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02 PT's PrepTalk Aug - Sep 2015

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Alcohol has uses too

Migrants have their issuesand concerns

While reading the edition of Prep

Talk, I was enlightened to know that

alcohol has certain medicinal properties

and that it is useful for human

consumption. Alcohol is present in

nature, extracted from plants, fruits and

flowers. Man consumes for his purpose,

whether to seek pleasure or escape from

grief, alcohol extracted or synthesised

from natural sources. But only health

experts use alcohol for useful purposes.

The article served as an eye-oener.

There was another informative article in

the same edition, in which social media

displayed luxury brands that were not

genuine. This is not proper, as many

people get influenced by the social

media and become misled as to their

usage. The edition carried several

useful articles that would serve the

general interests of readers, enhancing

their general awareness and feeding the

right news of develoments and

breakthroughs that have occurred, in a

digestible manner.

People have lived in regions and

terrains for several generations,

pursuing their chosen vocations for

eeking out their livelihood. When they

leave their lands and move to different

countries, driven by the situations

uncontrollably, the host country faces

problems that were not thought of. The

case of the Columbians fleeing

Venezeula might be different from that

S Alagappan, Chitoor

of the migrants in the European Union.

Yet they have posed challenges before

their respective nations that are

concerned with their plight, which call for

adept handling. Prep Talk came out with a

graphic account of both the crises. The

edition contained useful information on

matters relating to health and hygiene,

na ture and env i ronment , space

expeditions and corporate business,

which need to be known. Such snippets

would satiate the appetite of the

discernible reader, leading to sharing and

dissemination of knowledge in a

productive and healthy way.

Defence personnel serve the country

with utmost dedication, vigilance and

bravery, both during war and peace. They

make supreme sacrifices for the nation

Zelia Noronha, Chiplun

War veterans are relevant toour country

with their lives, as also with deprivation

of family life and other enjoyment. They

deserve to be treated respectfully by the

government. The grievances of the ex-

servicemen and other staff in various

ranks and capacities, which were kept

pending before the government for

several years, caused an unpleasant and

disturbing situation, compelling them

to take to warpath. The Cover Story of

the edition of Prep Talk made me think

deeply of the problems faced by these

b r a v e p e o p l e . H o p e f u l l y, t h e

government would attend to their woes

and come out with a solution which

would satisfy the defence personnel.

There was a piece in the edition which

described the way NASA would track

huuricanes. This would be a boon.

Rustam Abbas, Etawah

PT's PrepTalk Aug - Sep 2015 03

Dear Readers,

Never before in recent times had the atmosphere in the country become

intolerant. It is not uncommon to find storms in tea cups taking place over

seemingly insignificant issues, examples of Much Ado About Nothing, to borrow

the Shakespearean phrase. A stray incident or an out-of-place remark by certain

people wielding position, power and influence is enough to cause an uproarious

situation and put the community and the state to ransom, often fuelled by rumours

and instigations by people having vested interests. However, this time, the

situation has resulted in an unprecedented backlash by writers, authors,

playwrights and other intellectual people, resulting in them showing resentment

and anguish by returning awards, honours other forms of recognition, conferred

on them, over the years, by Sahitya Akademi and other organisations of India. Some

of them have resigned from key posts of the institutions and organisations, in

which they were functioning all this while. They have protested vehemently on the

clamp on the intellectual freedom in present times, which has become a

disquieting feature of democratic India. The genesis and the happening of the

outrage on part of the members of the intelligentsia are detailed in this edition of

Prep Talk, which forms its Cover Story.

Alongside, there have been notable and significant events and happenings that

find space in this edition. Many of them have been in the form of achievements,

research and development ventures, cosmic journeys, forays into realms of

environment and ecology, medicine and therapy, health and fitness, science and

technology, trade and commerce, sports and games, et al. All these speak

eloquently of the human prowess, and that there are no heights that are not reached

by the human being, provided the indomitable spirit is properly exploited and

harnessed. At the same time, there are also those acts that are disdainful and

despicable. While the former is to be emulated, the latter should be avoided.

Friends, most among you would be preparing fervently to

crack the ensuing CAT and other entrance exams of B-

Schools. Develop the skills, practise intensely, go the extra

mile to acquire the wherewithal to make you a cut above the

rest.

Kar Ke Dikhayenge! Godspeed.

Sandeep Manudhane

It is not the cards youre dealt, it is

how you play the game.

Chris Pardo

Sometimes it is the smallest

decision that can change your life

forever.

Keri Russell

Most people want to improve their

situation but few take responsibility

for motivating themselves to make

changes.

Omar Periu

People who are unable to motivate

themselves must be content with

mediocr i t y, no matter how

impressive their other talents.

Andrew Carnegie

It is wiser to find out than to

suppose.

Mark Twain

Opportunities don't happen, you

create them

Chris Grosse

Great minds discuss ideas; average

minds discuss events; small minds

discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt

A loving silence often has far more

power to heal and to connect than

the most well-intentioned words.

Rachel Naomi Remen

The ladder of success is best

climbed by stepping on the rungs of

opportunity.

-Ayn Rand

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Unaccepted articles may not be returned.

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shaping careers through innovative products and

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Cover Story:

Current Events

Regulars

05

MP govt mulls automated meters for electricity consumers .. 47

Nature thrives in Chernobyl, site of worst nuclear disaster.... 49

3 share Nobel medicine prize for new tools to kill parasites... 51

Amazon India is building an army of 'cowboys' & 'Jeff bots'

India ....................................................................................... 11

...................................................................................... 19

Business and Economy ......................................................... 27

Dinosaurs could have been warm-blooded ......................... 10

Heavy air pollution in 80% of Chinese cities: Greenpeace 18

Samsung struggles to regain smartphone market share.... 34

7 out of every 10 Indians are vitamin deficient ................... 35

SC seeks response on levy of pollution

compensatory charges........................................................... 37

Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, the biggest

threat to internet, signed....................................................... 38

Tips to fight obesity and lose weight ................................... 39

Samsung is finally seeing a revival, and

smartphones are not the reason ........................................... 43

Cure for cancer might accidentally have been found ......... 45

First nano-satellite functional: Nasa.................................... 46

Nehru's niece Nayantara Sehgal returns

Sahitya Akademi award, protests rising intolerance ........... 50

14 elephants killed by cyanide poisoning in Zimbabwe ..... 52

.... 53

Foods that fight wrinkles and ageing ................................... 54

Hypertension rising steeply in India .................................... 55

iPhone's India launch a bigger affair this time ................... 57

Listen to your body while you workout ................................ 58

M-commerce roles need hunger to create impact.............. 59

Nokia completes Alcatel-Lucent merger,

announces new team ............................................................. 60

Odisha gets its 1st 100% solar-powered village .................. 61

Gas 'fingerprinting' used to monitor carbon

dioxide may reduce emissions .............................................. 62

Government to fast-track green clearances

for Sagarmala project............................................................. 63

Health mistakes we usually make......................................... 64

World

India's intelligentsia claims it is threatened

by a Climate of Intolerance ........................................................

Contents


Dozens of Indian writers have returned top national

awards in a protest against what they call a climate of

intolerance in the emerging economicpower.

The campaign, described as an unprecedented rebellion by

the cream of India's literary talent, follows a series of incidents

of communal violence and attacks on intellectuals.

More than 40 novelists, essayists, playwrights and poets have

now given back awards from the country's most prestigious

literary institution, theSahityaAkademi.

One of the most prominent is the niece of Nehru, journalist

and author Nayantara Sahgal, who claimed that India's culture

of diversity anddebate is nowunder vicious assault.

The row took on an international dimension earlier recently,

when Salman Rushdie weighed in, telling a local television

network that the failure of the government to act was allowing a

newdegree of thuggish violence in India.

Recently, 80-year-old novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana said that

she was returning her Padma Shri, one of the most important

national decorations,which shewon in 2004.

Tiwana, from the northwestern state of Punjab, said that she

was acting out of solidarity with those protesting against the

increasing communalisation of our society. To kill those who

stand for truth and justice puts us to shame in the eyes of the

world andGod,Tiwana said.

The two incidents that havemost angered thewriters are the

lynching of a Muslim labourer in Dadri, last month, and the

murder of a rationalist thinker, inAugust, 2015.

