2 may

CII President meets PM;apprises him about chamber''s priorities

 CII President B Muthuraman today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him about the chamber''s priorities for the year including skill development and its commitment towards weaker section of the society.

Muthuraman, who is also the Vice-Chairman of Tata Steel, took over as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on April 9, 2011.

"Whenever a new President takes over, he calls on the Prime Minister," a CII official said.

In his first press conference, Muthuraman had outlined the challenges before the Indian economy. These included improvement in investment climate.

He had said that the chamber would request for the removal of discretionary powers of government functionaries which are often "misused".

CII had also raised the concern over black money in the economy.

Osama bin Laden dead, body buried at sea: Report

WASHINGTON: The body of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden has been buried at sea after he was killed by US covert forces in Pakistan , US media reported Monday.
Cable television networks CNN, MSNBC and Fox said a senior US official had confirmed to them that bin Laden's body had been buried in the sea, without giving further details.
US officials did not respond when contacted by AFP for confirmation of the reports.
But earlier an administration official said of the corpse: "We are ensuring that it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. "This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore this is being handled in an appropriate manner." Burying bin Laden's body at sea would ensure that his final resting place does not become a shrine and a place of pilgrimage for his followers, ABC television reported earlier.

March infrastructure output up 7.4 pct y/y - govt

 India's infrastructure sector output grew 7.4 percent in March from a year earlier, faster than an annual growth of 6.8 percent in February, government data showed on Monday.
In the 2010/11 financial year that ended in March, output rose 5.9 percent compared with 5.5 percent annual growth in the previous fiscal year. The infrastructure sector accounts for 26.7 percent of India's industrial output. 

IRDA issues guidelines for e-insurance policies

NEW DELHI: In order to reduce transaction costs and ensure swift modifications in insurance policies, the sectoral regulator Irda today unveiled guidelines for issuing them electronically.
It also laid down the guidelines for repositories, which compile and store data about policyholders on behalf ofinsurance companies
The objective of creating an insurance repository is to provide policyholders a facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form and to undertake changes, modifications and revisions in the insurance policy with speed and accuracy, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) said.
Now, insurance companies can sell all the polices, be it life, pension and non-life, in the electronic form.
Irda said that making available e-insurance policies would bring about efficiency, transparency and cost reduction in issuing and maintaining them.
The guidelines state that an insurer issuing 'e-insurance policies,' shall have to take services of a registered repository.
"All such insurance policies in electronic form shall be treated as valid insurance contracts," Irda said.
A certified insurance repository has to have a networth of at least Rs 25 crore, without any foreign investment, and wherein no insurance company can hold over 10 per cent or hold any managerial position.
"The insurance repository before commencing the operations shall put in place measures to safeguard the privacy of the data maintained and adequate systems to prevent manipulation of records and transactions," Irda said.
Further, the guidelines said that an insurer can enter into an agreement with one or more insurance repositories for maintaining the electronic insurance policies.

EPFO to call bids for managing its funds shortly

NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO has decided to call for bids from assets management companies shortly to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3 lakh crore for three-year period beginning July 1.
"The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will float tenders during this month for appointment of AMCs for managing funds," a source said.
The source said that EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees is expected to take final call on appointment of fund managers in June.
Once the tender is floated, the firms would be given 15 days time to submit their bids. Thereafter EPFO on the advice of the credit rating agency CRISIL engaged for the purpose, would take at least a fortnight to process the bids.
The list of shortlisted asset management companies would be placed before the CBT headed by the Labour Minister to take the final call.
Earlier this year as many as 11 asset management companies (AMC) responded to the expression of interest invited by the EPFO.
In addition to those who had managed the funds earlier, seven new AMCs, including ICICI Securities , UTI Securities and Kotak Securities , have evinced interest to manage the funds.
EPFO had earlier appointed SBI, ICICI Pru, HSBC and Reliance Capital as fund managers in August 2008 and their terms ended on March 31 this year. Before the appointment of the multiple fund managers in August 2008, SBI was sole manager for EPFO funds.
Since the PF body could not appoint multiple fund managers before March 31 this year, the CBT in its meeting on March 30 decided that SBI would manage all its funds for three months period till June 30 as an interim arrangement till the new fund managers are appointed.
One of the reasons for delay in appointment of the fund managers is that the EPFO had sent its tender document to Central Vigilance Commission for vetting to avoid any discrepancy in a situation when scams were surfacing.
The CVC has recently given in-principle approval to the tender document for appointment of the fund managers.

