack Obama administration.
Equally significant has been Beijings partnership with Moscow, which flowered in 2015.
The strategic partnership of
the two established nuclear weapon powers
is well on course to structure a paradigm shift
that could disperse global power into channels of multi-polarity.
In the year gone by, China, the worlds second-largest economy, had answers to everything
thrown at it by the U.S. the known global hegemon.
Pacific-centred deterrents
If the Americans focused on their Asia pivot a doctrine shift, geared toward the containment of
China through the concentration of forces in the western Pacific the Chinese did not waste any
time in building a credible Pacific-centred nuclear and conventional deterrents in 2015. This has
included reinforcement of its nuclear second-strike capability by mounting JL-2 missiles, with a
range of 7,350 km, on its JIN class submarines. Russia was a major partner in building the Chinese
military deterrent. Beijing concluded with Moscow a decisive S-400 air defence deal. The contract
nullifies threats by fighter jets or ballistic missiles by the U.S. or Japan if batteries of the S-400
missiles are deployed on the mainland or Chinas artificial islands, built atop coral clusters, in the
South China Sea. After protracted negotiations, the Russians are also supplying Su-35 fighter jets
to China. The acquisition of 24 Su-35 planes would greatly extend Chinas reach over the South
China Sea. Su-35 planes, capable of taking of from short runways, will cover a large footprint if
deployed from Chinas newly developed artificial islands in the South China Sea.
Energy cooperation the bonding between China and Russia is being reinforced through an
extensive energy relationship. With smog resulting from coal-fired power plants choking Beijing
and its surrounding industrial belt, China is trying to beat the clock by turning to clean energy in
the form of natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy. Thats where Russias frozen Siberian
zone, sitting across untapped mega-reserves of oil and gas, comes in. China has already signed a
$400 billion import deal that would funnel gas in copious quantities for the next 30 years through
the Power of Siberia pipeline. A similar undertaking is expected shortly though the western Altai
route, thus making Moscow Beijings core energy security partner. Both China and Russia are
working together on undermining the hegemony of the U.S. dollar. The two have already
accelerated trading in the Chinese yuan and the Russian ruble. The currency swap tool has
significantly eased pain inflicted upon Moscow through sanctions imposed after the crisis in
Ukraine. Trading in local currencies, exemplified by the two partners, is now being reinforced in an

institutional manner by two powerful non-western financial entities The New Development Bank
(NDB) of the Brazil-Russia- India-China South Africa (BRICS) grouping and the China- led Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Restructuring the economy

As Western markets still remained trapped by the impact of the 2008 economic crisis,
China in 2015 took major steps to restructure its economy through
mega-investments in Eurasia
under its Belt and Road initiative.
Instead of pitching
its jaw-dropping financial reserves in
U.S. treasury bonds,
China has decided to plough large amounts of its surplus funds in
building railways, highways, industrial parks, and cyber-cities along the
Silk Road Economic Belt,
one that stretches from Xian in the East to Europe in the West.
A $40-billion Silk Road Fund,
the AIIB,
the NDB of the BRICS, and
Chinas own state-run policy banks
will provide the liquidity so that,
instead of depending on the West, new growth engines are established along the New Silk Road.
China has been conscious that its Belt and Road initiative can more easily fly if
it has the cooperation not only of Russia,
which will take care of the western flank,
but also of its eastern, South Asian flank, through a simultaneous engagement of
India and Pakistan as well.
Over the past year,
China has brought India on board the Eurasian platform by
partnering it in major initiatives to transform the international financial architecture.
Far from being intimidated by the U.S.,
China switched to a bold counterattack mode in 2015,
focusing on extending the collective influence, with Russia as the core partner,
of the Silk Road countries along the Eurasian corridor.
In causing a structural breach of unipolar world,
China and Russia have set the stage either for a new cold war
or
a more harmonious multipolar world,
provided exceptionalist America agrees to a strategic realignment.
Ironically, China over the past year was
deepening its stakes
in the geographic swathe long identified as
pivotal by British geopolitical analyst Halford John Mackinder as

the heartland, one that stretches from the Volga to the Yangtze and from the Himalayas to the
Arctic.