In the first, a mob in the village of Bisara on the outskirts of

Delhi, the capital, believed their victim had eaten beef and beat

him todeath outsidehis home.

In the second incident, Malleshappa Kalburgi, an award-

winning scholar, whose frequent criticism of what he saw as

superstition and false beliefs had angered the extremists, was

gunneddown in the southern state ofKarnataka.

The authors, who write in English as well as regional

languages, have called on the Sahitya Akademi, which was

established nearly 60 years ago by India's independence leader

and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to publicly condemn the

murder ofKalburgi.

The upsurges of sectarian tension in recent years have often

coincided with elections. Currently, voting is underway in a key

state-level election in the east of India.

Some analysts say that rightwing groups allied to the

nationalist group are pushing to see how far they can go under

the incumbent government.

Samir Saran, of theObserverResearchFoundation, said that

louder and more rabid rightwing groups in India felt

India's intelligentsia claims it isthreatened by a Climate of Intolerance

Cover Story


emboldened by themandate won in last year's poll, and believed

that theynowhadmore freedomof action.

However, Saran said that the greater scrutiny and reporting

of such incidents following the establishment of the government

obscured how such incidents had happened under previous

governments ledby the centre-leftCongress party too.

It is definitely getting greater prominencenow,he said.

Senior government officials have however dismissed the

writers' protests, accusing themofbeingpoliticallymotivated.

If they say they are unable to write, let them stop writing,

MaheshSharma, India'sMinister forCulture, said.

However, he also condemned the murders of Kalburgi and

Mohammed Akhlaq, the labourer lynched by the mob last

month.

The sectarian violence has had a significant impact on

India's image overseas and could undermine the government's

drive to attract investors.

There is a long history of clashes over culture and effective

censorship by parties and leaders from across the political

spectrum in India.

In one case earlier this year, a critically acclaimed Indian

novelist announced his death as a creative artist, following

threats and protests by rightwing religious and caste groups,

prompted by his book about a woman's efforts to get pregnant

with a stranger through a religious ritual.

Perumal Murugan said that he planned to stop writing and

asked his publishers to withdraw all his works of fiction from

sale.

In February 2014, religious conservatives forced the removal

from sale of a book on contemporary religion by the US

academic Wendy Doniger, claiming that it was insulting to the

faith.

An editorial in a leading newspaper at the time condemned

the growing power of bullying self-appointed censors,

displaying aVictorianhangoverwith aTaliban temperament.

The sale ofRushdie's 1988novelTheSatanic Verses remains

proscribed in India and its author was unable to appear at the

Jaipur literary festival in 2012 after Muslim organisations

protested.

Politicians have repeatedly sought to ban or restrict the sale

or production of specific books.

One after the other, many well-known litterateurs of India

have returned the Sahitya Akademy Awards. Among them is the

noted Hindi poet and critic Ashok Vajpayee. Before him, the

English writer, Nayantara Sehgal, returned one of India's

highest literary honors. The objective of their returning the

awards is to protest against the visible attacks on the secular

credentials of Indian constitution, and the surprising silence of

the Prime Minister of India, who otherwise is swift in the

deployment of technology to propagatehis achievements.

Three eminent writers from Punjab have announced that

they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, while

Kannada writer Aravind Malagatti resigned from the body's

general council, joining the growing protest by litterateurs over

rising intolerance andcommunal atmosphere.

Killing of personalities likeKalburgi, (Govind) Pansare and

incidents likeDadri lynching are an attack on theConstitutional

rights in this country. They are highly condemnable, Malagatti

said. Malagatti is among 20 representatives from various

Universities in theGeneralCouncil of theSahityaAkademi.

Returning theawards

With the writers' protest over its silence on rationalistMM

Kalburgi's murder growing louder, Sahitya Akademi

chairperson Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari came out with a

statement saying that the apex literary body stands for freedom

of expression and condemns attack on any writer or artist

anywhere.

It asserted its commitment to the core secular values

enshrined in theConstitution and the right to life of all.

Eminent writers Gurbachan Bhullar, Ajmer Singh Aulakh

and Atamjit Singh, announced that they were returning their

Sahitya Akademi awards like several other authors including

Nayantara Sehgal, Sara Joseph,Uday Prakash andAshok Vajpeyi,

demanding that the Akademi speak out against the killing of its

member Kalburgi and other rationalists and the communal

atmosphere, in the backdrop of the Dadri lynching incident.

Bhullar said that he was perturbed by the attempts to disrupt

the social fabric of the country

During recent past, the attempts at disrupting the social

fabric of the country, targeting particularly the area of literature

and culture, under an orchestrated plan of action, has been

perturbingme,he said.

The 78-year-old author born inBathinda in Punjab had been

awarded the Sahitya Akademi for his 2005 book of short stories

Agni-Kalas. A renownedPunjabi playwright, Aulakh said that

he was very pained by the attacks on progressive writers,

leaders of the rationalmovement and the forcible regimentation

of education and culture. He said that he was very upset over

the communal atmosphere being created in the country and the

central government was not performing its duty as the

representative of a secular and democratic country. Punjabi

theatre personality Atamjit Singh said that he was returning his

Akademi Award as he is very upset over the incidents of

communal hatred in the country for the last somemonths.

Recently literary figures like Shashi Deshpande, K

Satchidanandan, PKParakkadavu had resigned from their posts

in theAkademi, citing similar reasons. A federation ofKashmiri

scholars, Adbee Markaz Kamraz, too expressed solidarity with

the eminent writers for their decision to return Sahitya Akademi

awards, asking the top literary body to break its silence over the

increasing communal frenzy. Poet and critic Adil Jussawalla,

who won the Sahitya Akademi honour for his 2014 work, also

urged the literary body to condemn the unacceptable

censoring of writers by violently intolerant groups.

Jussawalla said he has written to chairperson of Sahitya

Akademi.

Writer Ganesh Devy returned his Sahitya Akademi Award to

express solidarity with the writers, who have recently given up

their awards to condemn the shrinking space for free

expression and growing intolerance towards differences of

opinion in the country. It is high time that writers take a

stand,Devy said in a letter addressed to thePresident of Sahitya

Akademi Prof Viswanath Pratap Tiwari. It is with utmost regret

that I would like to convey to you that I wish to return the 1993

Sahitya AkademiAward given in the category of books inEnglish

tomywork 'AfterAmnesia' (1992), he said in the letter.

"The great idea of India is based on a profound tolerance for

diversity and difference. They far surpass everything else in

importance. That we have come to a stage when the honourable

Rashtrapatiji had to remind the nation that these must be seen

as non-negotiable foundations of India should be enough of a

reason for theSahityaAkademi to act,"Devy said.

Kannada author K Veerabhadrappa had received the Sahitya

Akademi award for his novel 'Aramane.' He condemned the

academy's silence on the killing of a noted scholar, Malleshappa

MKalburgi.


Eminent Rajasthani and Hindi writer

Nand Bhardwaj also registered his protest

by returning his Sahitya Akademi award.

Bhardwaj said that he was miffed with the

academy for not speaking up against

Kalburgi's killing.

Delhi-based Aman Sethi said he too

was returning the Sahitya Award he got in

1993, as the "spirit of inquiry is clearly under threat".

Literary figures like Shashi Deshpande, K Satchidanandan,

P K Parakkadavu had resigned from their posts in the Akademi,

citing similar reasons.

What is the Sahitya Akademi, and the Sahitya Akademi

Award?

TheSahitya Akademi is India's premier institution of letters,

with a stated commitment to promoting Indian literature

throughout the world. The Akademi was established by

Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also its first chairperson, and

inaugurated on March 12, 1954. Every year, the Akademi

announces awards for authors of works of outstanding literary

merit in Indian languages. Awards are currently given for 24

languages; themost recent additions beingBodo and Santhali in

2005. Awards in English began in 1960 the first recipient was

R K Narayan for his novel The Guide. Over the years, the

Akademi has introduced other awards such as the Bhasha

Samman,YuvaSahityakar andBal SahityaPuraskar.

The first awards were given in 1955. The award amount was

initially Rs 5,000, and has been gradually raised it has beenRs

1 lakh since 2009. The Akademi is under the central

government's Ministry of Culture, but works as an autonomous

institution. To be eligible, the book must be an outstanding

contribution to the language and literature to which it belongs.

