Today's GK(01-11-2013)

In major reform, SC orders fixed tenure for bureaucrats

To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the States to set up a Civil Services Board (CSB) for the management of transfers, postings, inquiries, process of promotion, reward, punishment and disciplinary matters.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, giving a series of directions while disposing of a public interest writ petition — filed by former Union Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian; former CECs T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami; former Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Abid Hussain; former CBI Director Joginder Singh; former Manipur Governor Ved Prakash Marwah and 77 others — also said bureaucrats should not act on verbal orders given by politicians and suggested a fixed tenure for them.

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Radhakrishnan said “the CSB, consisting of high ranking service officers, who are experts in their respective fields, with the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and Chief Secretary at the State level, could be a better alternative (till the Parliament enacts a law), to guide and advise the State government on all service matters, especially on transfers, postings and disciplinary action, etc., though their views also could be overruled, by the political executive, but by recording reasons, which would ensure good governance, transparency and accountability in governmental functions.”

The Bench asked Parliament to enact a Civil Services Act under Article 309 of the Constitution setting up a CSB, “which can guide and advise the political executive transfer and postings, disciplinary action, etc.” The Bench directed the Centre, State governments and the Union Territories to constitute such Boards “within three months, if not already constituted, till the Parliament brings in a proper Legislation in setting up CSB.”

The Bench said “We notice, at present the civil servants are not having stability of tenure, particularly in the State governments where transfers and postings are made frequently, at the whims and fancies of the executive head for political and other considerations and not in public interest. The necessity of minimum tenure has been endorsed and implemented by the Union Government. In fact, we notice, almost 13 States have accepted the necessity of a minimum tenure for civil servants. Fixed minimum tenure would not only enable the civil servants to achieve their professional targets, but also help them to function as effective instruments of public policy.”

Deprecating repeated transfers, the Bench said minimum assured tenure ensures efficient service delivery and also increased efficiency.The Bench directed the Centre, States and Union Territories to issue appropriate directions to secure providing of minimum tenure of service to various civil servants, within three months.

Six major central banks make currency swap pacts permanent

Six major central banks, on Thursday, said they would make their web of currency swap arrangements permanent as a ‘prudent liquidity backstop’ in case of future global financial strains.

The Bank of Japan, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada and Switzerland will convert their “temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements’’ into standing arrangements that “will remain in place until further notice.’’

“The existing temporary swap arrangements have helped to ease strains in financial markets and mitigate their effects on economic conditions,’’ a co-ordinated statement from the central banks said. “The standing arrangements will continue to serve as a prudent liquidity backstop.’’

Global credit crunch

Currency swap lines were first introduced nearly six years ago in response to a global credit crunch that starved banks of liquidity and threatened to gum up the entire financial system.

They were an important part of the policy response to the 2007-09 financial crisis, keeping a lid on funding costs, which had spiralled due to fear over counter-party risk.

The arrangements were next due for review in February.

Speaking after the BOJ kept its massive stimulus programme in place, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the structure had helped bring stability to financial markets, and the move to make it permanent did not denote any new alarm about liquidity.

“We decided to make them permanent to avoid uncertainty as they were due to expire next February,’’ Mr. Kuroda told a news conference.

“We have no plan to extend the swap arrangements beyond the six central banks,’’ he said. — Reuters

Core sector grows 8 % in September

The growth of core sector industries touched an 11-month high of 8 per cent in September, according to official data released on Thursday.

The eight infrastructure industries grew mainly due to expansion in crude oil, steel and electricity production. The growth rate of the core industries is higher than the previous month, August, when these sectors grew by 3.7 per cent. However, it is lower than 8.3 per cent growth that was recorded a year ago in September, 2012.

The core industries, which also include coal, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertiliser and cement with a weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), have grown at 3.2 per cent during the April-September period of this fiscal as. compared to 6.6 per cent in the first six months of 2012-13.

Crude oil, steel and electricity grew by 0.6 per cent, 6.6 per cent and 12.6 per cent, respectively, during September. The IIP numbers for September are likely to be announced on November 12. Factory output slowed down sharply to 0.6 per cent in August mainly on account of contraction in manufacturing and mining. Coal production growth rate slowed to 12.5 per cent, while natural gas output dipped (-) 14.1 per cent.  Growth in petroleum refinery products declined to 8 per cent in September, as against 34.9 per cent in the same period previous year. Fertiliser and cement production growth also slowed to 5.3 per cent and 11.5 per cent.

For the April-September period, crude oil production has declined by (-) 1.3 per cent as compared to a contraction of (-) 0.8 per cent. Similarly, the output of natural gas in the six month period contracted by (-) 16.5 per cent as compared to decline in production by (-) 12.5 per cent in the same period last year. Petroleum refinery production expanded by 5.3 per cent during the period, as against 27 per cent in April-September, 2012.

During the first-half of this fiscal, cement output too slowed down to 4.5 per cent compared to 9.1 per cent. Production of coal also slowed down to 2.3 per cent as compared to 9.4 per cent. However, fertiliser production grew by 2.5 per cent compared to (-) 5.6 per cent in the same period last fiscal. Steel and electricity generation grew by 4.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, during the period.

