PM''s degree row: CIC allows inspection of DU records of 1978

New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) The Central Information Commission has directed Delhi University to allow inspection of records related to all the students who had passed BA degree in 1978, the year in which, according to the University, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also cleared the examination.

The Commission rejected the contention of the Central Public Information Officer of the University that it was a third party personal information, saying it finds "neither merit nor legality" in it.

It directed the university "to facilitate inspection of relevant register where complete information about result of all students who passed in Bachelor of Arts, in year 1978 along with roll number, names of the students, father's name and marks obtained as available with the University and provide certified copy of the extract of relevant pages from the register, free of cost...." 

RTI applicant Neeraj had sought to know from the University the total number of students who appeared in Bachelor of Arts, Year 1978, besides result of all students who appeared in the examination along with their roll number, name of the students with father's name, marks and result pass or failed.

Denying the information, the Central Public Information Officer of the University had responded that the information requested is treated as "personal information of the students concerned, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest".

Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, however, said, "With regard to question whether disclosure of such identification related information causes invasion of privacy, or is that unwarranted invasion of privacy, the PIO has not put forward any evidence or explained possibility to show that disclosure of degree related information infringes the privacy or causes unwarranted invasion of privacy".

During the hearing before the Commission, CPIO Meenakshi Sahay said there are 2,00,000 students in "this year's BA programme, and unless the subject of BA programme is specified, it will be difficult to give the information sought such as the number of students appeared, failed, passed, etc in the year 1978".

She also said 1978 results were not in digitised form.

Neeraj said it is the past practice of Delhi University to publish such results on the notice board and at times in newspapers also, which means the information sought was available with the public authority and was published or put in public domain without any limitations mentioned by the CPIO.

The issue of 1978 DU degree records cropped up after Aam Aadmi Party raised questions about the degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a controversy.

"We have checked our records and it has been authenticated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree is authentic. He cleared the examination in 1978 and was awarded the degree in 1979," Delhi University Registrar Tarun Das had said last year after the row erupted. .

Sania wins Brisbane women's doubles title but loses No.1 rank

Brisbane, Jan 7 (PTI) Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza picked up her first title of the season, combining with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to lift the Brisbane International women's doubles title, but ended up losing the World No.1 crown to her partner.

The top-seeded Indo-American duo triumphed 6-2 6-3 against the second-seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final here.

The trophy, however, ended Sania's 91-week reign as the world No.1 doubles player in the WTA rankings. That position was taken over by Bethanie.

"I feel like I'm handing over Miss World No.1 crown," Sania said in her post-match speech.

The Indian had come into the tournament as a defending champion, having won it with Swiss ace martina Hingis last year.

"We always have good matches (against Vesnina/Makarova).

It's great to come back as defending champion. Thank you to my partner and best friend. We go a long way, we play once a year, the last time we played, we won in Sydney," Sania said.

"I think we should play a lot more. Thanks for playing with me. I was No.1 in the world but congratulations to her for becoming No.1 now. If not me, than her, she has had an amazing year," she added.

Sania will go back to pairing with Czech Republic's Barbora Strycova in Sydney next week and the Australian Open, which starts on January 16.

Budget session of Parliament to begin from Jan 31

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) The Budget session of Parliament was today convened to start from January 31, a day before the Union Budget is likely to be presented.

President Pranab Mukherjee has summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on January 31, an official notification said.

A similar notification is also expected from the Lok Sabha secretariat.

While the session will begin with the President's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses, the same day the pre- budget economic survey will be tabled.

The practice of separate railway budget presentation is being scrapped from this year. The railway estimates will be part of the Union budget.

The announcement comes even as opposition parties have raised objections to the presentation of the budget on February 1 before Assembly polls in five states on the ground that it will tilt the balance in government's favour because it can woo voters with sops.

They have petitioned the Election Commission, which has asked the Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to give the government's response.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs had recently recommended that the Budget session will commence on January 31 and the Union Budget will be presented the next day so that the new financial provisions come into force from April 1, the beginning of the new fiscal.