Itmay be a creative or a critical work, butmust not be awork of

translation, an anthology, abridgement, compilation or

annotation, or university research paper. A committee of three

writers, selected by the Akademi president out of a panel of

seven names recommended by the Language Advisory Board,

chooses the awardee in each language.

WHAT DOES A SAHITYA AKADEMI

HONOUR MEAN FOR A WINNER?

WHAT DOES RETURNING THE AWARD MEAN? WHAT

EXACTLY ARE THEY RETURNING? HOW?

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WRITERS'

PROTEST?

Despite occasional controversies in

the Akademi's functioning, the main

award remains, after the Jnanpith, the

most prestigious and coveted literary

honour in India. The Akademi gets the

winning book translated into several

Indian languages, which ensures a wide readership, and

organises programmes for the winners in several parts of the

country. As it enhances the prestige of thewinner, the award also

cements the credibility of the Akademi the honour is in effect

recognition for an outstanding original work that already had its

readers.

Some have returned the award amount along with a formal

letter to theAkademi. A fewothers have sent letters, but have not

enclosed cheques. Some have just announced their decision,

but are yet to formally inform the Akademi. No one has returned

the award citation or trophy so far. As events unfold rapidly

across the country, the writers seem to be responding

instinctively to an atmosphere of protest a coordinated or

concretemodeof action is yet to take shape.

The Akademi is confounded. To accept the cheques would

mean the money would have to go back to its coffers. This

involves a procedure, and requires the approval of the Executive

Board. The cheques and the letters are still awaiting their fate at

theAkademi.

While the Culture Ministry has remained unruffled,

returning the Akademi award is a major statement, considering

that hardly anyone has done so in the last six decades. Writers

from across the country have accused the Akademi of having

failed to perform its duty as the custodian of literary freedom. It


is a severe indictment, and a powerful blow to the Akademi's

moral standing. The writers want the Akademi to speak up

against the establishment, something that the Akademi's

chairperson has been unable to do so far. This raises questions

about the Akademi's autonomy, and suggests, fairly or unfairly,

that it is under pressure from thegovernment.

A protest by writers or artists is not the same as a dharna by a

political party. A community that works closely with metaphors

can be expected to protest through symbols. Critics have

derided these writers as inconsequential women and men of

whom very few have even heard, let alone reading their work. By

its very nature, however, literature would have significantly

fewer readers than popular, mass-produced books and the

fact that not many would have read or heard about Gora or Ek

Chithra Sukh or Samskara does not diminish the greatness of

either these works or of their authors, Rabindranath Tagore,

Nirmal Verma, orURAnanthamurthy.

Some have questioned the politics and motivation of the

writers, saying they are returning awards given to them by the

Congress.However,Hindi poetsMangaleshDabral andRajesh

Joshi, and Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu received their

awards when Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government was in power,

and Punjabi writer Jaswinder was honoured last year, the first

year of ithepresent governmrnt inDelhi.

The Akademi is under great pressure, and has called an

emergency meeting of its Executive Board on October 23, to

discuss the situation.The announcement of this year's awards is

just about amonth away. If the rebellion continues, thatmight be

jeopardised. Some writers have also pointed out that if the

controversy ends up destroying the authority of the Akademi, it

might prompt the government to take it over, thus destroying

everything that theprotesters havebeen fighting for.

What purpose does the return of awards serve? This is not

the first time that awards have been received and returned by

persons of eminence.Even JeanPaul Sartre refused to accept the

Nobel Prize. However, his reason was far different from that of

the above mentioned figures. To Sartre, there was a striking

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

difference between Jean Paul Sartre, the writer, and Jean Paul

Sartre, the Nobel Prize winning writer. He refused to be part of

the process of institutional process andwished, like James Joyce,

to continue to remain an artist independent of the co-opting

forces of institutions, at the service of ideological ends. In the

current list of returnees, the motivation is not the reluctance to

be out of institutional actions but compel the institutions to

stand for the values which constitution has bestowed on them

and from which they draw the inspiration to continue to work

anddisseminate ideas irrespective of allegiance to faith or creed.

Thepurpose of returning the award is dual.

One is to bring to bear an institutional force and the secular

logic on the head of the country to speak on behalf of the

minority, who feel insecure and threatened under the current

dispensation.

Second, the purpose of returning the awards is to raise

awareness of the masses against a rising tide of communal

politics. A kind of competitive politics, whichwill shred the India

that Gandhi had imagined, who incidentally felt that eating beef

cannot be banned in India. Such awareness from personages

who represent a reflective and contemplative India embodying

the wishes of millions, can make the ruling regime to sit up and

think about the consequences of their determined silence.

Whether their purpose is served or not, at least they listened to

their conscience, cutting through the din of media and barrage

of arguments and counter arguments, and expressed their

opinion in a manner which befits a person of letters; a

conscience which seems to have gone to seed among the

awardees.



Anew method to chemically

analyse dinosaur egg shells has

allowed scientists to gauge the

extinct lizards' body temperature,

researchers said recently.

The findings support recent work by

other teams that dinosaurs were neither

warm nor cold-blooded, but

somewhere in between, researchers

wrote in the journalNatureCommunications.

But it also indicated that body temperature differed between

dinosaur species.

"The temperatures we measured suggest that at least some

dinosaurs were not fully endotherms (warm-blooded) like

modern birds," said the study's lead author Robert Eagle of the

University ofCaliforniaLosAngeles (UCLA).

"They may have been intermediate somewhere between

modern alligators and crocodiles andmodernbirds."

This meant they could produce heat internally and raise

their body temperature, but notmaintain it at a consistently high

level.

Warm-blooded animals, or endotherms, typically maintain a

constant body temperature while cold-blooded ones, called

ectotherms, rely on external heat sources to warm up like

lizards lazing in theSun.

Scientists have been debating for 150 years whether

dinosaurs were warm-blooded hunters, like mammals, or cold-

blooded and sluggish likemany reptiles.

"If dinosaurs were at least endothermic (warm-blooded) to a

degree, they hadmore capacity to run around searching for food

than an alligatorwould,"Eagle said.

Warm-blooded animals typically

need to eat a great deal to stay warm,

forcing them into frequent hunts or to

eat largequantities of plants.

The team said it used a pioneering

procedure to measure the internal

temperature of dinosaur mothers which

lived some71-80million years ago.

They examined the chemical makeup of the shells of 19

fossilized eggs from two types of dinosaur, unearthed in

Argentina andMongolia'sGobi desert.

One was a large, long-necked titanosaur sauropod, a

member of the largest animal group to ever to walk the Earth,

and the other a smaller oviraptorid closely related to

Tyrannosaurus rex andmodernbirds.

The team analysed the behaviour of two rare isotopes in

calcium carbonate, a key ingredient in egg shells. The isotopes

carbon-13 and oxygen-18 tend to cluster together more

closely at colder temperatures.

"This technique tells you about the internal body

temperature of the female dinosaur when she was ovulating,"

saidEagle's colleague, AradhnaTripati.

The titanosaur mother's temperature had been about 38-

degrees celsius (100-degrees Fahrenheit), the team found. A

healthy human temperature is 37-degrees celsius.

The smaller dinosaur was substantially cooler, probably

below 32-degrees celsius but was probably able raise its

temperature above that of its environment, said the team.

Fossilised soil from around the nest area in Mongolia had been

about 26-degrees celsius.

"The oviraptorid dinosaur body temperatures were higher

than the environmental temperatures suggesting they were

not truly cold-bloodedbut intermediate," saidTripati.

Dinosaurs could havebeen warm-blooded


RAHUL GANDHI ON PADAYATRA, MEETSAND COMFORTS DISTRESSED FARMERS

Undertaking a padayatra and interacting with farmers,

Congress Vice-President RahulGandhi counselled the peasants

not to commit suicide, as itwasno solution to their problems.

On his tour of Karnataka to comfort the distressed families

of farmers who had committed suicide, Rahul started about a

seven-km long padayatra from Maidur village in Haveri district

of north Karnataka. At the first stop of his padayatra, the

Congress MP had interactions with students at Maidur higher

primary school. Asked how he would solve the farmers

problems if he became the Prime Minister, Rahul said the

country should be run by the citizens and they should be

empowered to solve their problems.