Registering the steepest fall in over a decade,

the core sector output in November 2015 shockingly shrank 1.3 per cent compared to the same
month a year ago, indicating a possible hiccup in the nascent economic recovery and a downturn
in industrial production.
The industrial output in October 2015 had recorded a five-year high of 9.8 per cent year-on-year
growth on account of a favourable base even as October 2014 registered a negative growth 2.7
per cent. .
A Fortnight ago, the government had scaled down its GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to
7-7.5 per cent from the earlier projection of 8.1-8.5 per cent.
The GDP growth in the first half of this fiscal (April-September) slipped to 7.2 per cent from 7.5 per
cent in the same period last year.
Significantly, ever since the release of the ongoing series of core sector data in April 2005, the
overall core sector has been in negative growth territory only on four other occasions
in July 2005 (-0.3 per cent),
October 2013 (-0.1 per cent),
March 2015 (-0.1 per cent),
April 2015 (-0.4 per cent).
None of these contractions were as steep as the one in November.
The output of eight core industries
that comprise nearly 38 per cent of the weight of items included in the
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted in November owing to a fall in production of
crude oil (-3.3 per cent),
steel (-8.4 per cent),
cement (-1.8 per cent) and
natural gas (-3.9 per cent).
Coal production increased by 3.5 per cent while
refinery production went up by 2.5 per cent and
fertiliser output rose by 13.5 per cent.
Electricity production remained flat in November 2015.
The core industries coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and
electricity had recorded an 8.5 per cent growth in November 2014.

The scheme cleared by the cabinet may attract investments of over Rs. 1 lakh crore
The Centre is likely to consider allocating more funds under the new Amended Technology Upgradation Fund
Scheme (ATUFS), officials say.
The scheme was cleared on Wednesday by the cabinet to boost local manufacturing in the textiles sector and may
attract investments of over Rs. 1 lakh crore, increase exports and create over 30 lakh jobs.
The enhanced allocation will be for new cases under th e ATUFS for which only around Rs 5,000 crore has been
provided currently, according to a senior government official who didnt want to be named..
After the Cabinet Committee on Ecot nomic Affairs (CCEA) approved the ATUFS, an official statement had said
that a budget provision of Rs.17,822 crore has been approved, of which Rs.12,671 crore is for committed
liabilities under the ongoing scheme, and Rs.5,151 crore is for new cases under ATUFS.
ATUFS has come in place of the existing Revised Restructured-Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (RRTUFS). We will look into the performance of the new scheme and additional allocation will be given after the
amount allocated now is exhausted, the official said.
There will be two categories under the new scheme.
These include apparel, garment and technical textiles, where 15 per cent subsidy would be given on capital
investment, subject to a ceiling of Rs.30 crore over five years.
Remaining sub-sectors would be eligible for subsidy at a rate of 10 percent, subject to a ceiling of Rs.20 crore,
according to a government statement .
Budget proposal
Meanwhile, the textiles ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to reduce excise duty on man made fibres from
the current 12 per cent in the forthcoming Union Budget.
The textiles ministry, on its part, is taking measures to increase India's share in the global apparel and garment
industry from the current 3.8 per cent. It is also looking at ways to improve the production and quality of cotton.
The ministry also wants tax holidays to help establish textiles parks.
On measures to promote cotton, the ministry has proposed a Price Deficiency Payment System (as an
alternative to minimum support price) to be started on pilot basis in Wardha district of Maharashtra during the
next season 2016-17. This will give an idea about a new method, which will reduce outflow from public exchequer
and increasing return to the farmer, according to the statement.

Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru launch tomorrow

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
PRINT T

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has stressed the need to make people partners in the governments
Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru programme, which will be launched on January 2. Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru
meetings will be organised to understand the

effective implementation of the governments

developmental and welfare schemes and
seek feedback from people.
The main theme of the third phase of the programme is Smart Village-Smart Ward towards
Smart Andhra Pradesh.
Focus would be on facilitating interaction of partners of Smart A.P. with government officials and community,
besides sensitising the partners and the community on 20 non-negotiable indicators of the Smart A.P.
programme.
Extending New Year greetings to the Telugus in India and abroad, the Chief Minister asked people to come
forward in adopting their hometowns or wards, and contribute to building the Sunrise State.
A first
On January 1, A.P. will be first in the country to disburse social pension to 43.50 lakh people. This apart, 12.50
lakh applicants will be issued ration cards. By next year, each household will have a gas connection, said Mr.
Naidu.
I wish we could come together in a way we have never done before and mobilise all our energy and passion to
build Andhra Pradesh, he said, according to a press release.

NTR Jalasiri: 600 borewells for each Assembly segment

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
PRINT T

Scheme launched to help marginal, small farmers

Each Assembly segment in the district is likely to get 600 borewells under the second phase of NTR Jalasiri, a
scheme meant to irrigate every acre of available land and to help the small and marginal farmers utilise the
groundwater on permanent basis.
Minister for Panchyati Raj Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu said 7000 borewells were sanctioned to the district under the
scheme and
subsidy would be provided through employment assurance, power companies and special assistance funds.
The State government sanctioned 50,000 borewells to four Rayalaseema districts and three north coastal Andhra
districts, based on the reports prepared by the Groundwater Department.
Also addressing the press conference, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said 1.75 lakh applications were
received for units under the Andariki Illu programme.
The number of applications received for regularisation of encroachments on government lands was 50,000. A
provision is being made for house owners regularising their buildings to sell them after two years.
The 102 service, a free ambulance service that transports pregnant women and infants to the hospital and back to
their homes, would commence at the Area Hospitals of Narsipatnam and Anakapalle from Friday,
the Minister said. A total of 1.15 lakh new ration cards would be distributed during the Janmabhoomi
programme commencing on Saturday.
1.75 lakh applications received for units under the Andariki Illu programme, says Ganta

Interlinking Godavari, Krishna my most satisfying

exercise
Amaravati project is on track; Phase-I will be completed by 2018, says the Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister.
Though the last 18 months have been challenging for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu,
interlinking Godavari and Krishna rivers has been a notable achievement for him.
In an interaction with Appaji Reddem and S. Sandeep Kumar of The Hindu, in Vijayawada, Mr. Naidu lists
out his priorities for 2016, which include a drought-proof State, completion of the Polavaram project,
construction of a capital city in Amaravati and development of coastal region as an export hub.
Amid multiple challenges you faced in the last 18 months post Andhra Pradesh bifurcation, what
is the most satisfying achievement you would like to highlight?
The interlinking of Godavari and Krishna rivers has been the most satisfying exercise. The next aim is to make
Andhra Pradesh a drought-proof State through different measures such as sparkler irrigation system,
construction of 10 lakh farm ponds and dry-spell mitigation through rain guns. This will be the biggest and most
important exercise of my life besides Amaravati.
With the State having multiple drought-prone districts, is it possible to have the mammoth plan
of realising the goal of a drought-proof A.P.?
There was a long-drawn crisis and uncertainty in agriculture. Godavari was just 170 kilometres away and joining
the sea. In this backdrop, the crisis is clearly a human failure. Now, I found a solution
through interlinking of rivers. We have 900 mm average rainfall but still we suffer due to lack of proper
irrigation while Israel, with 500 mm rainfall, is successful in agriculture.
Of late, you are focussing more on recharging ground water table. What is the broad plan?
The idea is to bring the average ground water table to three metres across the State.
We are planning smart water grids, installation of piezometers to record water levels in villages and mandals.
We want to involve people, especially farmers in the exercise. One metre ground water re-charge is equivalent to
90 TMC of water. Besides, there will be no evaporation loss and a lot of energy can be saved.
Polavaram has been a long-drawn project. How confident are you about completing the megairrigation initiative?
We will complete the project by 2018. The Central funding is crucial and we are confident of constructing the
project within the stipulated time.
How did your meeting with NITI Ayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagaria go on Wednesday?
The meeting went on well and he has completed the report which was already submitted to the Prime Ministers
Office. Now everything rests with the PMO.
What are the concrete developments witnessed in the phase one of the capital in Amaravati?
Well be completing phase-I by 2018. Already,