Ex-Chinese diplomat asks China to 'adjust' stand on Azhar

Beijing, Jan 6 (PTI) In a rare dissent against official policy, a former Chinese diplomat who served in India has sought change in China's repeated efforts to block India's bid to slap a UN ban on JeM leader Masood Azhar arguing that he is a terrorist and Beijing should "adjust" its stand accordingly.

In his lengthy blog on social media WeChat public account about the India-China stalemate over Azhar, Mao Siwei - who previously served as China's Consul General in Kolkata - said China should take advantage of India's complaint against Azhar and "get rid of the passive diplomatic situation" between the two countries.

The blog published on December 28, two days before China refused to lift its technical hold on India's application, allowing it to lapse, Mao highlighted the history of Pakistan- based terror organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e- Muhammad and how they carried out violent attacks whenever India and Pakistan made efforts to normalise their relations.

Referring to the Indian evidence furnished against Azhar in Pathankot terror attack, he cited the charge sheet that the evidence included Facebook and telephone records as well as DNA samples through food wrapping paper and walkie-talkie.

"In the light of the above, I deeply feel that now is the time China should take India's complaint as an opportunity to seriously study and adjust the position, get rid of the passive diplomatic situation, on the listing of JeM chief in the (UN) 1267 list," he wrote.

"First, is Azhar a terrorist? Second, was the Pathankot attack perpetrated by the Jaish-e-Mohammed group? To the first question, the answer should be yes," he said.

Though his appeal went unheeded, it reflected a different opinion among sections of China's diplomatic community which is concerned over the negative fallout of the issue on India- China ties and Beijing's claims that it followed a "very objective, just and professional attitude" in blocking India's application at the UN.

Responding to remarks made by External Affairs Minister of State M J Akbar on the Azhar issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters here yesterday that "we have taken a responsible and constructive part in relevant discussion in a professional and objective way".

His comments are a rare instance of public expression of differing opinions in China.

Efforts by PTI to reach Mao, a prolific commentator on India-China ties in the Chinese social media, were not immediately acknowledged.

"As a result of (China's technical hold), the issue of sanctions against Azhar became a major issue affecting Sino- Indian relations and constitutes an important factor for the decline of Sino-Indian relations in 2016," Mao wrote.

He served as Consulate General of China's Consulate in Kolkata between 2007 to 2010. Before that, Mao also worked as a diplomat in Chinese Embassy in New Delhi and served as a visiting scholar at JNU, Delhi. .

GDP to grow slower at 7.1% in FY17; note ban not factored in

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) Economy will grow at a slower pace of 7.1 per cent this fiscal, as against 7.6 per cent last year, mainly due poor showing by manufacturing, mining and construction, government data showed today without factoring in the demonetisation impact.

Releasing the data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Chief Statistician T C A Anant said, "It is difficult to talk about the impact of demonetisation at this point of time ... at this point the drop (in GDP estimates) is not attributable to any policy change (demonetisation)."

Economists and experts have been repeatedly talking about the adverse impact of note ban, effected on November 9, on GDP in near term including in the current fiscal.

About factoring in the impact of demonetisation, Anant said, "We don't need to speculate. It (the estimates) is on actual outcome based data. We have not taken bank deposits and credit data for the month of November due to volatility because of major policy change."

He explained that the CSO has factored in all latest data available so far while arriving at a conclusion the economic growth will be 7.1 per cent this fiscal.

He also said that CSO does not make adhoc estimates and current figures are based on indicators available as of now.

Elaborating the reasons for slowdown, he also said that slowdown in economy is by and large on account of (bad performance of) index of industrial production.

Commenting on the data, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said, "Being a statistical organisation, CSO has to go on real statistics and we cannot expect them to go on the basis of impressions and anecdotal evidence."

Several economists have predicted that growth will slow down in the near term as economic activity has taken a hit on account of note ban. Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has projected economic growth to plunge by 2 percentage points.

Das said: "Today whatever figures, whatever statistics are coming about the impact of demonetisation are broadly, mostly anecdotal and mostly based on anecdotal evidence".