During his interaction with farmers, he urged them not to

commit suicide because it is not the solution. He met the

farmers at Kandebagur helipad in Rannebennur, where they

raised concern over Kalasa-Banduri row between Goa,

Karnataka andMaharashtra. The farmers urgedRahul to exhort

pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and request

President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene to resolve the matter.

About 50 farmers from Nargund and Navalgund and Hubli-

Dharwadwerepresent.

The Kalasa-Banduri Nala (diversion) project, to utilise 7.56

tmcft of water from the inter-state Mahadayi river, is being

undertaken by Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to

the twin cities ofHubballi-Dharwad and the districts of Belagavi

and Gadag, over which Goa has reservations. Protests are on by

several organisations and farmers across districts of North

Karnataka demanding implementation of Kalasa-Banduri

project.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior Congress

leader Digvijaya Singh, also in charge of party affairs in

K a rn a t a k a , a nd KPCC

President G Parameshwara

accompanied Rahul during his

outreach to farmers. Rahul

had visited Mandya district.

The visit of Rahul to Mandya

and Haveri districts came

against the backdrop of a sudden rise in farmerssuicides in the

last sixmonths inKarnataka,with 541peasants taking away their

lives. Mandya and Haveri districts were the most affected by

distress driven suicides.

Delegates of theMizo StudentsUnion (MSU), in its general

conference, decided to ask the Mizoram government to take

steps to ensure that the entire state be made scheduled (tribal)

area again. The MSU general conference, held in Mizoram-

Manipur border Darlawn village, adopted the resolution, where

several delegates stressed the need to make the entire Mizoram

a scheduled area again for safeguard and protection of the

natives of the state. As of now, scheduled areas in the state

comprised only of the Mara, Lai and Chakma autonomous

district council areas in Mizorams Saiha and Lawngtlai

districts. The MSU also adopted a resolution seeking

amendment to the Indian Constitution on the lists of Mizo

tribes. Leaders of the MSU felt that the present list of the Mizo

tribes had become a hurdle for the unity and integrity of the

Mizo ethnic groups.

Keen to put in place a system to prevent international tax

evasion and avoidance, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley hasmade a

MSU TO ASK MIZORAM GOVT TO MAKETHE STATE SCHEDULED TRIBAL

JAITLEY BATS FOR AUTOMATIC INFOEXCHANGE TO TACKLE BLACK MONEY

India

Current Events


strong pitch for countries to implement Common Reporting

Standards on automatic exchange of information.

Jaitley in his intervention during the 49th Annual

Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting welcomed the

efforts of OECD in areas of BEPS project and automatic

exchange of information, which have important implications for

Commonwealthnations.

"He emphasised the need to ensure that the Common

Reporting Standards on Automatic Exchange of Information are

implemented globally on a fully reciprocal basis, as this would be

a key to prevent international tax evasion and avoidance," an

official statement said.

The OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)

Project provides governmentswith solutions for closing the gaps

in existing international rules that allow corporate profits to

'disappear' or be artificially shifted to low/no tax environments,

where little or no economic activity takes place.

Revenue losses from BEPS are conservatively estimated at

USD100-240 billion annually, or anywhere from4-10 per cent of

global corporate income tax (CIT) revenues.

Jaitley noted that India has been the beneficiary of these

systems by getting vital information on tax evasion and

emphasised the need for genuine and equitable multilateralism

indeciding global norms and standards on taxation.

The meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers also

focused on issues relating to infrastructure financing and small

states trade financing facility.

Jaitley was on an official tour fromOctober 7 to 11 to Peru to

attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund

and theWorldBank aswell as other associatedmeetings.

Accustomed to playing by their own rules in regard to

transfers and postings, rail officials are being shaken out from

their comfort zoneby theNDAgovernment.

In a radical policy reform initiative aimed at addressing

incongruities in administering the public sector monolith,

GOVERNMENT FRAMES FIRST TRANSFERPOLICY FOR INDIAN RAILWAYS

railways minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled the first-ever

comprehensive transfer policy for railway officers that defines

guidelines and tenures of posting and transfer of Grade A and B

categories of officers.

Aimed at tackling the problem of favoured officers

overstaying in particular locations and whimsical transfers,

the government has proposed a minimum of two and a

maximum of five-year tenure. The existing system has

promoted a culture of patronage and builds vested interests at

the expense of professional organisational needs, said an aide

ofPrabhu.

The business of transfer and postings has also generated

controversies, including the 2014 cash-for-post scandal that led

to the resignation of then railwaysminister PawanKumarBansal

and thenRailwayBoardmemberMaheshKumar.

The new policy brings in a clause of a cooling-off period of a

minimum of three years for postings at the Railway Board in

New Delhi and reduces the maximum tenure for sensitive

posts from five to four years. The policy also provides that the

total stay at a stretch at a particular stationwont bemore than 10

years and the total cumulative stay (in broken spells) will not be

more than15 years.

President Pranab Mukherjee said

that the country should keep in mind

core values of diversity and tolerance,

days after the killing of a 55-year-old

Muslimman over rumours that he and

his familymembers ate beef.

I firmly believe that we cannot allow the core values of our

civilization to be wasted and the core values are what over the

years the civilization celebrated diversity, promoted and

advocated tolerance, endurance andplurality.

These core civilization values keep us together over the

centuries. Many ancient civilizations have fallen. But that is

right that aggression after aggression, long foreign rule, the

Indian civilization has survived because of its core civilizational

values and wemust keep that inmind. And if we keep those core

values inmind, nothing can prevent our democracy tomove, he

said.

DIVERSITY, TOLERANCE OUR COREVALUES: PREZ AMID DADRI LYNCHING UPROAR

The Presidents remarks come in the wake of lynching of a

50-year-old man in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh by an enraged mob

over rumours that he stored and consumed beef, which has

sparked anoutrage across the country.

ThePresidentwas handed over a coffee-table book onhimat

a function at theRashtrapati Bhawan.

The book written by Prabhu Chawla, editorial director of

New Indian Express, was released by Vice President Hamid

Ansari.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, leader of

opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Jammu

andKashmir CMFarooq Abdullah andMPswere also present at

the function.

In his brief 15-minute address, Mukherjee said being a

political leader all along, he felt shy speaking at such an occasion

where a book on him was written. He said the country has made

tremendous progress in many sectors and there is no limit to

doingmore.

There is no limit. We will have to do much more, he said.

He added that there is no end to work in the Presidents office,

which is considered strictly Constitutional and recalled how his

friends jokingly commented that he would not have anything

much todo in thepost.

I in my own way, I am making my contribution to make the

country more important... After three years of coming here, I

recognise that much more is to be done. There is no end to

working in the Presidents office, which is considered strictly

constitutional, he said.

Lauding the strength of democracy in the country, the

President said that its electorate decisively decided to put an end

to the era of coalition andgave a single party government.

Despite their diversity and despite having a long period of

absence of single party majority, the Indian electorate decisively

decided tomake an end of that.Many of us thought that perhaps

an era of coalition has reached and that no single party would

ever come (to power). In true sense, the marvel of Indian

democracy has its own strength and wemust celebrate that, he

said.

He said he has closely seen many important events in the

country happen before him right from the first election, when

people wondered how an election covering 350 million people

can take place smoothly, to the last one.He also recalled his days,

when he entered Parliament as a member of the Rajya Sabha

during a turbulent period when Congress faced amajor crisis

over banknationalisation andeventually split.

The President also recalled his mother telling him to go to

school walking 10 kms everyday and that impacted his mind to

strive hardwhen there is no option.

He lauded the work of Prabhu Chawla, who along with his

team put the book together, describing it as a gift from his

friends and near and dear ones. Ansari said the book is a small

tribute to an eminent personality, who has a range of experience

anddepth of understanding issues.

Praising the book, Rajnath Singh said to putMukherjees life

in a book is difficult to do so for such a personality who has not

been in politics only to be in power and one who had strived

successfully to bring about consensus in Parliament on many

issues. He played the most important role in bringing about

consensus, theHomeMinister said.

Despite the government's recent steps to alleviate the

problems in the road construction sector, 53 per cent of the

highway projects under construction under the build, operate

and transfer (BOT) framework are at risk of never being

completed, aCrisil report released recently finds.

About 5,100 km of BOT [build, operate, and transfer]

highway projects, or around 53% of those under construction in

India, are at high risk of not being completed because of delays

in land acquisition and clearances, and weak wherewithal of

sponsors, the report titled No smooth ride said.