three top universities like SRM, VIT and Amity have come forward (to set up campuses).
Well be inviting Symbiosis next.
The project is very much on track. To ensure construction of the capital, we need funding from the Centre
besides borrowing.
There is a plan to leverage the long coastline in A.P. Can you elaborate more on this?
A.P. is centrally located with long coasts and high drafts. This is the biggest advantage for us.
I want to make the region a manufacturing hub and coastline should be utilised for the development of export
industry.
To achieve this, the Centre has to clear bottlenecks and grant incentives. I see it as a future nerve centre of export
industry.
You were talking about Darbar shift by June 2016. Is the exercise on track?
We are committed to shifting the entire administration by June and
already six lakh square feet space is being created at Mangalagiri in the Amaravati capital region to
accommodate the Secretariat and other offices.
There is a lot of emphasis on your pet programme Janmabhoomi. What would be the focus
areas?
The focus is to change challenges into opportunities.
From being a power-deficit State, we have turned around to become a power-surplus State. Likewise, weve
achieved 11.8 per cent growth rate in the first half. Now, we plan to develop smart villages and smart wards by
involving public and private sectors. I also want NRIs and corporate firms along with local people to develop the
smart villages.
You are always known to be an IT man. What are your grand plans for 2016?
We are introducing
10-15 MBPS fibre optic lines that provide
internet,
telephone and
video on-demand services across the State.
The connectivity work has already been completed in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts and by June, the
entire State will be covered. This apart,
we are setting up content corporations in association with the private sector to provide unlimited content
through cloud computing so that the people from all sectors could reap benefits.
Open universities and open schools will be introduced to help people acquire life skills.

Caution on Free Basics

COMMENT PRINT T

TOPICS
Net Neutrality
internet
world wide web

Free and altruism are words that generally have a positive ring to them.
But its clear that social media behemoth Facebooks Free Basics programme, which it pitches as an altruistic
endeavour to provide the have-nots a bridge to the Internet for free, fails to evoke such a feel.
Not without reason, though.
For starters, as critics have repeatedly pointed out, there is a huge difference between being a gateway to the
Internet and being a gatekeeper to the Internet, and Free Basics worryingly has all the makings of the latter.
So, it does have the potential to trap subscribers in the metaphorical walled garden, what with the immensely
popular Facebook thrown into the free mix of offerings.
That the whole package is offered free hardly surprises anyone with even a little knowledge of how business
models in the digital world work.
Free, by the way, is a business model that delivers returns in an unconventional way.
There might be many variations of it but basically it is about accumulating millions and millions of new users by
offering products free, in the hope that the build-up could be milked for revenue in the years to come.
Thats the same tactic many start-ups use to show traction while pitching to big moneyed venture capitalists.
And where do you find an unrestricted Internet economy with millions yet untapped? Yes, India. There can be
very little doubt that the haves-have-nots digital divide in India is stark, and needs to be bridged as soon as
possible. Credit is due to Facebook for identifying this need and bringing a sense of urgency to addressing it.
Credit is also due for the way its young founder Mark Zuckerberg has fought doggedly for the ideas acceptance.
It is close to a year now since he launched Internet.org, the earlier avatar of Free Basics, in India. And during this
period, there has never been a dull moment in the exchanges between the critics of Free Basics and Facebook. As
it stands, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the regulator, has asked Facebooks Free Basics partner in
India, Reliance Communications, to put the service on hold. The social media giant, showing little sign of
backing off, has done all that it can (tweaked its dimensions, launched a comprehensive advertising campaign,
and got its charismatic founder to pen articles) to get political and social acceptance to the idea. Its both
impressive and unsettling at the same time when one thinks about how a corporate, valued at over $300 billion,
can spend so much money and effort on a controversial project that is not even avowedly a pure business
venture. The problem has reached the doorsteps of policymakers. They have to not only decide the fate of
services such as Free Basics but also find ways to deliver digital equality fast. For, Free Basics cant be an excuse
for the failures of the state in delivering universal access.