FM sees 7.75% growth

The finance ministry on Friday projected a GDP growth upwards of 7.75% for 2009-10, hopeful of clocking a better performance in industry and service sectors in the second half of this fiscal. “The growth outlook for the next two quarters and for the whole year is likely to be in the upper bound of the range predicted and may even exceed it,” the mid-year review of the economy, presented in Parliament by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, said. In the economic survey for 2008-09 released in July 2009, the government had projected a GDP growth of 7% for this year give or take 0.75%. However, with the robust performance in the second quarter (July-September) at 7.9% against all expectations, backed by similar industry data, the government expressed optimism of carrying on the upward curve while hinting at continuance of its three stimulus packages announced since December last year. “The country has managed to minimize the knock-on effects of the global crisis of 2008 due to timely and appropriately calibrated policy to register recovery in growth,” the review said, adding that the timing and pace of the exit should depend on the recovery. The finance ministry said the Reserve Bank needs to withdraw the easy money policy gradually and in a calibrated manner so as to ensure sustained economic recovery and contain inflationary expectations. The review expressed concern about rising food inflation that has grown to 20% for the week ended December 5. “The rise in prices of primary articles of consumption of the common man that has been occurring in recent times is indeed a cause of concern, and this needs to be attended on an urgent basis,” the review stressed. It said the central bank is currently facing the dilemma of when to exit from its expansionary monetary policy stance. “If it raises the interest rate at this juncture, ahead of other central banks, the move could attract more capital inflows thus complicating the policy making process further,” it added. The challenge is to support the recovery process without compromising on the price stability and through a careful management of trade-offs, the report said. Defending the RBI move to increase the provisioning requirements to the commercial real estate sector classified as “standard assets” from 0.40% to 1% in its October review, the finance ministry said this was meant to allay the fears of creation of asset price bubbles. In its October policy review, the central bank had also raised the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the portion of funds banks invest in government bonds, by one percentage point to 25% hinting at gradual withdrawal of its expansionary monetary policy.

Advani steps down

The curtain came down on L K Advani’s tenure as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha on Friday evening. And while he made way for Sushma Swaraj, the 82-year-old veteran BJP leader said he saw a new chapter opening in his political career. After a meeting of BJP parliamentary party amended its constitution, Advani was elected chairman, a post that has been created for him. The assembled party MPs then elected Swaraj as leader of the party in LS, the first woman to hold the post in BJP. The next act in the generational change will be played out on Saturday when Rajnath Singh steps down as BJP president and Maharashtra unit chief Nitin Gadkari takes charge.

Wait for number portability gets longer

Mobile phone users would have to wait anywhere from three to six months for the freedom to switch operators without losing their existing number, as companies are yet to upgrade their networks. At a meeting between the Department of Telecom (DoT) and mobile service providers here on Friday, operators expressed their inability to ring in mobile number portability (MNP) from December 31, this year, as was scheduled. The facility was to come into force in the four metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — to begin with. Private operators aside, even the two state-run telecom firms — BSNL and MTNL — have said they would not be able to get their networks MNP-ready by December and have indicated they may need time till March next year. A senior DoT official said MNP can be implemented only if the network is upgraded 100%. In case some of the operators are not ready with their networks on time, it will not be possible to have number portability. implemented. “Hurried implementation (without 100% upgrade of all networks) may be counter productive,” the official added. The meeting was chaired by telecom secretary P J Thomas with the operators including the PSUs, BSNL and MTNL, as well the two MNP service providers — Synverse and MNP Interconnection Telecom.