The report found that 37 per cent of BOT projects, of 3,520

km, are in the high implementation risk category. High

implementation risk means that less than 70 per cent of the

project has been completed and the delay in completion is

expected tobebetween12-18months.

TOTAL OF 7,500 KM OF HIGHWAYPROJECTS UNDER RISK: CRISIL


Making matters worse is the fact that about 2,400 km, or 40

per cent of the total length of operational BOThighways, are not

in a position to service their debt on their own due to lower-

than-estimated traffic and resultant toll collections. Thus, the

report finds, a total of 7,500 km of projects (both under

construction and already operational) are at risk.

In the next two years, these projects require a toll revenue

growth of around 40 per cent in order to service their debt

obligations. Thats a tough ask considering that toll rates are

linked toWPI inflation, which is in negative territory. And traffic

has just started to inch up and is yet to reach double digits in

most cases, saidSushmitaMajumdar,Director,Crisil Ratings.

Apart from delays in land acquisition and clearances, one

major problem the report citedwas the financial weakness of the

sponsors of theseprojects.

The report finds that to ensure that the under-construction

projects progress on schedule, their sponsors will have to raise

around Rs. 28,500 crore. The stronger sponsors should be able

to raise Rs. 6,700 crore through accruals and borrowings, and

they should be able to raise an additional Rs. 9,300 crore in the

next few years through the recently introduced reformmeasure

of allowing 100 per cent exit from projects two years after

completion.

However, this leaves a gap of Rs. 12,500 crore over the next

three years that theweaker sponsors donot have thewherewithal

to raise at themoment, the report said.

Another source of problems, the report says, has to do with

the timing of the project bids. The majority of the projects

under stress today were bid between fiscals 2010 and 2012 and

involved acquisition of large swathes of land. Most were

aggressively bid for, leading to high premium payments.

Funding avenues then tapered leaving sponsors unable to

financeprojects at hand, the report said.

Reform measures initiated by the government have helped,

Crisil says.Thenewpolicy that allows developers to exit projects

following their completion, in particular will help highway

projects and their developers. Not only can the funds raised

Raising funds

Govt. policies

through this route help in turning around stressed projects and

meet existing commitments, a change in promoters could also

openupnewavenues of finance, the report says.

Swatting away rumors on the

discrepancies in the age of his sons

as per the affidavits filed by them,

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)

supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said

that there was no error whatsoever

and what was mentioned in the

voter list was final. Tejaswis age in voter id is real and there is

no dispute related to that. What is written in the voter list is

final, Lalu affirmed. Lalus younger son Tejaswi, however, said

there is an error in the affidavit and added that they have filed a

complaint in this regard. The affidavit filed by the RJD chief s

elder son Tej Pratap Yadav while submitting his nomination

from theMahua Assembly seat in Vaishali district shows his age

as 25 years.The affidavit filed byTejaswi, who is contesting from

theRaghopur assembly seat, showshis age as 26 years.

India is experimenting, said the submission, with a careful

mix ofmarketmechanisms together with fiscal instruments and

regulatory interventions to mobilise finances for climate

change.

India would need to spend at least $2.5 trillion between 2015

and 2030 on mitigation activities to meet targets as part of its

Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)

submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on

ClimateChange (UNFCCC).

To achieve the INDC of reducing the emissions intensity of

its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level, India

has said it will bank on fiscal measures including fuel subsidy

cuts and increased taxes on fossil fuels including diesel and

petrol.

The Modi governments policy of duty increases that are an

implicit carbon tax of $140 for petrol and $64 for diesel in

BIHAR POLLS: LALU PRASAD YADAVDOWNPLAYS HIS SONS AGE DISCREPANCIES

INDIA BANKS ON SUBSIDY CUTS,HIGHER TAXES ON FUELS


absolute terms will help India achieve a net reduction of 11

million tonnes ofCOemissions in less than a year.

Over the past one year, India has almost cut its petroleum

subsidy by about 26 per cent, according to the 38-page

document. This, it said, is substantially above what is now

considered a reasonable initial tax on CO emissions of $25- $35

per tonne. The subsidies cuts and increased taxes on fossil

fuels have turned a carbon subsidy regime into one of carbon

taxation.

India is experimenting, said the submission, with a careful

mix ofmarketmechanisms together with fiscal instruments and

regulatory interventions to mobilise finances for climate

change.

One of the dedicated funds at the national level for meeting

the costs of mitigation is the cess on coal. In 2010, the cess was

imposed at the rate ofRs.50 ($0.8) per tonne of coal andhas been

quadrupled to Rs.200 ($ 3.2) per tonne of coal. The coal cess

translates into a carbon tax equivalent, using the emission factor

for coal, of about $2 per tonne. This forms the corpus for the

National Clean Environment Fund -- used for financing clean

energy, technologies, andprojects related to it.

The total cess collection, of Rs.17,084 crore ($2.7 billion) till

2014-15, is being used for 46 clean energy projects worth

Rs.16,511 crore ($2.6 billion).

Tax-free infrastructure bonds of Rs.5,000 crore ($794

million) are also being introduced for funding of renewable

energy projects during the year 2015-16, India said.

Also included in the submission is the 14th Finance

Commission recommendation on incentives for forestry sector

that has based the devolution of funds to states from the federal

pool of taxes on a formula that attaches 7.5 per cent weight to the

area under forest. According to the estimations based on 14th

Finance Commission data, the initiative provides afforestation a

boost by conditioning about $6.9 billion of transfers to the states

based on their forest cover, which is projected to increase up to

$12 billion by 2019-20. Implicitly, India is going to transfer to

Cessoncoal

Forestry sector

states roughly about $174 per hectare of forest per year which

compares very favourably with other afforested countries, the

INDCdocument said.

Locals of Ramnathi inNorthGoa district, where the Sanatan

Sanstha is headquartered, have demanded a ban on the right-

wing outfit and urged the state government to ensure that its

ashram is shifted out of their village failing which they would

intensify their agitation against them and their sadhaks

(seekers).

The villagers have given the state

government a weeks time to ban the

Sanstha or shift the ashram at Ramnathi

saying that theywould organise a rally and

a public meeting at Ponda (taluka) bus

stand if their demands are not met. This

is not the first time that the villagers have protested against the

Sanstha based in Ramnathi in Ponda, known for a cluster of

popular temples. They had earlier done so after the 2009 bomb

blasts when mastermind Gonda Patil and accomplice Yogesh

Naik, both full-time members of the Sanstha, died while

ferrying IEDs on their scooter to a Diwali gathering in Margao,

located 35kmfromPanaji.

Village sarpanch Shamila Lotlikar claimed that she has been

approached by several locals with a demand that the ashram be

shifted from Ramnathi following which she has appealed to the

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to do so immediately.

Ramnathi Yuva Sangh President SaurabhLotlikar also sought to

free the village from the menace of Sanstha after its members

came under the scanner for alleged involvement in the murder

of veteran communist leader and rationalist Govind Pansare in

Maharashtra.

SameerGaikwad, a full-time seeker of the Sanstha, has been

arrested in the Pansare murder case. The Special Investigating

Team(SIT), probing themurder of Pansare, suspects role of two

more Sanstha members Rudra Patil and Sarang Akolkar alias

Kulkarni, who are absconding in connection with the 2009 blast,

in the case. Rudra along with Sarang have been declared

absconders by National Investigation Agency (NIA) since the

Goa blasts. Pansare was shot along with his wife near his

GOA: RAMNATHI VILLAGERS SEEK BANON SANATAN SANSTHA


residence in Kolhapur in Maharashtra on February 16. He

succumbed to injuries four days later inMumbai.

Natural gas production growth at 3.7% is in the positive

territory for the first time innearly five years.

The index of eight core industries registered a growth of 2.6

per cent in August 2015 compared to its levels in August 2014.

This is significantly higher than the 1.1 per cent registered in

July.

Five out of eight of the sectors registered a growth of more

than five per cent inAugust.The three that failed tohit thismark

were coal, natural gas, and steel.

The strongest growth came from the fertiliser sector, which

grew a whopping 12.6 per cent in August compared to 8.6 per

cent in July.Thismarks thehighest level of growth the sector has

achieved sinceMay 2014when it grewat 17.5 per cent.

