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Speaking on this occasion, Smt. Dikshit expressed confidence that this will become a vibrant portal and will also help in covering new areas. The portal will also provide an opportunity to other stakeholders to replicate success stories. It will provide an opportunity to connect young persons for social change. She further stated that more and more youth will join it in establishing sustainable relationship with the city government. It will also prove to be an effective bridge between young persons and policy makers. The new portal is a socio entrepreneurial venture to connect young ideas for social change through the internet. The portal enables users to float their own e-NGOs, Action Groups, Square Tables and Forums. It has also built a young citizen reporting network called YP Pulse. Through this it is aimed to promote e-democracy, entrepreneurship and activism. The portal will empower youngsters to bring sustainable change through awareness and collaboration. Smt. Dikshit added that the portal will host an e-NGO for Bhagidari on which there will be action groups focusing on her 11 point agenda for the city-Eradicating the use of Plastic Bags, Promote use of Solar Energy, Harvest Water, Recycling water and paper, segregate wet and dry waste, create Car Pool Network, Stop Sticking Posters in public, Stop wastage of Energy and Water, Protect Greens and Trees, Ensure Road Safety and Concentrate on 3Rs –Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. She expressed confidence that this will go a long way in expanding arena of Bhagidari in the Capital city and will also help in harnessing youth power and their innovative ideas.
Principal Secretary to CM Shri Tripathi stated that with launch of this Portal youth power will become more important. It will inculcate a feeling of participation in governance. The youth can play a vital role in making Delhi
Chandni
They include
Children younger than 5 years of age (particularly those less than 2 years of age)
Individuals 65 years of age or older
Individuals younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long–term aspirin therapy and who therefore might be at risk for Reye syndrome after influenza virus infection
Pregnant women
Individuals with chronic medical conditions requiring ongoing medical care, including:
Chronic pulmonary disease, including asthma particularly if systemic glucocorticoids have been required during the past year)
Cardiovascular disease, except isolated hypertension
Active malignancy
Chronic renal insufficiency
Chronic liver disease
Diabetes mellitus
Hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease
Immunosuppression, including HIV infection (particularly if CD4 <200 cells/microL), organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, inflammatory disorders treated with immunosuppressants
Individuals who have any condition that can compromise handling of respiratory secretions (eg, cognitive dysfunction, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders, neuromuscular disorders, cerebral palsy, metabolic conditions)
Children with an underlying metabolic disorder, such as medium–chain acyl–CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, who are unable to tolerate prolonged fasting
Children with poor nutritional and fluid intake because of prolonged vomiting and diarrhea
Residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
People without spleen
Obesity
Ashok Handoo
After its first quarterly review of the monetary policy in the current financial year, the Reserve Bank of India has raised the key interest rates once again. The rates have thus been raised for the 4th time in the current year.
The bank has raised the Repo rate by 25 basis points - that is quarter of one percent- to 5.75 percent. Similarly, the Reverse Repo rate has been raised by 50 basis points- that is half a percent- to 4.5 percent. Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends funds to commercial banks and the Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from the commercial bank.
By raising both the rates, the net effect will be to reduce liquidity in the market since commercial banks will have to pay more for getting funds from the RBI. It also encourages banks to keep funds with the RBI and get better returns on it. Thus increase in benchmark rates will decrease infusion of cash into the system and also push up draining cash out of it. The purpose is to check the demand side pressures on inflation that has been in double digits for five consecutive months and a matter of concern for the government. In June the inflation rate stood at 10.55 percent.
The new rates are a declaration of intent to deal firmly with inflation and create a conducive atmosphere for sustained growth. The new rates are on the expected lines. Even before the RBI review took place, it was being speculated that the key rates would be increased by 25 basis points though the increase in Reverse Rate by half a percent may be a bit higher than expected. The fact that the RBI did not go for a steep rate hike underscores the fact that the Bank is pursuing its declared policy of calibrated increase in rates to ensure reduction of funds in the system without affecting the growth process. A big hike in interest rates could have affected the economic recovery as also the tight liquidity in the banking system.
By choosing not to touch the Cash Reserve Ratio, (CRR) that is the percentage of deposits the scheduled banks are required to keep with the RBI, the central bank has demonstrated its policy of least interference to let the economy fully recover from the effects of the global downturn in the past two years.
Economists generally believe that the latest modest increase in the key rates may not lead to increase in lending rates by banks since this much increase had been factored in by the banks as inevitable. Some do believe that it will affect, though marginally, the lending rates of the banks. The RBI has sent a clear signal that it wants both the deposit as well as lending rates to be increased to make credit expensive and at the same time improve the public deposits with the banks.
