Somewhere in Pune....

The swirling waters of the Mutha river, as seen from the bridge near Balgandharva Rangmandir, took centrestage on Saturday, after heavy discharge of water from the Khadakwasla dam. The swollen Mutha, which otherwise looks like a canal, inundated many areas. Life was thrown out of gear in the city, which recorded 69.1mm rainfall till 8.30pm. Several areas were waterlogged. Morning flights were delayed due to poor visibility. The dams, however, presented a positive picture. “After a gap of two years, the collective water storage of the four dams that supply water to Pune has reached the maximum level,” said an official.

Of Minister's assets

The government on Saturday released the list of assets owned by Union ministers, putting Union urban development minister Kamal Nath, along with his family members, on top of the heap with a net worth of over Rs 263 crore. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s holdings are worth a little over Rs 5 crore. At the bottom of the pyramid was low-profile defence minister A K Antony, who claimed he had a paltry Rs 1.8 lakh in bank deposits. Compare this with the disclosures made by these ministers when they were contesting the 2009 elections. While the annexure to Nath’s affidavit was not available on the Election Commission website, the Association for Democratic Reforms put the value of his movable and immovable assets at Rs 15 crore. As per the disclosures on the PMO website, Nath individually possesses assets to the tune of Rs 6 crore, while his wife, sons, daughter-inlaw and their companies together are worth over Rs 260 crore. Heavy industries minister Praful Patel has shown a modest rise of 25%—from around Rs 30 crore in 2009 to Rs 40 crore.
PM Manmohan Singh : Pegged a little above 5cr, the man credited with ushering in economic reforms prefers to park no less than 3.5 crore in SBI deposits
Sharad Pawar : Agriculture minister’s asset value climbed 43%, from 8.7 crore in the 2009 poll affidavit to 12.5crore now
Praful Patel : Declared 30 crore in 2009 polls, now worth Rs 40 crore. Two plots in Worli, central Mumbai, valued at Rs 6 lakh when it is tough to find a kholi at that price
Kamal Nath : Richest minister worth more than 266 crore, but only 6 crore in his name. Wife, sons, daughter-in-law and companies together worth more than 260 crore
A K Antony : All of 1.8 lakh in bank deposits
According to the list of assets put out by Team Manmohan, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s asset value (including his wife and HUF, or Hindu Undivided Family) has climbed around 43% to around Rs 12.5 crore from Rs 8.7 crore in 2009. Several ministers, including the PM and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, have, however, not disclosed the holdings of their wives. Mukherjee’s assets have shrunk 20 times from Rs 2.46 crore in 2009, according to ADR, to Rs 12.56 lakh now. The data tried to conceal more than it revealed. Cautious ministers gave the purchase price of their property and not their current valuation and also played down the worth of their vehicles. For instance, Patel has put the value of his share in two plots of land in central Mumbai at Worli at Rs 6 lakh when it is tough to find even a kholi at that price in the Maximum City. There are only a handful, such as the PM and Mukherjee, who have disclosed the market value of their properties.

Chindia trade

India and China will kick-start discussions next month covering a spectrum of sectors aimed at doubling bilateral trade to $100 billion (Rs4,60,000 crore) by 2015 under a `Strategic Economic Dialogue' -a move seen as an attempt to mend a relationship fraught with disputes between two of the world's greatest emerging economic powers.
Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia will lead a delegation to Beijing in the last week of September to define the broad contours of a framework for enhanced economic cooperation in the energy, steel, telecommunications, banking, technology and pharmaceuticals sectors among others.
Zhang Ping, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) -the Planning Commission equivalent in China -will lead discussions on behalf of the world's fastest-growing economy during the two-day talks beginning September 26.
The two countries had agreed to establish the dialogue during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India in December 2010.
New and renewable energy sources are expected to be one area where the two can cooperate to their mutual benefit.India's 12th five-year plan (2012-16) calls for generating more power through renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
Likewise, China's 12th fiveyear plan (2011-15) focuses on a greener approach to economic growth. India has also sought market access for 17 fruits and vegetables including mango, guava, grapes, watermelons, papayas and pomegranates.
An official source said discussions will focus on India's participation in trade fairs in China, trade facilitation, enhancing exchange and cooperation of pharmaceutical supervision, stronger relationships between Chinese enterprises and the Indian IT industry, and speedier completion of phyto-sanitary negotiations on agricultural products. China, which fought a brief and bitter mountain war with India in 1962, is India's largest trading partner. It is also the single largest source of imports, with a share of over 10% of India's total imports of $351 billion (R1,614,600 crore) in 2010-11. China has accused India of adopting anti-trade measures, allegations New Delhi has denied.
In turn, India has blamed Beijing for imposing non-tariff barriers to prevent access to its market. India also believes the Chinese government is blocking entry of fruits and vegetables on grounds not necessarily economic, an official said.
Then there have been instances of Chinese pharma firms selling medicines with `made in India' labels in Africa.In June 2008, the Nigerian Government Drug Regulatory Authority seized a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals with the India tag but allegedly produced in China, said a commerce ministry official here. The tablets could have affected some 642,000 customers.
The issue of Chinese people working in India will also feature in the discussions.
India has also put quality restrictions on mobile phones, dairy products and toys in a measure primarily aimed at blocking the flood of cheap import from China.
India's Directorate-General of Foreign Trade said mobile handsets without the IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) number, which helps authorities track the sale and use of the phones, cannot be imported. While no official estimates are available, industry sources estimate close to one million such phones enter India from China every month.