The crude oil sector broke its short phase of contractionwith

growth coming in at 5.6 per cent in August following twomonths

of growth numbers being negative.The refinery products sector

also saw strong growth in August, at 5.8 per cent compared to 2.9

per cent in July.

Growth in electricity production accelerated for the second

month in a row, at 5.6 per cent in August compared to 3.5 per

cent in July and 0.2 per cent in June.Cement production also saw

a similar growth trend, coming in at 5.4 per cent in August up

from1.3 per cent in July.

Coal production grewmarginally in August, by 0.36 per cent

compared to 0.3 per cent in July, whichwas the lowest it hadbeen

sinceOctober 2013.Natural gas productionwhichgrewby 3.7

per cent in August was in the positive for the first time in

nearly five years. The last time the sector saw any growth was in

November 2010.

The steel sectorwas the only one out of the eight core sectors

that saw a contraction, which accelerated to -5.9 per cent in

August compared to -2.5 per cent in July. This is probably due to

CORE SECTOR REGISTERS 2.6% GROWTH

the increased import of cheap steel from China due to the

devaluation of yuan.

The data from the core sectors,many of which are integral to

the manufacturing process, is at odds with the private sector

PMI data for August, which fell to 52.3 from 52.7 in July. This

index is a measure of the economic health of the manufacturing

sector.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of technology giant Google, said that

India has long been an exporter of talent to technology

companies, but is now undergoing its own revolution that will

have great benefits for the 1.2 billionpeople in the country.

Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Silicon

Valley, the India-bornCEO said there is tremendous excitement

for his visit among all Googlers and the entire Indian

community.

The bond between India and the Silicon Valley is strong.

India has longbeen anexporter of talent to tech companies.

The products built by Indian graduates from IIT and other

institutions have helped revolutionise the world. But it is India

thats now undergoing its own revolution, he said in a YouTube

video.

He saw great benefits for everyone in the country as many

people will come online for the first time, especially those in

rural areas and Indic language speakers.

It will also help girls learn new skills and have successful

careers, power education of the next generation and help

businesses of all sizes to findnewcustomers, Pichai said.

Were looking forward to your remarks at the SAPCentre in

San Jose, and also when you come toGoogle... We hope your visit

will energise people in the Valley, excite Indians all across the

country, and renewand strengthenourpartnership, he said.

PrimeMinisterModis Digital India vision is central to this

revolution. It focuses on connecting the 1.2 billion people in

PM MODIS DIGITAL INDIA VISIONCENTRAL TO REVOLUTION: PICHAI


India. It has received tremendous support in India and in Silicon

Valley,Pichai said.

Highlighting the role played by Google, Pichai said that the

company as well as many others around the world is passionate

about playing their part.

Some of our initiatives include making our products work

on lowbandwidth and even offline,making theWeb accessible in

Indic language, providing low-cost Chromebooks in Indian

schools, investing in core infrastructure and affordable

smartphonewithAndroidOne, he said.

During his US visit, Modi was also scheduled to meet

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and address a town hall

question and answer session on September 27 at the companys

headquarters in California. He is expected to meet Apple CEO

Tim Cook and electric carmaker Teslas CEO Elon Musk,

amongothers.

Modi is addressing the India-US Startup Konnect and share

his vision on Start up India, Stand up India to be hosted by

Indian IT industry body Nasscom, The Silicon Valley, and IIM

AhmedabadsCIIE India

Railways has appointed

consortiums led by Chinese,

French and Spanish firms to

conduct studies into building

three high-speed rail lines

linking major cities, as part of

PrimeMinister NarendraModis

diamondquadrilateral project.

A consortium led by Chinas Third Railway Survey and

Design Institute Group Corp. and Lahmyer International

(India) Pvt., has been chosen to conduct a feasibility study for a

1,200 kilometre line between Delhi and Mumbai. Frances

SYSTRA engineering consultancy will lead a consortium, which

includes RITES and E&Y LLP, for conducting a study in a

proposed high speed railway corridor between Mumbai and

Chennai. The Railways has awarded the consultancy for

conducting feasibility study on Delhi-Kolkata high speed

corridor to a consortium of Spanish transport consultancy,

TYPSAand IntercontinentalConsultants andTechnocratsPvt.

RAILWAYS PICKS FIRMS FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL STUDY

CBDT TO ISSUE PRE-FILLED ITR FORMS TO EASE E-FILING

As part of efforts to popularise the electronic mode of filing

Income Tax Returns (ITRs), the CBDT is planning to provide

pre-filled return forms to filers, which will have an automatic

upload of data on incomeandother vitals of a taxpayer.

The apex policy-making body of the I-T department is

actively working to ensure that this customer-friendly measure

canbe launched for taxpayers from thenext financial year.

Themove comes in the backdrop of the new e-filing system,

put in place in August, which allows online verification of an ITR

by using either the Aadhaar number, Internet banking, ATM

amongothers.

Small taxpayers with income less thanRs. 5 lakh andwithout

claims of refund can generate an electronic verification code

from the e-filing website of the tax department, which is later

sent to their registered email to e-verify the return.

We are looking at a possibility of making more entries for a

pre-filled form so that it becomes easier for the taxpayer to file

an e-return. We want to ensure that when technology moves, we

can always bring in better facilities tomake the life (of taxpayers)

even easier,CBDTChairpersonAnitaKapur said.

She said these technology upgrades are proposed to be

initially started for small taxpayers, who file the one-page ITR

(ITR 1), and the thinking in the department is that when the

data of income as per previous records is automatically

uploaded, then the taxpayer can file their ITRs quickly and

wherever there are any amendments or changes, those can be

correctedby the taxpayer himself.

We want to give the taxpayers the right to change or correct

their figures (in the new system) and help them file their ITR as

quickly and easily as possible, she said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is particularly

bolstered on this front by the latest figures, which recently

reported that the tax department received 2.06 crore returns on

its e-filing portal, which is an increase of 26.12 per cent over the

last year,when1.63 crore returnswere filed online.


Pollution in nearly 80 per cent of Chinese cities surveyed

by Greenpeace "greatly exceeded" national standards

over the first nine months of this year, the advocacy

group said onThursday.

The average level of PM2.5 particulates -- small enough to

deeply penetrate the lungs -- in the 367 cities tested was also

more than four times themaximum recommended by theWorld

HealthOrganization (WHO),Greenpeace said.

Nearly 80 per cent of the cities exceeded the national

standard on PM2.5, which is significantly less strict than the

WHO benchmark, despite an overall improvement from the

sameperiod last year.

Widespread use of coal for power generation and emissions

from heavy industry regularly swathe Chinese cities in smog,

linked tohundreds of thousands of prematuredeaths each year.

It is amajor source of discontent with the rulingCommunist

party, who have announced measures such as moving power

plants, but fewexpect rapid improvements.

Greenpeace said that average pollution levels were about 10

per cent lower than the sameperiod last year.

"Although we're seeing gradual improvement, air pollution

levels are still unhealthy and unsafe," said Greenpeace East Asia

Climate andEnergy campaignerDongLiansai.

Themost polluted cities wereKashgar andHotan inChina's

northwestern Xinjiang region, and the northern industrial hub

ofBaoding.

Average PM2.5 readings across the surveyed cities was 47.2

micrograms per cubic metre. The WHO maximum for annual

average exposure is 10whileChina's annual standard is 35.

Beijing's average over the nine months was 72.1 while

Shanghai'swas 50.4.

China's capital ranked as one of the most polluted cities,

despite factory closures to ensure blue skies for a massive

military parade lastmonth.

Locals dubbed the reprieve "parade blue" but Greenpeace

said such short-term interventions had a "negligible effect on

overall long termair quality".

"Rather than temporary measures, we need a long term

strategy and systemic change toChina's energy structure,"Dong

added.

Greenpeace called for a cap on coal use to be included in

China's new five-year economic plan, currently being drafted by

the rulingCommunist party.

"A cap on coal consumption is critical for reducing air

pollution and bringing back healthy, breathable air to our cities,"

Dong said.

Recently, a player at theChinaOpen tennis tournament held

inBeijing in thick haze said pollution hadmadehim vomit, while

fans wore face masks. Heavy air pollution in 80% of Chinese

cities:Greenpeace

Heavy air pollution in 80% ofChinese cities: Greenpeace



AFGHAN PRESIDENT APPOINTS INVESTIGATORSFOR KUNDUZ AIRSTRIKE

Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani has appointed a

commission to investigate a US airstrike in northern Kunduz

city that destroyed a hospital and killed at least 22 people, his

spokesman said.

