What is IORARC?

IORARC is Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IORARC) is an association of 20 member countries. The group came into being in March 1995 in Mauritius. Through it pass some of the most important energy transport routes from Middle-East to South-East and East Asian, and securing these routes has become a global priority.

Who are the 20 members?

The IORARC, which is the only pan-Indian ocean grouping, has 20 members namely, Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, The UAE, and Yemen.

And there are six dialogue partners, namely China, Egypt, France, Japan, Britain and US, and two observers, namely The Indian Ocean Research Group and Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation.

Objectives of IORARC:

1. To promote sustainable growth and balanced development of the region and Member States
2. To focus on those areas of economic cooperation which provide maximum opportunities for development, shared interest and mutual benefits
3. To promote leberalisation, remove impediments and lower barriers towards a freer and enhanced flow of goods, services, investment and technology within the Indian Ocean Rim.

Indian-Americans can play key role in India-US ties: Biden

 Indian-Americans can play a valuable role in the India-US relationship as they bring unique perspective on issues of common concerns like business and trade, climate change and energy, US Vice President Joe Biden has said.

Biden made the remarks in a meeting with a group of Indian-Americans at the White House yesterday during which he discussed his upcoming trip to India. 

"The Vice President emphasised the Administration's ongoing commitment to the Asia-Pacific region and the importance of our bilateral relationship with India," a White House official said. 

"He (Biden) also highlighted the valuable role that Indian-Americans can play in enhancing the US-India relationship and the unique perspective they bring to issues of concern to both Indian-Americans and Indians, such as business and trade, education, climate change and energy, and empowering women and girls," the official said on condition of anonymity. 

The meeting with Biden was closed to the press. 

Among the Indian-Americans who attended the meeting at the invitation of Biden were Maya Ajmera, founder, The Global Fund for Children; Ajay Banga, chairman, US India Business Council and President & CEO, MasterCard Worldwide; Manish Bapna, executive vice president and managing director, World Resources Institute; Dinyar Devitre, Chairman-Elect, Pratham USA and Mallika Dutt, president and CEO, Breakthrough. 

Biden is scheduled to leave for India and Singapore tomorrow. 

He would travel to New Delhi and Mumbai during which he is expected to meet the top Indian leaderships, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Biden's trip to India comes immediately after the visit of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma to Washington last week during which they met top officials of the Obama Administration, corporate executives and lawmakers. 

In June, Secretary of State John Kerry had travelled to India for the India-US Strategic Dialogue. 

Prime Minister Singh is likely to visit Washington late September or early October at the invitation of US President Barack Obama. 

PTI

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

Overview

• The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of India
  
• It was established in 1935 and nationalised in 1949. Its headquarters was initially Calcutta, but moved to Bombay in 1937. It is currently headquartered in Mumbai.
  
• The first Governor of the RBI was Sir Osborne Smith. The current Governor of the RBI is Dr. Duvvuri Subbarao
  
• The RBI functions under the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934
  

Objectives

• Maintain price stability
• Ensure adequate flow of credit
• Protect depositor’s interests
• Provide cost-effective banking services to the public
• Facilitate external trade and payment
• Promote development of foreign exchange market in India
• Provide supplies of currency notes and coins in the country

K

Functions

• Formulates, implements and monitors monetary policies
• Regulates operations of banking and financial services sector in the country
• Manages the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999
• Issues, exchanges and destroys currency notes and coins
• Perform promotional functions to support national objectives
• Acts as banker to banks by maintaining accounts of all scheduled banks
• Acts as banker to the Central and state governments

40th Chief Justice of India

Justice P. Sathasivam (born on April 27, 1949), to be sworn in on July 19, will be the 40th Chief Justice of India and the first from Tamil Nadu. 

10 ways a falling rupee hits you

The Indian rupee fell to an all time low versus the dollar as the greenback grew stronger against major international currencies. 