PM's Dhaka trip

Signalling the growing importance of Bangladesh to India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take along five chief ministers to Dhaka when he travels there next week for one of his biggest foreign policy moves in the region. The chief ministers of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram will accompany Singh, an event that is extremely rare in Indian politics. It is intended to signal to Bangladesh that India is ready to press the reset button on ties with its eastern neighbour. The visit is likely to see India and Bangladesh finally working out a comprehensive boundary agreement. This would be the logical implementation of the Indira-Mujib agreement of 1974, which could not be implemented since Mujib was assassinated in 1975. While its no secret that India’s ties with the Awami League is much more pleasant, Indian sources said they were going the extra mile to keep the opposition BNP on board. Bangladeshi opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia will meet Singh, which Indians see as the first step in a continued engagement of all sides of political opinion in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina addressed almost all of India’s security concerns in the past year, which made it easier for India to move faster on other areas. But the Indian concern is the sustainability of the new spring in bilateral ties. That will require a lot of political investment by India on the BNP and Jamaat front. The boundary defied a resolution all these years, which both sides resisted getting caught in the complexities of “enclaves” and “adverse possessions” fearing largescale migration, uprooting of people etc. But a joint survey of the affected areas over the past few months showed the affected people to be not more than 53,000.

GDP growth slows in Q1

The Indian economy expanded at its slowest pace in six quarters as the impact of rising interest rates, high inflation and global uncertainty took its toll. Economists said they expect further moderation in the quarters ahead as economic woes continue in large areas of the developed world. But while growth has moderated, India is still one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This is the second successive quarter when growth has slowed below the 8% mark but still remains robust compared to other global economies. Data released by the Central Statistics Office on Tuesday showed growth in the April-June quarter of the current financial year stood at 7.7% compared to 8.8% in the same year-ago period. In the January-March quarter, the economy expanded 7.8%. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said the data was disappointing but called for more hard work for robust expansion. “There is no room for complacency. We shall have to work hard, government, industry and I am confident that our workers and farmers will contribute and ensure growth with inclusion,” Mukherjee told reporters. The manufacturing sector grew 7.2% in the April-June quarter below the 10.6% registered in the first quarter of 2010-11. The farm sector grew a robust 3.9% in the June quarter, up from 2.4% in the same year-ago quarter. The services sector, which accounts for more than 52% of GDP, held its ground and grew 10% in the June quarter. The construction sector was the laggard, growing 1.2% in the June quarter, down from 7.7% in the 2010-11 first quarter. The statistics office also lowered the base for the year ago quarter to 8.8% from the previously announced 9.3% and economists said this had helped project a healthier number. “Growth is poised to decelerate further due to the full impact of the ongoing monetary tightening and the worsening global backdrop,” said Rajeev Malik, senior economist at CLSA. Investment and consumption have slowed as RBI raised interest rates 11 times in the past 18 months to calm price pressures. But inflation still remains elevated at around 9%. The RBI has said that after above-trend growth during 2010-11, growth is expected to decelerate but remain close to the trend of about 8% in 2011-12. If global financial problems amplify and slow down global growth markedly, it would impart a downward bias to the growth projection of around 8% indicated in the monetary policy. It has said that growth prospects for the year 2011-12 seem to be relatively subdued compared to the previous year. Global uncertainties, high global oil and commodity prices, persistent inflationary pressures, rising input costs, rise in cost of capital due to monetary tightening and slow project execution are some of the factors that are weighing on growth. CLSA’s Malik said the latest GDP details were supportive of another rate hike by the RBI on September 16 when it reviews monetary policy. He said the ongoing moderation in growth suggests that the RBI would likely have to cut its GDP growth forecast of 8%, probably in its mid-year review towards end-October. Industry groups also voiced concern over the moderation in growth. Ficci said business confidence was now at a two year low. “If the current trends are any indication, Ficci estimates that the GDP growth in the current fiscal may be in the lower band of 7.5%-8% with some significant downside risks,” said Rajiv Kumar, Ficci secretary-general.

Mumbai Metro III

Plans for financing the third Metro line, which will run underground from Colaba to Bandra and then go on to the airport, got a boost, with talks between the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) concluding successfully on Tuesday. Senior MMRDA officials, however, said issues like the environmental and social impact have yet to be settled. “The financial deal could amount to 70% of the Rs 18,000 crore estimated cost of the project,” MMRDA officials said. MMRDA commissioner Rahul Asthana said the JICA director was keen on financing the Metro. “They have tied up finance with several metros in the country, including Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore and are keen on Mumbai,’’ he said. Asthana said a detailed project report for the underground line will be ready by November. The project will be examined by a fact-finding committee of JICA officials from Tokyo before a final decision is taken, he said. Asthana said the JICA finance will work out to an interest rate of 4-5% after taking into account all details. JICA provides loans for infrastructure, development and health projects across the globe and has been active internationally since 1974. MMRDA officials said that as JICA normally finalizes its projects in March and September, they are trying to have the details ready by then. It is not clear if the project will be undertaken by the government or executed through public-private partnership (PPP), like the first two Metro projects. “The World Bank is also keen on financing the third line as it is already involved in infrastructure projects in the city. But JICA has an edge in this deal,’’ officials said.

Somewhere in Dubai....

Five Indian expatriates who were arrested on August 20 for organizing a march in support of activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade, at Al Mamzar Beach Park in Dubai are still in jail. The march was organised in support of Hazare. However, because of Eid, all government offices including the court will be closed and they will have to remain in jail till then. “They had gathered for a peaceful march. They took custody of one organizer and a few days later arrested five people for the same reason. They will be in jail due to Eid holidays, atleast till this week,”said Gopinath, who has addressed this in a letter to the India Against Corruption team.