nation

• PAC does not endorse MM Joshi's draft report on 2G scam
• The United Progressive Alliance on Thursday prevented the adoption of the
  draft report on 2G spectrum allocation scandal by Parliament’s Public
  Accounts Committee by managing the support of the Samajwadi Party and
  the Bahujan Samaj Party in the committee. The PAC meeting which
  witnessed unprecedented scenes — heated arguments, adjournments and even
  ‘expulsion’ of Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi by members belonging to the
  UPA and supporting parties — pointed to the worsening of relations
  between the ruling side and the Opposition.
• Although the meeting did not adopt the report, there is room and precedence for
  Joshi to present the report to the Lok Sabha Speaker. The rules of PAC
  allow the chairman to present the report after conclusion of discussions
  and circulation of the report among panel members. What could also
  strengthen the hands of Joshi is a precedent set by former PAC chief
  Buta Singh. In 2004, Buta Singh tabled a report on the coffin scam
  without even perfunctory discussions with panel members. It would be
  interesting to watch how Speaker Meira Kumar responds if Joshi decides
  to present the report on Friday.

Finance & Economy

• Percentage of people filing IT returns in India
• It is just 3%.

• On the status of women and undernourishment in children in India
• India is home to about a third of the world’s underweight and stunted children under the age of 5.
• What explains undernourishment in children of this age group (even in children from well to do families) in India?
• Surveys suggest that this has got to do with our traditional social and
  cultural values and practices that hurt the health and welfare of our
  children.
• In India, a third of the children have low birth weight. A child’s birth
  weight is an indicator of the health and nourishment of the mother when
  she is pregnant as well as her overall health and nourishment as a child
  and while growing up.
• Only a third of the breast-fed children aged 6 to 9 months receive
  complementary foods in India.  This results in retarded growth.  Most of
  the retardation in the growth of the child in India occurs either
  during the pregnancy or during the first two years after birth.
• A sustained long-term dent in child undernourishment can only be achieved
  by improving the health, opportunities and rights of the mother, the
  primary caregiver of children. Not just legislative rights but rights to
  participate in decision-making both at home and outside it,
  opportunities for social interactions, rights to improve their lives
  through education and employment.
• The
  historical pattern of the state and status of women in India reveals
  that it is largely unrelated to economic growth.  Let’s look at sex
  ratio — a number that has been much discussed since the release of the
  provisional 2011 census results. At 914 women per 1,000 men, the sex
  ratio at birth is the lowest since Independence.
• Debate on banning endosulphan
• We have noted about this raging controversy a few days earlier too.  Today’s face-off
  has a good debate and presents two contrasting views on the subject.
   Well worth our attention.  Take a look and draw your own conclusions.  
• In this context it is interesting to note what POP stands for.  Persistent
  Organic Pollutant.  If a pesticide / insecticide is declared as POP
  under the Stockholm Convention, then the signatory countries to the
  Convention ban the item.
• The Stockholm Convention was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in
  2004. It requires Parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the
  release of POPs into the environment.  The Convention is administered by
  the United Nations Environment Programme and is based in Geneva,
  Switzerland.  
• Meanwhile it is reported that India has agreed to phase out endosulphan at the
  ongoing meet in Geneva of the Stockholm Convention.  This means
  endosulphan will be listed in Annexe A of the Stockholm Convention on
  Persistent Organic Pollutants but exemptions will be allowed for
  crop-pest combinations. It will allow India to continue to use this
  broad spectrum pesticide.
• Chemicals
  listed in the Annex A of the Convention are banned for production and
  use due to the threat they pose to living beings, particularly the
  environment.
• This will not come as good news for the Left parties or the Kerala
  government, both of which have been actively seeking an immediate
  nation-wide ban on endosulphan.
• All exemptions sought by India have been accepted. The listing in the
  Annexe will take one year to be effective, and the exemptions are valid
  for five years, with the provision for renewal for another five years.
  Thus, making the time-frame for the global phase 11 years.

International

• Some of the quirky commemorative days that the US follows
• National Pretzel Day (April 26)
• National Potato Chip Day (March 14)
• Pizza Day (February 9)
• Hamburger Day (December 21)
• Pak favouring MFN status to India?
• India and Pakistan announced a path-breaking blueprint to spur trade between
  the two nations at the end of a two-day meeting of the commerce
  secretaries of the two countries on Thursday in Islamabad.
• Pakistan said it would take immediate steps to ensure that non-discriminatory trade regime is operationalised at the earliest.
• India has been seeking MFN status from Pakistan for a long time, which would
  lead to the country getting the same treatment as other countries in
  terms of allowing exports. Pakistan so far has been allowing exports
  from India on the basis of a small positive list of items instead of
  trading the normal way using a negative list of excluded items.
   Pakistan said it will move to a system of trade-based on negative list
  as opposed to the current positive list.
• India has already given the MFN status to Pakistan, allowing trade to be done
  on the basis of a negative list. Pakistan said consultations with
  business chambers have already begun on replacing the positive list with
  a negative list and the process would be concluded by October 2011.
• The two countries will also set up groups of experts for expanding trade i
  petroleum products and to enable trade in electricity