30,000 troops pulled out of J&K

The army has withdrawn two mountain divisions—around 30,000 soldiers—from Jammu & Kashmir over the last two years and the government says it will deinduct more troops if the internal security situation in the state improves further. There is, however, no plan for any immediate ‘withdrawal’ of the iron-fisted Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) despite persistent demands for its revocation from J&K political parties. “The army, by its own initiative, has withdrawn two divisions from J&K. It withdrew one last year and another one this year. We are willing to further reduce the visibility and presence of armed forces from there,’’ defence minister A K Antony said .The 27 Mountain Division has been relocated to its original area of responsibility in Kalimpong and its surrounding areas on the eastern front with China. It had been moved to J&K during the 1999 Kargil conflict. The 39 Mountain Division is now back to its base at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh under the Yolebased 9 Corps. It had been rushed to the Valley to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid in the 1990s. Speaking at an internal security seminar organised by the army’s adjutant general branch and the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Antony said, “The government is not at all interested in the permanent stationing of armed forces on a large scale in J&K. Whenever we feel the situation is improving, we reduce their presence.’’ He added that whenever the state government felt that it could manage without the army, more forces would be pulled out, but as long as troops were deployed in the state, AFSPA would remain in operation. “The Act empowers the forces to act in difficult situations. Without special powers, they will not be able to act effectively. However, there is also a robust mechanism in place for course correction,’’ said Antony, adding that discussions were on to bring in amendments or “make some modifications here and there’’ to make AFSPA more humane and prevent its misuse. “The track record of our forces in upholding human rights ought to have been much better than it is. I wish to emphasise that we will not hesitate in taking stern action against the guilty in case of any misuse. We must adopt the policy of zero tolerance in letter and spirit towards any instance of human rights violation,’’ he said. While mainstream parties want thinning out of more troops, separatist groups, favour complete withdrawal to enable them to join talks process. Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the talks process would move forward only when Central forces completely vacate the state.

Somewhere near Kufri....

A child enjoys a walk in the snow after the season’s first snowfall

Somewhere in Delhi....

With gavel-hammering judges moving over to touchscreen handbooks, Delhi high court created history on Tuesday by showcasing the first e-courtroom in the country. The court of Justice S Ravindra Bhat looked unlike any other courtroom, with a sleek, wide LCD screen on the wall and a touchscreen handbook replacing the bulky files as the HC launched its first eco-friendly initiative to go paperless and also bring about speedy justice. Cumbersome paperwork has been replaced by digitalized files and judges can directly access them on a display monitor. With a target of digitalizing all documents within two years, the court has launched a pilot project which went on smoothly on the first day. Though 33 matters were listed for the day, around 18 cases were disposed of within the first two hours, which on a routine basis take the entire day. The judge used his special LCD touchscreen to make corrections and his digital signature to certify the copy. The lawyers gave the concept a thumbs-up, saying there were no glitches during the proceedings. Some counsel still preferred to use their paper files, an option given to them for the time being to enable them to adjust to accessing case files from their laptops. The court has already digitalized around 5.5 crore papers pertaining to various cases upto 2007. It is also considering recording the statement of witnesses through video-conferencing to avoid procedural delays. Lawyers will now be required to file the petitions in PDF form which will soon be converted into the court-compatible mode. Archival material in digitalized form will have a backup in two different cities to prevent any permanent loss of data. Speaking on creation of a virtual courtroom, Justice S Murlidhar, a member of the ecourt committee, had said that they would soon be launching webcasts of court proceedings. Judges say this will not only ensure speedy justice but was also count for an eco-friendly step. The committee also said the concept would be implemented in the trial courts once the project was set in motion in the HC. With the help of e-courts, warrants, court notices and other documents can be sent via email. For those who do not have an email id, the summons will be sent through email to the nearest post office, which will then take a printout and hand it over to the person concerned. SMS alerts about court hearings to advocates and litigants, summons through emails, e-stamps instead of stamp paper, recording of evidence through video-conferencing and virtual tour of court premises will be implemented soon. If successful, the concept of e-courts will be implemented in the district courts too.

ADB revises India's GDP to 7% for 2009

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised its growth outlook for the country to 7% from its earlier 6% for calendar year 2009. “... India is now expected to grow 7% in 2009, a full percentage point higher than projected in the Asian Development Outlook Update," the regional development bank said. In September, the bank, in its Asian Development Outlook 2009 Update, had forecast that the country's GDP would grow at 6% in 2009. The Reserve Bank's GDP estimate is 6% for the fiscal 2009-10, while the Planning Commission pegs it 6.3%, both with upward bias. However, inflation is set to become a challenge, the bank noted. The WPI leapt to 4.78% in November from 1.34% in October. Besides, coordination between monetary and fiscal policy is important to moderate inflation while sustaining growth momentum in the second half of FY09, the bank said.
Moody’s Investors Services raised its outlook on rupee rating to positive from stable, citing the country's strong external position and resilience to the global credit crisis. Moody's current local currency rating for the country is Ba2, two notches below investment grade.