Selling of debt by foreign institutional investors, a continuous demand for dollar from banks and importers owing to a higher dollar in the global market are considered to be major reasons affecting the value of rupee against the greenback. The rupee has dropped nearly eight percent against the dollar since May 2013. Reuters reported that foreign institutional investors provisionally sold 8.85 billion rupees worth of Indian stocks on Tuesday, marking their biggest single-day sale since February 28, according to exchange and regulatory data. India’s political state of affairs, current account deficit and high inflation are some concerns why rupee could possibly depreciate further. 

However, the Reserve Bank of India’s intervention is expected to stabilize this roller-coaster rupee ride over the next few days. While addressing a press conference, Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry, Raghuram Rajan, mentioned that the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Reserve Bank of India would take "warranted" action to control the rupee slide. 

As we speculate rupee’s direction, here’s a look at the impact of currency depreciation on the country’s economy.

Interest rates

With a weak Indian rupee, it may be difficult for the RBI to cut interest rates at the monetary policy meeting next week. India’s dependency on foreign investors to bring inflows in order to bridge current account deficit is one of the key factors that will be considered for interest rate changes.

Indranil Sengupta, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch argues that the RBI should cut interest rate despite the weak rupee, reported moneycontrol.com. "Keeping rates high on the ground of defending the rupee, at least will likely only further defer recovery, deter FII equity inflows, delay re-accumulation of FX reserves and depreciate the rupee. A 10% depreciation impacts inflation by100 basis points," he said in a note to clients.

Education

A weak rupee can weigh down your chances of studying abroad. Since students borrow education loans in local currency and spend in foreign currency, you will have to shell out more rupees to buy the dollar which would make accommodation, food and cost of education abroad costly. 

Travel

If you are planning to travel while the rupee is weak, you may want to reconsider as air fares will be expensive considering an increase in fuel surcharge. Also, eating out when you are traveling overseas will turn out to be costly because you will end up spending more rupees.

Loans

Depreciation of rupee will impact loan seekers in a big way. If you apply for a car loan, you will have to pay more depending on where the vehicle is assembled and the components imported by the automobile company. 

Oil prices

Rupee depreciation may prompt oil companies to hike petrol and diesel prices. India is highly dependent on importing oil and companies will have to shell out more money to import crude in dollars. 

Inflation

A weak currency will increase the price of imports which will translate into an increase in the prices of consumer products. Depreciating rupee will also cause an increase in inflation.

Imports

A falling rupee makes imports more expensive in terms of rupees. India is a major importer of oil, gold and iron ore among other things, and more money spent on imports will show up in inflation data which in turn will lead to increase in electronics, fuel prices and consumer products.

Exports

On the bright side, rupee depreciation will help increase India’s export competitiveness especially with other emerging Asian markets like China and Korea. But, a weak rupee alone may not boost the country’s exports. The Wall Street Journal quoted Duvvuri Subbarao referring to a sharp drop in the rupee's value against the dollar last week. He said, “We need to get export competitiveness by increasing our productivity, by increasing our competitiveness in other ways, not by the exchange rate."

Companies

Considering India’s reliance for raw materials from overseas, a weaker rupee affects the profits of companies. While IT and pharma sector gain from a weak rupee, it might be trouble for aviation. 

Its good news for a few IT companies operating in India because most of the countries tech firms gain revenue from the US, a weak rupee can help them earn relatively more. Pharmaceuticals companies in the doing business in the country will gain when rupee depreciates because they export more than they import. On the other hand, aviation sector will be disappointed with a weak rupee because most of their earnings are in rupees while they spend in dollars.

Real Estate

While the local markets may become bleak, it’s good news for NRIs. Non-resident Indians can purchase a home for a low price because a weak rupee means more value for every dollar they spend. The rupee’s dip against the dollar will help Indians living abroad to purchase properties in their homeland as they can buy more rupees.