The five-man teamwould leave soon for Kunduz to look into

the cause of theOctober 3 airstrike on a traumacenter runby the

international charity Doctors Without Borders, Ghanis deputy

spokesmanZafarHashemi said.

The team would be led by the former head of the national

intelligence agency Amrullah Saleh, he said, andwould report to

thepresident.

The airstrike was requested by Afghan ground forces,

according to the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Gen.

JohnFCampbell, butmistakenly hit thehospital.

The bombing continued for about an hour and destroyed the

hospitals main building. President Barack Obama apologized

and the US military is investigating. The hospital has been

abandoned.

Doctors Without Borders said that 12 staff members and 10

patients, all of them Afghans, were killed. Many more are still

missing though all internationals havebeen accounted for.

Ghanimetwith representatives ofDoctorsWithout Borders,

his office said.

He told the groups general director Christopher Stokes and

Afghanistan representative Guilhem Molinie that he had

ordered Afghan security forces to ensure the protection of

humanitarian organisations, a statement said.

It made no mention of a call by Doctors Without Borders for

an independent probe of the incident, specifically by the Swiss-

based International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission -

which ismade up of diplomats,

legal experts, doctors and

some former military officials

fromnine European countries,

including Britain and Russia.

It was created after the Gulf

War in 1991, and has never

deployed a fact-f inding

mission.

Stokes said earlier that Doctors Without Borders - a Nobel

Peace Prize-winning organization that provides medical aid in

conflict zones - is awaiting responses to letters sent to 76

countries that signed the additional protocol to the Geneva

Conventions, asking tomobilize the 15-member commission.

For the IHFFC to bemobilized, a single country would have

to call for the fact-findingmission, and theU.S. andAfghanistan

-which arenot signatories -must also give their consent.

Meanwhile, the situation in Kunduz remains tenuous, as

government troops continue to battle to clear remnants of the

Taliban frompocketswithin the city and its outskirts.

Sarwar Hussaini, spokesman for the provincial police chief,

said three areas of the city had been retaken overnight, though a

gas station in Seh Darak had been hit by a rocket and destroyed.

Hussaini saidhedidnot knowwhich sidewas responsible.

Kunduz resident Abdullah, who gave only one name, said

that people were still leaving the city for safety. He said he had

seen grocers emptying their shops of food to take home, fearing

ongoing scarcities.

The World Food Program said it was feeding thousands of

people in camps in other cities in the north, and that additional

wheat is being milled in anticipation of increased needs in the

comingdays.

Food and water are still not getting through in adequate

quantities, and the city remained without electricity, residents

said.

World

Current Events


The whole city is empty of people, Abdullah said.

Residents are still not feeling safe.

The Syriza party government led

by Greek Prime Minister Alexis

Tsipras survived a no-confidence

vote, bolstering the left-wing leader as

he gets down to implementing

reformsdemandedby creditors.

The governing coalition of the

premiers left-wingSyriza party and thenationalist Independent

Greeks (ANEL) used their 155-strong majority to pass the

motion through the 300-seat parliament.

The vote wraps up three days of debate, which were largely

for forms sake after Tsipras in July signed Greece up to a

roadmap of budgetary overhauls agreedwith the IMFandEU, in

return for further bailout funds.

His agreement to further belt-tightening sparked a rebellion

by the left wing of his party, prompting the government to call

fresh elections,whichSyriza comfortablywon lastmonth.

Before the vote, Tspiras said his primary goal was to

implement reforms demanded by Greeces creditors, allowing

them to to conclude the recapitalisation of the banks by the end

of the year andbegin talks ondebt restructuring.

The 41-year-old premier also welcomed comments from

French President Francois Hollande, who told the European

Parliament that the deal struck between Athens and Brussels

shouldnowbecomeadiscussionondebt servicing.

Tsipras argues that the quickest way for Greece to regain its

economic sovereignty is to keep its commitments to its

creditors, so Athens can begin negotiations with the EU and

IMFon restructuring its unbearable debt burden.

In July, Athens signed up to more tax hikes and public

spending cuts in return for a three-year, 86-billion-euro ($96-

billion)EUbailout -- its third since 2010.

In a sign that the sense of crisis has passed after Greece

came close to the brink of economic collapse this summer, the

BankofGreecehailed signs of an improvement in the liquidity of

Greekbanks and a stabilisation of deposit flows.

GREECES NEW SYRIZA-LED GOVTSURVIVES NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE

Greece agreed to a series of measures to be implemented by

mid-October to unlock the first tranche of two billion euros

($2.2 billion) from its latest international rescuepackage.

This will be followed swiftly by another billion euros,

provided further conditions are met, as part of an initial 26-

billion-europackage approvedby creditors inAugust.

Ten billion euros were set aside for the recapitalisation of

Greeces banks and another 13 billion euros was immediately

put towards repaying debts to the IMF and European Central

Bank.

The bailout is conditioned on a series of controversial

reforms, including reforming state pensions, tax increases on

farmers andprivatisations of cherished state companies.

The full programme must have parliaments backing by

aroundOctober 15, government spokeswomanOlgaGerovasili

saidWednesday.

Addressing parliament, Greek Finance Minister Euclid

Tsakalotos said the reforms would weigh heavily on numerous

social groups but said it was important to move ahead quickly

and successfully.

China will conform to the latest statistical standards set by

the IMF to improve transparency and remove scepticism about

the economic data provided by the world's second largest

economy, especially in the backdrop of global concerns over the

slowdownof its economy.

After approval from the cabinet, the People's Bank of China

(PBOC)governorZhouXiaochuan informed IMFof its decision

to conform to the Special Data Dissemination Standards

(SDDS)of the IMF, thebank announced.

Since 2002, China has used theGeneralDataDissemination

System (GDDS), which the IMF set up in December 1997, to

provide a framework for countries to adapt and improve their

statistical systems.

The GDDS applies to all IMF members, while the SDDS

applies to member countries that have or are seeking access to

internationalmarkets.

The SDDS was started by the IMF in 1996 to help it gain

access to regular economic and financial statistics and assist

CHINA ADOPTS IMF STATISTICALBENCHMARK TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY

participating countries in crafting updated economic policies

andgaining access to financialmarkets.

The move came amid global concerns over slowdown of

China's economy, which is having a cascading effect on the

global economy.

According to IMF, China's growth is expected to slow from

7.3 per cent in 2014 to 6.8 per cent this year and 6.3 per cent in

2016, as the country struggles with its shift from export to

consumption-driven economy.

Analysts say SDDS is expected to add more credibility to

China's economic data by removing scepticism about the

figures.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised last November at the

BrisbaneG20Summit thatChinawould switch to theSDDS.

In the past year, China's central economic agencies have

worked to meet the IMF's SDDS statistics requirements, state-

runXinhuanews agency reported.

The adoption of SDDS is a necessary step in reform and

opening up, which will further improve China's statistical

transparency, credibility and comparability among different

economies, thePBOCsaid.

PBOC Deputy Governor Yi Gang and David Lipton, first

deputy managing director of the IMF, attended a ceremony to

celebrate China's adoption of the SDDS in Peruvian capital

Lima.

At the ceremony, Yi said China and the IMF have been

working together to improve China's statistics for many years,

and subscribing to the SDDS is another milestone in the

collaboration.

The IMF and the US also welcomed the move, calling it "an

important advance."

Adhering to the SDDS shows "China's strong commitment

to transparency as well as to the adoption of international best

practices in statistics,"Lipton said.

Washington's use of its de facto veto at the International

Monetary Fund to block reforms giving emerging countries a

greater say is jeopardizing the IMF's credibility, its leader said.

IMF'S 'CREDIBILITY AT STAKE INREFORM ROW: LAGARDE

The IMF has been caught up in a

protracted, politically charged battle

over reforms intended to reflect the

changing global economy by giving

emerging giants such as China more

weight at theFund.

"It is an issue for the credibility and

the representat iveness of the

institution, particularly vis-a-vis the under-represented

countries," IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said at

theFund's annualmeeting inLima,Peru.

The reformsadoubling of IMF funding and a reallocation

of voting power to boost China and other up-and-coming

economic powers -- were originally propelled by Washington,

and President Barack Obama's White House has repeatedly

endorsed them.

