Policy making our "sovereign" right, Sharma tells Obama

July 16, 2012

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New Delhi, July 16: Asserting that policy decision is "sovereign" right of the country, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma today said the Barack Obama administration should itself lead the fight against protectionism and trade barriers.

In his reaction to the US President's remarks that India must carry out difficult economic reforms, Sharma said," "he (Obama) has every right to convey what his perceptions are but the policy making is a sovereign decision and India's FDI policy regime is investor-friendly".

Obamba in an interview to PTI noted that India prohibits foreign investment in too many sectors such as retail and endorsed another wave of economic reforms.

"It is still too hard to invest in India. In too many sectors, such as retail, India limits or prohibits the foreign investment...which is necessary for India to continue to grow," Obama has said.

Citing different reports, Sharma said India remains one of the attractive destinations for foreign direct investment as most of the sectors are open for FDI.

"...by all indications it is the regime, the climate that we have created in India through various policy measures, reforms, simplification, rationalisation. We have followed a calibrated approach in following the path of economic reforms," he told reporters here.

Besides, several Indian companies have made big investments abroad including in the US creating over half a million jobs in America at a time of job losses there.

"We would rather urge the US to demonstrate leadership in bringing down barriers, encouraging capital flows and trade in the world which is good for every economy. The US should be leading the fight against protectionism and taking forward the stalled Doha Development Round of the WTO to a meaningful conclusion," he added.

Indian industry and the government has been protesting against several protectionist measures in the US including hike in visa fee which has affected India's software companies like Infosys and TCS.

Sharma said when it comes to taking more decision,"the Prime Minister has said and I am also saying that we are committed to continue following our roadmap of economic reforms...we have an abiding commitment to reforms. We remain an attractive destination and we will continue to be".

However, the government takes decision after an "inclusive" process of consultations, he said.

"We have taken note of his (Obama) observations. There is always a difference between perception and reality," he said.

Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry R Gopalan said the government, "in its wisdom will take appropriate decision at right time".

The government has been facing a criticism from a section of the industry and overseas investors for being slow in reforms, particularly with regard to allowing FDI in multi-brand retail. Facing opposition from its key ally, Trinamool Congress, it could not implement the Cabinet decision of November 2011 to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

Sharma said that UNCTAD in its report has ranked India as the third important destination to attract FDI.

"JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation) has also placed India at number two, and in the long term they have put India on number one. E&Y has said that over four-fifth of FDI in South Asia has come into India," he said.

He also said that Obama has paid rich tributes to India and its people.

"He (Obama) has talked about about Indian innovation being engine of the global economy. He has said that despite the global gloom, Indian economy has shown a very impressive growth," he said.

On a perception that India is not attracting FDI, he said: "last year we have received FDI in excess of USD 50 billion. Why this perception, I fail to understand...I think there is something wrong in perception, the facts speak otherwise".


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Agencies
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: On the New Year's eve, the railways announced fare hike across its network effective from January 1, 2020, according to an order issued on Tuesday.

While suburban fares remain unchanged, ordinary non-AC, non-suburban fares were increased by 1 paise per km of journey.

The railways also announced a two paise/km hike in fares of mail/express non-AC trains and four paise/km hike in the fares of AC classes.

The fare hike is also applicable to premium trains such as Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto, according to the order.

In the Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani, which covers a distance of 1,447 km, the hike at the rate of 4 paise per km will be around Rs 58.

According to the order, there will not be any change in the reservation fee and superfast charge and the hike in fares will not be applicable to tickets already booked.

The last such hike was announced in 2014-2015 when fares of all classes of trains were raised by 14.2 per cent and freight charges by 6.5 per cent. However, since then, the railways introduced the flexi-fare scheme which significantly raised fares on select trains and launched trains like Vande Bharat Express and Tejas Express which have relatively higher fares. Trains with dynamic pricing like Suvidha Express were also introduced.

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Agencies
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: India may witness the death of additional 1.2-6 lakh children over the next one year from preventable causes as a consequence to the disruption in regular health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF has warned.

The warning comes from a new study that brackets India with nine other nations from Asia and Africa that could potentially have the largest number of additional child deaths as a consequence to the pandemic.

These potential child deaths will be in addition to the 2.5 million children who already die before their fifth birthday every six months in the 118 countries included in the study.

The estimate is based on an analysis by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published in the Lancet.  

This means the global mortality rate of children dying before their fifth birthday, one of the key progress indicators in all of the global development, could potentially increase for the first time since 1960 when the data was first collected.

There were 1.04 million under-5 deaths in India in 2017, of which nearly 50% (0.57 million) were neonatal deaths. The highest number of under-5 deaths was in Uttar Pradesh (312,800 which included 165,800 neonatal deaths) and Bihar (141,500 which included 75,300 neonatal deaths).

The researchers looked at three scenarios, factoring in parameters like reduction in workforce, supplies and access to healthcare for services like family planning, antenatal care, childbirth care, postnatal care, vaccination and preventive care for early childhood. The effects are modelled for a period of three months, six months and 12 months.  

In scenario-1 marked by 10-18% reduction of coverage of all the services, the number of additional children deaths could be in the range of 30,000 plus over three months, more than 60,000 over six months and above 120,000 over the next 12 months.

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 13

The numbers sharply rose to nearly 55,000; 109,000 and 219,000 respectively for scenario-2, which was associated with an 18-28% drop in all the regular services.

But in the worst-case scenario in which 40-50% of the services are not available, the number of additional deaths ballooned to 1.5 lakhs in the three months in the short-range to nearly six lakhs over a year.

The ten countries that could potentially have the largest number of additional child deaths are Bangladesh, Brazil, Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uganda and Tanzania.

In countries with already weak health systems, COVID-19 is causing disruptions in medical supply chains and straining financial and human resources.

Visits to health care centres are declining due to lockdowns, curfews and transport disruptions, and due to the fear of infection among the communities. Such disruptions could result in potentially devastating increases in maternal and child deaths, the UN agency warned.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Mumbai, Feb 2: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday slammed the BJP-led central government on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said that the new law only serves the objectives of the Sangh Parivar of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra.

He said that in order to achieve their objectives, the "communal elements" are trying to divide India's people through the same strategy as employed by the British colonisers in the past.

Lauding people in Mumbai for their protests against CAA, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), the Kerala chief minister also outlined three reasons for his government's decision to reject the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"Over the last several weeks, Mumbai citizens made clear their unyielding opposition to efforts made by Hindutva elements to tear apart the secular fabric of our society. I express solidarity with struggles being made across the city in defence of secularism and the Indian Constitution," Vijayan said at an event here.

The chief minister was addressing the 'Mumbai Collective' here on the topic of 'National struggle against communalism'.

"The government of Kerala is acting as per the Constitution. Like Kerala, other states are also looking at CAA as against the fundamentals of the Constitution. It (CAA) violates basic human rights and is divisive and deeply discriminatory," CM Vijayan said, adding that the new citizenship law only furthers the Sangh Parivar's objective of creating a Hindu Rashtra.

He said the CAA needs to be rejected for three basic reasons.

"First, it is against the letter and spirit of our Constitution. Secondly, it is highly discriminatory and violative of human rights. Thirdly, it seeks to impose philosophy of Sangh Parivar with its mission of Hindu Rashtra," the chief minister said.

Vijayan also participated in the human chain organised by Left Democratic Front (LDF) against CAA and NRC and said that "the law is a threat to the secularism of this country".

The newly enacted law is facing stiff opposition across the country with several non-NDA states including Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab refusing to implement it.

Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab have passed resolutions against the recently amended law in their respective state Assemblies.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

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