Order a step in the right direction

- former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla

The Election Commission has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict declaring ultra vires Section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 that allowed convicted MPs, MLAs and MLCs to continue their membership if they had appealed against their conviction/sentence within three months of the date of judgment.

Similarly, it was happy with another order in the judgment that barred jailed persons from contesting polls, “though there are some grey areas in the verdict.”

Terming the verdict “landmark and historic, as it has sent a strong message to criminals in politics” a top official of the Commission told The Hindu that “fruits are falling from different trees though the Commission was aiming at some other tree.” He recalled that the Commission’s recommendations, as part of the electoral reforms, sent to the government on July 15, 1998, had sought disqualification of even those persons charge-sheeted in the court of law for offences in which the sentence could be five years’ imprisonment or more.

To check criminals

“We want to check criminals from contesting polls and becoming people’s representatives, but these reforms have not yet been approved by Parliament,” he said.

On the order on banning those in jails from contesting polls, he said though under 62 (5) of the RP Act, no person who is in jail/police custody/preventive detention, could participate in polling, there were instances where court’s permission was obtained to exercise their franchise. Even in the Presidential poll, an MP, who was in jail for corruption cases, had voted with the permission of the court.

“If a jailed person is prevented from contesting poll, what will happen if a person is arrested and jailed after his nomination was accepted by the returning officer during scrutiny? Or what will happen if the person is arrested during the campaign period or on the polling day? Are they eligible to contest the poll or not?” the official said adding that there were points to be discussed further.

The former Chief Election Commissioner, Navin Chawla, too welcomed the verdict as “a step in the right direction.” He wanted the government to approve the Commission’s suggestion for decriminalisation of politics.

Informed sources said presently, as per the RP Act, a person, who has been convicted and sentenced to two-year imprisonment or more, cannot contest any poll to Parliament, Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.

However, in cases relating to dacoity, FERA, rape, dowry, NDPS Act (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act), POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) and bribery, mere conviction would disqualify a person from contesting any election. This is applicable even if the person is on bail after the conviction and his appeal is pending for disposal in the higher court.

The disqualification will be in force for six years from the date of release of the person from jail.

While sending its recommendations, the Commission, to ensure that the candidates were not framed in politically-motivated cases, proposed that “as a precaution against foisting false cases on the eve of election, it has been suggested that only those cases in which charges are framed six months prior to an election be taken into account for that election.”

Courtesy- The Hindu

India to shut down Telegram Service

Indian authorities are shutting down the country’s 163-year-old telegram service in mid-July as customers choose more modern communication methods over the long-trusted standard. Although several countries continue with the telegram service, India is the last to use it on a large scale. 

End of an era 
Manoj Sachthey, 63, read the news that the last telegram will be sent out on July 14th with nostalgia. “Taar” as it is called in India is inextricably linked with key moments of his life: the unexpected death of a young uncle; news that he was admitted to a prestigious masters in business administration program in 1971. 
“These days there are so many other modes of communication available to us, which are more economical, faster and reliable, and BSNL was incurring loss in the operation of this service. Since 2006 we have incurred a loss of 1500 crores [250 million dollars],” explained Akhtar.

He said the arrival of a telegram always raised heartbeats. “Receiving a telegram used to be a very major event in the household….one used to wonder, whether it is carrying good news, bad news,” he stated.  

For more than 130 years after being launched by India’s former British rulers in 1850, the telegram was the backbone of urgent communication. The terse messages announced momentous events: the death of a family member, the birth of a child, news of a soldier on the warfront.

It is believed to have played a role in the country’s history. Transmissions across telegraph wires helped the British suppress a popular revolt against their rule in 1857. Cutting telegraph wires later became a popular form of nationalist protest. The service survived the advent of the landline telephone and email because of low telephone density and very limited access to the internet. But the proliferation of mobile phones through the remotest corner of the country during the last decade finally made it obsolete. At the height of the telegraph service in 1985, 60 million telegrams were punched. That number has shrunk to about 5,000 a day. Plummeting revenues forced India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which runs the service, to close down the service from mid-July.