The RBI quarterly review has made two other significant observations. It has increased its growth rate target for the current financial year from 8 to 8.5 percent but at the same time raised the expected inflation rate from 5.5 to 6 percent by March 2011. The Finance Ministry expects to reduce inflation to 6 percent by December this year, counting on a good monsoon.
The present high inflation has been the outcome of a bad monsoon last year which led to drastic fall in the production of almost all agricultural commodities causing food inflation. Slowly, food inflation started seeping into other areas of the economy pushing up the wholesale price index there also and making the position critical.
The Reserve Bank says that inflationary pressures have exacerbated and become generalized with demand side pressures clearly visible. It says that given the spread and persistence of inflation, demand side inflationary pressures need to be contained.
Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is of the view that the RBI policy will lead to further easing of the inflation which already is coming down. He feels that it should also keep us fully on track in terms of growth, saying the monetary policy is another calibrated step in the right direction.
The fact however remains that the hike in interest rates can only curb the demand side inflation which is only a part of the problem. For an effective check on inflation we need to reduce the supply side pressures as well by increasing production, particularly of food grains. For that we depend a lot on the rain gods. In the long term, agriculture needs a closer look
It was in this context that the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh urged the state governments at the recent National Development Council meeting in New Delhi to pay more attention to the Agricultural sector for a meaningful check on inflation. Since Agriculture is a state subject, a big responsibility lies on the state governments to take care of this aspect. Though agriculture contributes only 18 to 20 percent to the GDP growth, it indeed plays an important role considering its spread across the country and involvement of over 65 percent of the country’s population with this activity.
Better attention to the agricultural sector and a calibrated exit from the loose monetary policy holds the key to containing inflation in the country. Supply side constraints need to be attended to more vigorously.
The RBI has now decided to undertake mid-quarter policy reviews as is done by the central Banks in other countries “to take the surprise element out of the off-cycle actions”. These reviews will be conducted after a month and a half of the quarterly review to enable the RBI to take mid- course corrective steps as per requirements. That should help the economy to take into account the prevailing situation and act accordingly.
Mainstreaming Stakeholder Participation for Inclusive Growth and Development of Indian Corporate Sector
R. Bandyopadhyay
With the economic reforms that were initiated during the 80s and were further given a new direction in the current decade, the Indian corporate sector has been growing at a rapid pace and has become increasingly integrated with the global economy. While the last decade of the previous millennium had witnessed large scale investments by foreign companies in India, the current decade has witnessed the Indian companies invest substantially in other countries. This decade also witnessed a sustained high growth and the corporate sector becoming the main driver of the growth of Indian economy.
The current decade has also seen an increasingly sharp focus on the national and global challenges related to underdevelopment, disparities, sustainability and non-inclusion. Therefore, while on one hand, the corporate sector expects a regulatory and service delivery framework which helps it to sustain its growth, the stakeholders are increasingly demanding that the functioning of the corporate sector should become more inclusive and responsible. In this context, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has brought a new paradigm in its functioning by mainstreaming stakeholder participation in all the initiatives undertaken by it.
At the first level, the Ministry has adopted two new mottos to guide its functioning so that the concerns and expectations of the corporate sector as well as the stakeholders can be duly taken into account while designing its initiatives. These mottos are “Corporate Growth through Enlightened Regulations” and “Corporate Sector and Inclusive Growth”. In this direction, the Ministry formulated and released the Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility in December 2009. These guidelines were prepared after wide consultations with the stakeholders. While the Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Governance raise the bar with respect to the internal governance of the company, the Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility encourage the companies to address various concerns related to the environmental and social impacts of their functioning and contribute to the well being of the society. These voluntary guidelines are issued on the “comply or explain” principle. The Ministry will also be revising these guidelines on the basis of the experience with respect to their uptake and adoption by the corporate sector.
In order to mainstream the role of corporate sector in the overall social and economic development of the country, the Ministry organized the India Corporate Week was organized in December 2009 with the theme “Corporate Sector and Inclusive Growth”. 124 programmes were organized throughout the country during this week to show-case the above theme in partnership with the trade and industry chambers, Professional Institutes and other organizations. During these programmes the stakeholders, including common people, were exposed to the initiatives of the Ministry, the role of corporate sector and the contribution made by it for improving the economic and social development of the people. With these programmes, the Ministry was able to bring together the regulatory authorities, corporate sector, professionals and a number of other stakeholders on a single platform so that they can collaborate and work together on common issues.
While bringing the stakeholders together, it was felt that it is important to integrate the common man with the corporate economy through informed investments. The participation of Indian people in the corporate economy through various investment instruments has been low as compared to some of the developed countries. While on one hand, the corporate sector needs more investments to grow, on the other hand, substantial household savings are available with the Indian people which do not find a channel of getting invested into the corporate economy. In order to bridge this gap, the Ministry has up-scaled its investor awareness programmes by bringing about a ten-fold increase in the number of programmes from 300 in the previous year to 3000 in the current year.