Outlining gross fixed capital formation as an area of concern, Das said the government will take necessary measures in that direction. Gross fixed capital formation is a barometer of investment.

"The economic survey and the budget will spell our what approach the government will take, so I would not like to pre-judge and I cannot comment on that, but as I mentioned earlier," he said, adding tax revenues will exceed budget estimates this fiscal.

Accordingly, the 'First Advance Estimates of National Income, 2016-17' did not reflect the impact of demonetisation, effected on November 9 for ban of old Rs 500/1,000 notes, and are based on sectoral data for only seven months or till October. .

Take extra care to lessen suffering of poor post note ban: Prez

New Delhi, Jan 5 (PTI) Extra care must be taken to alleviate sufferings of the poor triggered by economic slow down which has become unavoidable post demonetisation, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.

Demonetisation, while immobilising black money and fighting corruption, may lead to "temporary slowdown" of the economy, the President said addressing the Governors and Lt Governors through video-conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

"We all will have to be extra careful to alleviate the suffering of the poor which might become unavoidable for the expected progress in the long term," Mukherjee said.

He said that while he appreciates the thrust on transition from entitlement approach to an entrepreneurial one for poverty alleviation, he is not too sure that the "poor can wait that long".

"They need to get succour here and now so that they can also participate actively in the national march toward a future devoid of hunger, unemployment and exploitation," the President said. .

Schedule for the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh

Elections announced to the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, 

Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi - 4 Jan 2017 : The terms of the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are normally due to expire as follows:

Goa 18.03.2017
Manipur 18.03.2017
Punjab 18.03.2017
Uttarakhand 26.03.2017
Uttar Pradesh 27.05.2017

By virtue of its powers, duties and functions under Article 324 read with Article 172(1) of
the Constitution of India and Section 15 of Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Commission
is required to hold general elections to constitute the new Legislative Assemblies in the States of
Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh before expiry of their present terms.

As per the established practice, the Election Commission holds the General Elections to the
Legislative Assemblies of the States whose terms expire around the same time, together.

Full details can be seen as follows

Please Click Here to See Part I the Schedule for the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh 

Please Click Here to See  Part II the Schedule for the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh  

GST: States demand tax on high sea sales, higher compensation

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) In fresh roadblocks to GST rollout, states today demanded taxation rights for sales in high seas and also increasing the number of items on which cess is to be levied to compensate the states to deal with revenue loss estimated at Rs 90,000 crore post demonetisation.

Initially a Rs 55,000 crore GST compensation fund was proposed to be created by levying cess on demerit or sin goods and luxury items, but post demonetisation the compensation amount is expected to go up to Rs 90,000 crore as most states have seen revenue decline of up to 40 per cent, non-BJP ruled states claimed.

Also, coastal states pressed for rights to levy GST on trade of goods within 12 nautical miles offshore, holding up finalising of the draft law for levy of Integrated-GST (IGST) on inter-state trade.

At the eighth meeting of the all-powerful GST Council, TMC-ruled West Bengal, CPM-led Kerala and Congress-ruled Karnataka pressed for including area up to 12 nautical miles in the definition of states within IGST law, a standoff that led to chairman and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley agreeing to seek legal opinion on its Constitutional validity.

"We couldn't reach a consensus on a very important issue that relates to defining of a state. This is 12 nautical miles from the state. Can states charge GST from them or not? Right now states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Odisha are charging VAT or sales tax within 12 nautical miles. For eg when a ship is loaded with oil or products, the tax on that is charged by the states.

"All the coastal states, irrespective of parties, combined in saying that we must have 12 nautical miles within the state jurisdiction. Whereas the draft IGST law was looking at having taxation rights with the Centre," West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra told reporters.

The Day 1 of the panel meeting did not take up the contentious issue of control of assesses which had been till now holding up roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. The issue would be discussed tomorrow.

While representatives of opposition-ruled states were unanimous in saying April 1 target date for rollout of the new regime is not possible, even BJP-ruled Gujarat said GST could become a reality from September. .