SpiceJet appoints Sanjiv Kapoor as COO

SpiceJet has appointed Sanjiv Kapoor as its Chief Operating Officer with effect from November 1, 2013. Originally a native of Kolkata, Mr Kapoor started working in 1996 with Northwest Airlinesin several roles spanning corporate finance, business planning, procurement and operations. —Special Correspondent

Govt cuts import tariff on gold, hikes silver

The government on Friday cut the import tariff value of gold to $440 per ten gram but raised the same on silver to $738 per kg, in line with international price of the precious metals.

The import tariff value is the base price at which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. The tariff value on imported gold was hiked two days back to $442 per ten gram, while it was kept unchanged at $699 per kg for silver.

The notification in this regard has been issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), an official statement said here. Apart from precious metals, tariff value on imported brass scrap has been slashed to $3,840 per tonne from $3,933 per tonne maintained till Thursday. However, the tariff value on imported vegetable oils like crude soyabean oil, RBD palm oil and others has been raised.

Import tariff value on crude soyabean oil has been increased to $1,006 per tonne from $952 per tonne and tariff value on RBD palmolein has been raised to $900 per tonne from $869 per tonne in the review period. The import tariff value on gold and silver has been changed taking cues from the global market. In Singapore, the yellow metal is ruling down at $1322.2 per ounce and white metal at $21.87 per ounce.

India, the world’s largest consumer of gold, imported 393.68 tonnes of the yellow metal during the April-September period of this year, as per official data.

China opened new Highway linking Medog to Zhamog; near to Arunachal Pradesh border

China on 31 October 2013 opened a new highway that links Medog to Zhamog-located near the border with Arunachal Pradesh.

The highway linking Medog, the last roadless county in China, with neighboring Bome county in Tibet formally opened to traffic, ending the county's isolation from the outside world. The 117-km highway, which cost 950 million yuan (155 million U.S. dollars), links Zhamog Township, the county seat of Bome, and Medog in Nyingchi Prefecture in southeastern Tibet.

The road will be accessible for 8 to 9 months per year, barring major natural disasters. The Zhamog-Medog starts along the Number 318 National Road in Zhamog township in Bomi County. It goes through the 4400-meter high Galung La Mountain and cross 6 rivers, to reach Medog.

The opening of the Medog road will greatly lower transportation costs and will also improve medical care and educational facilities.

With this new highway, every county in Tibet is now linked through the highway network, underlining the widening infrastructure gulf across the disputed border, even as India belatedly pushes forward an upgrading of border roads in more difficult terrain.

China first started attempting to build the highway to Medog – a landlocked county in Tibet’s Nyingchi prefecture – in the 1960s, in the aftermath of the 1962 war with India.

Six Major Central Banks Permanently Made Currency Swap Accords

Six major central banks in the world made currency swap arrangements permanent on 31 October 2013 as a prudent liquidity backstop  in case of future global financial strains.
Previously these banks had temporary bilateral currency swap arrangements.

Names of Six major central banks

1. The Bank of Japan
2. U.S. Federal Reserve
3. European Central Bank
4. Bank of England
5. central bank of Canada
6. central bank of Switzerland

About Currency Swap

A currency swap is a foreign-exchange agreement between two institutions /Countries to exchange aspects (namely the principal an interest payments) of a loan in one currency for equivalent aspects of an equal in net present value loan in another currency.

About Central bank liquidity swap

Central bank liquidity swap/Currency is a type of currency swap used by a country's central bank to provide liquidity of its currency to another country's central bank

India won Gold in 18th Asian Archery Competition at Chinese Taipei

India's men's compound Archery team on 31 October 2013 won a gold medal in the 18th Asian Archery competition held at Chinese Taipei.

Abhishek Verma, Ratan Singh, Sandeep Kumar forming the compound team defeated the Korean trio of Lihong Min, Yong Hee Choi and Jongho Kim 233-231 to win the gold.

The Indian compound trio showed their consistency right through the qualification round, in which they totalled 2086 points, to be ranked No.1 after they got a bye in the pre-quarters.

In the quarters, India ousted Iraq 231-221 while hosts Chinese Taipei faced the elimination going down 220-232.

18th Asian Archery Championships 2013 was organized by Asian Archery Federation (AAF) in Taipei (TPE) from 29 October to 2 November 2013.

Bharat Suresh Joshi Appointed as British Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai

 

 

Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari Visited Cuba

The Vice-president of India, Hamid Ansari on 30 October 2013 had a meeting with the revolutionary hero and the former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro. This was the first ever bilateral visit from Indian side to Cuba. During the meeting, India and Cuba signed an agreement on co-operation in broadcasting. It is important to note that India and Cuba are the founding members of Non Aligned Movement (NAM).

Agreement signed between India and Cuba

• The Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on broadcasting between Prasar Bharti and Cuban Radio and Television Institute was signed on 30 October 2013.
• The MoU was signed by India's ambassador to Cuba Chinthapalli Rajasekhar and vice-president of the institute Emillio Moises Garcia Borroto.

Major Highlights of the visit

• During the tour, Hamid Ansari did the tour of Peru and signed four agreements.
• In the meanwhile, he also inaugurated the Festival of India which started off with Nrityaroopa, a fusion of six classical dances.
• Delegation-level talks and discussions were held with the Cuban leaders.
• Hamid Ansari also visited the Biotechnology Centre in Cuba.
• He also visited the Revolution Plaza.