The Ministry has also organized the India Investor Week in July 2010 in partnership with a large number of organizations to bring a national focus on this important area of nation building. The theme of the India Investor Week has been chosen as “Informed Investor – An Asset to the Corporate India”. These partner organizations include Confederation of Indian Industry; FICCI; ASSOCHAM; All India Management Association (AIMA); The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry; The Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Indian Merchant Chamber; PHD Chamber; All India Association of Industries(AIAI); Bombay Stock Exchange; Institute of Chartered Accountants of India; Institute of Company Secretaries of India; Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India; MCX Stock Exchange; National Stock Exchange; Reserve Bank of India; Securities Exchange Board of India and UTI Mutual Fund.
Through these initiatives undertaken during the last 10 months, the Ministry has transformed its functioning to make stakeholder engagement as the mainstay of its functioning. This engagement is also bringing a new awareness in the corporate sector on their role in the larger content of social and economic development of the country.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today he said, some of the built heritage and antiquarian remains have already disappeared due to hostile weather conditions and pressure of urbanization. As no comprehensive survey/documentation of all monuments and heritage-sites was undertaken in the past, it is difficult to say as to how many of them have been lost. However, in order to prepare a comprehensive documentation and database of all the protected/unprotected monuments and antiquities, the Central Government has launched a National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities. Further, a National Commission for Heritage Sites Bill, 2009 has been introduced in the Parliament with the objectives to fully meet the obligations cast by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention, 1972 as well as to protect even the modern architecture of heritage value.
The Minister said, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the Ministry of Urban Development in conjunction with the State Governments concerned has identified 63 cities for the development of basic infrastructure facilities and urban services that also include development of heritage sites. A list of the 63 cities is at the Annexure.
List of cities identified by JNNURM for the development of basic infrastructure facilities and urban services
| Sl. No. | City | State |
| 1. | Hyderabad | Andhra Pradesh |
| 2. | Vishakhapatnam | -do- |
| 3. | Vijayawada | -do- |
| 4. | Guwahati | Assam |
| 5. | Itanagar | Arunachal Pradesh |
| 6. | Patna | Bihar |
| 7. | Bodh Gaya | -do- |
| 8. | Raipur | Chhattisgarh |
| 9. | Chandigarh | Chandigarh |
| 10. | Delhi | NCT of Delhi |
| 11. | Ahmedabad | Gujarat |
| 12. | Vadodara | -do- |
| 13. | Surat | -do- |
| 14. | Rajkot | -do- |
| 15. | Panaji | Goa |
| 16. | Shimla | Himachal Pradesh |
| 17. | Faridabad | Haryana |
| 18. | Jamshedpur | Jharkhand |
| 19. | Dhanbad | -do- |
| 20. | Ranchi | -do- |
| 21. | Jammu | Jammu & Kashmir |
| 22. | Srinagar | -do- |
| 23. | Bangalore | Karnataka |
| 24. | Mysore | -do- |
| 25. | Cochin | Kerala |
| 26. | Thiruananthapuram | -do- |
| 27. | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh |
| 28. | Jabalpur | -do- |
| 29. | Indore | -do- |
| 30. | Ujjain | -do- |
| 31. | Greater Mumbai | Maharashtra |
| 32. | Nasik | -do- |
| 33. | Nanded | -do- |
| 34. | Nagpur | -do- |
| 35. | Pune | -do- |
| 36. | Shillong | Meghalaya |
| 37. | Imphal | Manipur |
| 38. | Aizawal | Mizoram |
| 39. | Kohima | Nagaland |
| 40. | Bhubaneswar | Orissa |
| 41. | Puri | -do- |
| 42. | Pondicherry | Pondicherry |
| 43. | Ludhiana | Punjab |
| 44. | Amritsar | -do- |
| 45. | Jaipur | Rajasthan |
| 46. | Ajmer-Puskar | -do- |
| 47. | Gangatok | Sikkim |
| 48. | Chennai | Tamil Nadu |
| 49. | Madurai | -do- |
| 50. | Coimbatore | -do- |
| 51. | Agartala | Tripura |
| 52. | Lucknow | Uttar Pradesh |
| 53. | Varanasi | -do- |
| 54. | Agra | -do- |
| 55. | Kanpur | -do- |
| 56. | Allahabad | -do- |
| 57. | Mathura | -do- |
| 58. | Meerut | -do- |
| 59. | Dehradun | Uttarakhand |
| 60. | Nainital | -do- |
| 61. | Hardwar | -do- |
| 62. | Kolkata | West Bengal |
| 63. | Asansol | -do- |