No longer viable

Shamim Akhtar, the general manager of the telegraph service in New Delhi, said the service is no longer commercially viable with losses adding up to $250 million in the last seven years.  

As the service shrank, so did the staff. Once numbering more than 12,000 employees, there are now less than 1000. Most of them are men in their fifties, who have spent their entire working lives sending out countless missives of good and bad tidings.

But the era of dispatching urgent news is over. During a recent visit to a once-buzzing telegraph office in New Delhi, time appears to hang still. A handful of people sit before computers typing out messages mostly sent by people who want an official record of a communication for legal or other purposes. One is from a city resident to the police commissioner complaining that a police station has failed to record his complaint.  Others come from lawyers, families of soldiers or government officials.

Subhash Chandra, 54, is dreading the day the last telegram will be dispatched, and he will be sent to another office. When he joined, messages were sent by Morse code. That was replaced by the teleprinter. Later they were transmitted by computer. Until the 1980’s, Chandra dispatched hundreds of messages every day.

Chandra said leaving the telegram office will be like leaving his home. He said it will be difficult to adjust in another place after working here for 33 years. He will have to work with new people on a new assignment. Like the telegram, he said, he would prefer to simply retire.

Technology advances

But others like general manager Akhtar are preparing to keep pace with the times and the evolution of communication methods.  Having watched the rapid advances in technology over the last decade, Akhtar believes that anything is possible in the future.

“Day by day communication is taking new shape. One scientist has predicted that in the years to come, every man will have an antenna on his head and each newborn will be given a telephone number, and new exchanges will be set up in space,” Akhtar said.

For now, Akhtar said state-owned BSNL has more modest ambitions to expand the mobile phone network and broadband internet services to every corner of India.

IAS 2013 Topper - HARITHA V KUMAR

She encountered many hurdles one after the other in fulfilling her dreams. Sometimes she lagged behind just by 18 marks, at other times not being able to speak English fluently posed problems. Despite all this, strong determination and self-confidence led 24 years Harita V Kumar to top the Civil Services Examination 2012.

About her success Harita says that she wanted to become a civil servant since childhood. Soon after taking her engineering degree, she started preparing for this examination. Not getting success in the mains by just 18 marks did not deter her in anyway. In fact, this gave boost to her confidence that she can clear the examination and that she can fulfill the dream which she saw as a child. 

About her experience in the interview she says that she was asked to tell four problems and their solutions that India is currently facing. She pointed out Corruption, Hunger, Issue of women’s security and Unemployment among the educated as major problems of the nation. She suggested that transparency should be brought through information communication technology as a solution to these problems. In her view this was her best answer. 

About her studies she says that she did her schooling from a Malayalam medium school in Tiruvantpuram. After her schooling she studied electronics and communication from a government engineering college. 

In 2007, after her B.Tech she started preparing for IAS. She chose Economics and Malayalam literature as her main subjects. She says, ‘I had interest in economics. This subject underlines all the problems of Indian society and I wanted to study this in detail.' 

In her first attempt in 2009, she could not clear her mains exam. After this she realized that she had to put in more effort to succeed. At leisure time she loves to read books specially Khalil Gibran books. She says,' From time to time I also watch Malayalam movies.' She tells that two years back in 2010 she chose IRS but she wished to be an IAS at heart. She felt that IRS would not give her opportunity for public serving as would IAS. So, once again she set herself to achieve her goal. Making use of proper facilities and guidance she started preparing. Finally she achieved success. Friends also helped her in making her dream come true. 

Before joining IRS a major obstacle was her command over English. She says that because of her improper communication skill she failed and was rejected twice. But after joining IRS Academy she continuously conversed in English with her friends and this gave her an opportunity to improve her English and communication skill. This played an important role in her selection.