Pan-India expansion of Maternity Benefit Programme (MBP) to benefit pregnant and lactating mothers across the country

Government of India is committed to ensure that every woman attains optimal nutritional status – especially from the most vulnerable communities as nutrition constitutes the foundation for human development.  This is all the more important during the period of pregnancy and lactation coupled with wage loss.  A woman’s nutritional status has important implications for her health as well as the health and development of her children.    

An under-nourished mother almost inevitably gives birth to a low birth weight baby. When poor nutrition starts in-utero, it extends throughout the life cycle, particularly in women.  Owing to economic and social distress many women continue to work to earn a living for their family right upto the last days of their pregnancy.  Furthermore, they resume working soon after childbirth, even through their bodies might not permit it, thus preventing their bodies from fully recovering on one hand, and also impending their ability to exclusively breastfeed their young infant in the first six months.

To address the above issues, Ministry of Women and Child Development, in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(b) of National Food Security Act, formulated a scheme for pregnant and lactating mothers called Maternity Benefit Programme – a conditional cash transfer scheme.  The Scheme provides cash incentives to pregnant and lactating women (i) for the wage loss so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery; (ii) to improve her health and nutrition during the period of pregnancy and lactation; and (iii) to breastfeed  the child during the first six months of the birth, which is very vital for the development of the child.

Under the scheme, all Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who are in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being are eligible. The cash incentive of Rs.6,000/-  is payable in three instalments for the first two live births at the following stages:

Cash Transfer	Conditions	Amount (in Rs.)
First instalment (in first trimester of pregnancy)	·   Early Registration of Pregnancy, preferably within first three months. ·   Received one antenatal check-up.	3,000/-
Second instalment	·   At the time of institutional delivery.	1500/-
Third instalment (3 months after delivery)	·   Child birth is registered. ·   Child has received BCG vaccination. ·   Child has received OPV and DPT-1 & 2.	1,500/-

The cash transfer would be Aadhaar linked through the individual bank/post office account etc. in DBT mode.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on 31.12.2016 has announced pan-India expansion of MBP in all the districts with effect from 01.01.2017.  It is expected that annually about 51.70 lakh beneficiaries would avail of the benefit.

Expansion of MBP will have huge impact on the PW&LM as it will not only provide them compensation for the wage loss but will also provide them adequate nutrition and rest before and after delivery.  Mothers will have sufficient time to breastfeed the child during first six months of the birth.  Resultantly, it is expected that it will reduce mother mortality rate, IMR, under-nutrition and its adverse effects.

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and the cost sharing between Centre and States is 60:40 for all the States and UTs (with legislature), 90:10 for NER and Himalayan States and 100% GoI share for UTs without legislatures.  The total cost of the proposal for the balance period of 2016-17 and from 2017-18 to 2019-20 including Centre and State share is expected to be Rs. 12,661.00 crore.   Out of this, Government of India’s share for the balance period of 2016-17 (Rs. 584 crore) and from 2017-18 to 2019-20 (Rs. 7348 crore) is expected to be Rs. 7932 crore.

Detailed guidelines for implementation and monitoring of the scheme will be issued shortly.

LPG customers to now get a discount for on-line payment of LPG refill

Oil Marketing Companies, viz IndianOil, BPCL & HPCL are now offering an upfront discount of Rs 5/- on every LPG refill to all LPG customers who will book and pay for their LPG cylinders online. Customers can make payment through existing online modes i.e net banking, credit & debit cards at the time of web-booking their refills.

Customers will get the discounted amount displayed on their screens – i.e. net amount i.e refill RSP minus (-) incentive amount of Rs.5/- which they need to pay for their refill transactions. The net discounted amount will also be shown on the cash memo accompanying the home-delivery of the LPG cylinder.

Under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, it the endeavour of all Oil Marketing Companies aim to encourage consumers to increasingly shift to such payment modes through digital platforms to achieve the objective of no-cash or less-cash based transactions. The incentive will encourage more and more LPG consumers to go for cashless mode transactions.