But the US Congress has refused for three years to sign off

on the deal, with some legislators not wanting to contribute

moremoney to the IMF and others concerned about erodingUS

dominance of theFund.

As the rules stand now, China, the world's second-largest

economy, has less than four percent of the voting power at the

IMF--barelymore than Italy, an economyone fifth its size.

"I... very much hope that (reforms) will be taken seriously

and that the US authorities will actually appreciate the need to

reinforce an institution that they participated very actively in

creating,"Lagarde said.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew repeated the

administration's support for the reforms, adoptedback in 2010.

"The consequences for the United States and the

international financial community are very significant if quota

reform isnot done," he said.

The North Korean capital Pyongyang braced for what was

predicted to be one of the largest ceremonial displays ofmilitary

strength in thenuclear-armednations history.

A cavalcade of tanks, armoured vehicles and assorted

ballistic hardware was set to rumble through the citys Kim Il-

Sung Square, with thousands of hard-marching troops for

escorts, in celebration of the ruling Workers Partys 70th

NORTH KOREAN CAPITAL SETFOR MILITARY EXTRAVAGANZA


birthday. One thing the organisers could not control was the

weather, with an overnight thunderstorm and light rain in the

morning threatening to put a dampener on thewhole event.With

the roads slick with rainwater, there was still no formal

announcement ofwhen theparadewould actually begin.

But hundreds ofmilitary trucks, used to ferry participants to

the parade venue, were lined up along the banks of the capitals

Taedong River, suggesting the event would go ahead. Taking the

salute from the massed military ranks will be supreme leader

Kim Jong-Un, the third generation of a family dynasty that has

ruled the North with absolute authority for the past seven

decades. Kim paid tribute to that legacy with a midnight visit

Friday to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, which serves as the

mausoleum for his father Ki Jong-Il and grandfather Kim Il-

Sung,NorthKoreas founding leader.

The scale of the parade was already apparent from satellite

images taken four days before, which showed a sprawling

training ground in Pyongyang featuring some 800 tents, 700

trucks and 200 armoured vehicles. Aswith similar displays in the

past, the event will be closely watched for glimpses of any new

hardware thatmight signal a forward step in theNorthsmilitary

development. When announcing plans for the grand-style

parade back in February, the ruling partys top decision-making

body had stressed the importance of cutting-edge weaponry

suitable formodernwarfare.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests and

threatened a fourth as part of a nuclear weapons and missile

programme that it has pursued through a barrage of

international sanctions. There is debate among experts as to

how far it has come in developing those weapons, especially the

ability to shrink nuclear warheads so that they can fit on a

missile. An exhaustively researched report published by theUS-

based Institute for Science and International Security estimated

that North Korea had between 10 and 16 nuclear weapons as of

the endof 2014.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the

election of a newheadof theUNclimate sciencepanel.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

elected Lee Hoesung of South Korea as its chairman. He will

guide the panels work on assessing the science related to

climate change, Xinhua reported. Ban in a statement reaffirmed

his support for the IPCCs role in supplying decision-makers

and the public with the worlds most authoritative scientific

UN CHIEF WELCOMES NEW HEAD OF UNCLIMATE SCIENCE PANEL

understanding of climate change, including its impacts as well

as solutions.

The Secretary-General looked forward to the IPCCs new

leadership at this critical moment when governments are

preparing for the global climate change conference in Paris later

this year, said the statement. Lee, aged 69, is professor in the

economics of climate change, energy and sustainable

development at Korea Universitys Graduate School of Energy

and Environment. He is currently one of the IPCCs three vice-

chairs. The IPCC, set up in 1988, is the world body for assessing

the science related to climate change. It has been endorsed by

the UNGeneral Assembly to provide policymakers with regular

assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts

and future risks, andoptions for adaptation andmitigation.

British spies can hack into phones

remotely with a simple text message and

make audio recordings or take photos

without owners knowing, former US

intelligence contractor Edward Snowden

revealed.

They want to own your phone instead of you, the

whistleblower said in an interview with the BBCs Panorama

programme, re fer r ing to Br i t a in s Government

CommunicationsHeadquarters (GCHQ)agency.

Snowden claimed that GCHQ used a series of interception

tools called Smurf Suite, after the blue cartoon characters,

TheSmurfs.

Nosey Smurf enabled spies to switch on a smartphones

microphone even if thephonewas off, he claimed.

Other programmes used by GCHQ were nicknamed

Tracker Smurf and Dreamy Smurf, which allows phones to

be switchedon andoff remotely, Snowden said.

He said the textmessage sent byGCHQ to gain access to the

phonewouldnot benoticedby its owner.

Its called an exploit, he said.

When it arrives at your phone, its hidden from you. It

doesnt display. You paid for it but whoever controls the software

owns thephone, he added.

UK SPIES CAN HACK SMARTPHONESREMOTELY: SNOWDEN


The BBC said the government had declined to comment in

linewithusual policy on intelligencematters.

Snowden, who has been charged by the US with espionage

and theft of government property after leaking documents to the

media about digital espionage, has been living in exile in Russia

since June 2013.

The British government is planning legislation that would

give more powers to intelligence agencies to monitor online

activity to investigate crime.

Air Frances human resources manager had his shirt

stripped from his body, as he was almost lynched by workers

protesting aplan to cut 2,900 jobs from the struggling airline.

Bosses were unveiling a revamped restructuring plan after

pilots rejected an earlier proposal to work longer hours. But the

board meeting had to be abandoned when hundreds of striking

workers stormed into the airlines headquarters at Charles de

Gaulle airport outsideParis.

Human resources manager Xavier Broseta was almost

lynched, according to one union delegate, and had his shirt

ripped off as he clambered over a wire fence to escape, helped by

security guards. Another executive, Pierre Plissonnier, who is

responsible for the long-haul flight division, had his shirt and

jacket torn in the scrum.

CEO Frederic Gagey also made a hasty exit, and the board

said themeetingwouldnot resume.

Seven people were hurt, including a security guard who was

knocked unconscious and required hospital treatment, Air

France said.

The management condemned the physical violence, and

said it would file complaints to the police. Prime Minister

Manuel Valls, on a visit to Japan, said of the events: The

company is in a difficult situation, but nothing justifies such

attacks.

The loss-making airline, which employs 52,000 people, is

struggling in the face of fierce competition from global rivals. It

had tried to convince pilots, who earn up to 250,000 euros

($280,000) a year, to fly 100morehours a year for the same salary,

Nothing justifies violence

AIR FRANCE OFFICIALS ATTACKEDBY WORKERS PROTESTING JOB CUTS

but talks broke down , with pilots saying the plan amounted to an

effective pay cut.

The French government, which owns a 17.6-percent stake,

has criticised thepilots hard-line stance in thepast.

Officials at the French employers federation MEDEF were

appalled at the scenes and said they would harm Frances

reputation. It is really terrible for the company and for the

country, aMEDEFsource said, askingnot to benamed.

Four unions announced a strike to coincide with the

meeting. Itwasnot clear howmany staffwere takingpart, but the

airline said flights would be unaffected beyond some check-in

delays. Not all staff support the pilots, who also led a record-long

strike a year ago that cost the companynearly half a billion euros.

Ground staff, stewards and hostesses feel they have made

enormous efforts without ending up in a position to influence

decisions, Beatrice Lestic, of the CFDT union, told Le

Parisiennewspaper.

They are now spectators to a crash in which they will be the

first victims, she said.

Seeking to sharpen its competitive edge against main

European rivals Lufthansa and British Airways-Iberia, the

managements new proposals include ending five long-haul

routes, reducing the frequency of other flights, and selling 14

planes over the next two years. Although the company says it

favours voluntary departures, Gagey has indicated compulsory

redundancies may be necessary for the first time to increase

productivity.

Sources at the meeting said the plan includes the possibility

of dismissing 300 pilots, 900 air hostesses and stewards, and

1,700 ground staff. The company has already shed 5,500 posts

via voluntary departures between 2012 and 2014 as it battled

competition from low-cost carriers andGulf airlines.

Pilots were also behind a record-long two-week strike in

September 2014, which knocked 416 million euros off turnover

and was described as catastrophic for the French aviation

sector in a joint statement fromunions.

The striking

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