Slums known as bustees in India, favelas in Brazil, katchi abadis in Pakistan and focos insalubres in Cuba, all have few characterictics in common:
• Poor structural quality and durability of housing
• Insufficient living areas (more than three people sharing a room)
• Lack of secure tenure
• Poor access to water
• Lack of sanitation facilities
The Pranab Sen Committee has given a new definition for slums in India. It has defined a slum as “a compact settlement of at least 20 households with a collection of poorly built tenements, mostly of temporary nature, crowded together usually with inadequate sanitary and drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions”.
The new definition of slum is different from the definition adopted by the 2001 Census of India. Accordingly to 2001 Census, slum areas broadly constitute of:
1. All specified areas in a town or city notified as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration under any Act including a ‘Slum Act’;
2. All areas recognized as ‘Slum’ by State/Local Government and UT Administration which may have been formally notified as slum under any act;
3. A compact area of at least 300 people or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.
There are various reasons for creation of slums of which the most important are as follows:
• Increased urbanization leading to pressure on the available land and infrastructure, especially for the poor.
• Natural increase in the population of urban poor and migration from rural areas and small towns to larger cities.
• Inappropriate system of urban planning which does not provide adequate space for the urban poor in the City Master Plans.
• Sky-rocketing land prices due to increasing demand for land and constraints on supply of land.
• Absence of programmes of affordable housing for the urban poor in most States.
• Lack of availability of credit for low income housing.
• Increasing cost of construction.
Although Land, Colonization and Slums are State subjects, the Central government has brought up with the following schemes:
a) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) which was launched on 3rd December, 2005 with the objectives of augmenting infrastructure facilities in cities and towns along with provision of shelter and basic civic services to slum dwellers/urban poor. JNNURM aims at creating ‘economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive Cities’ by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP)[1] and wide-ranging urban sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.
b) Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP) has been conceived for providing interest subsidy on housing urban poor to make the housing affordable and within the repaying capacity of Economically Weaker Section. The scheme encourages poor sections to avail of loan facilities through Commercial Banks/HUDCO for the purposes of construction of houses and avail 5% subsidy in interest payment for loans upto Rs. 1 lakh.
c) Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) has been launched in 2009, for the slum dwellers and the urban poor. This scheme would aim to provide support for shelter & basic civic and social services for slum redevelopment and for creation of new affordable housing stock to States that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers. The Slum Free City/State Plan is envisaged to comprise of two parts-- Part I- Strategy to redevelop existing slums and Part II – Strategy for prevention of creation of slums, delineating the development of affordable housing for the urban poor and revision to existing urban policy and programmes for the prevention of slums. This plan would form the basis for providing assistance to the States, after the scheme is approved.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Census 2011: Primary Data
The Indian Census is the most credible source of information on Demography (Population characteristics), Economic Activity, Literacy & Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanization, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data since 1872.
Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of the country. This is the only source of primary data at village, town and ward level. It provides valuable information for planning and formulation of polices for Central & State Governments and is widely used by National & International agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.
The delimitation/reservation of Constituencies - Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census. Census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, monitoring the on-going schemes of the Government and most importantly, plan for the future. That is why the slogan of Census 2011 is "Our Census, Our Future".
Some of the salient features of the data released are as below: -
a) Population:
• India's total population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade, and growth of females was higher than that of males.
• There was an increase of 90.97 million males and increase of 90.99 million females. The growth rate of females was 18.3 per cent which is higher than males -- 17.1 per cent.
• India's population grew by 17.7 per cent during 2001-11, against 21.5 per cent in the previous decade. Among the major states, highest decadal growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4 per cent) while 14 states and Union Territories have recorded population growth above 20 per cent.
b) Rural and Urban population
• Altogether, 833.5 million persons live in rural area as per Census 2011, which was more than two-third of the total population, while 377.1 million persons live in urban areas.
• Urban proportion has gone up from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 31.2 per cent in 2011. Empowered Action Group (EAG) states have lower urban proportion (21.1 per cent) in comparison to non EAG states (39.7 per cent).
• Highest proportion of urban population is in NCT Delhi (97.5 per cent). Top five states in share of urban population are Goa (62.2 per cent), Mizoram (52.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent), Kerala (47.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (45.2 per cent).
c) Literacy:
• Literacy rate in India in 2011 has increased by 8 per cent to 73 per cent in comparison to 64.8 per cent in 2001.
• While male literacy rate stands at 80.9 per cent – which is 5.6 per cent more than the previous census, the female literacy rate stands at 64.6 per cent -- an increase of 10.9 per cent than 2001.
• The highest increase took place in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 18.6 points (from 57.6 per cent to 76.2 per cent), Bihar by 14.8 points (from 47.0 per cent to 61.8 per cent), Tripura by 14.0 points (from 73.2 per cent to 87.2 per cent).
• Improvement in female literacy is higher than males in all states and UTs, except Mizoram (where it is same in both males and females) during 2001-11.
• The gap between literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. Gender gap in literacy rate is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points.
• Top five states and UTs, where literacy rate is the highest, are Kerala (94 per cent), Lakshadweep (91.8 per cent), Mizoram (91.3 per cent), Goa (88.7 per cent) and Tripura (87.2).
• The bottom five states and UTs are Bihar (61.8 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (65.4 per cent), Rajasthan (66.1 per cent), Jharkhand (66.4 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (67 per cent).
d) Density:
• The density of population in the country has also increased from 325 in 2001 to 382 in 2011 in per sq km. Among the major states, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001.
• Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited followed by Chandigarh (9,258), among all states and UTs, both in 2001 and 2011 Census. The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both 2001 and 2011 Census.
e) Sex Ratio:
• The sex ratio of population in the country in 2011 stands at 943 female against 1000 males, which is 10 per cent more than the last census when the number female per thousand male stood at 933.
• Haryana has the dubious distinction of having the worst male-female ratio among all states while Kerala fares the best.
• The number of females per 1000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (889 female) and Punjab (895 females).
• The other two worst-performing states in terms of skewed sex ration are Uttar Pradesh (912 females) and Bihar (918 females).
• Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).
f) Child population:
• Child population in the age of 0 to 6 years has seen an increase of 0.4 per cent to 164.5 million in 2011 from 163.8 million in 2001.
• The child population (0-6) is almost stationary. In 17 states and UTs, the child population has declined in 2011 compared to 2001.
• With the declaration of sex ratio in the age group 0-6, the Census authorities tried to bring out the recent changes in the society in its attitude and outlook towards the girl child.
• It was also an indicator of the likely future trends of sex ratio in the population. There has been a decline of 8 per cent in the sex ratio of 0-6 age group. In 2011, the child sex ratio (0-6) stands at 919 female against 1000 male in comparison to 927 females in 2001.
• Male child (0-6) population has increased whereas female child population has decreased during 2001-11. Eight states, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Meghalaya have proportion of child population more than 15 per cent.
• The worst performing states in regard to sex ration in the age group of 0 to 6 years are Haryana (834 females), Punjab (846), Jammu and Kashmir (862), Rajasthan (888) and Gujarat (890).
• The best performing states are Chhattisgarh (969), Kerala (964), Assam (962), West Bengal (956) Jharkhand (948) and Karnataka (948).
g) SC/ST data:
• According to the Census, Scheduled Castes are notified in 31 states and UTs and Scheduled Tribes in 30 states. There are altogether 1,241 individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as SCs in different states and UTs.
• The number of individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as STs is 705. There has been some changes in the List of Scs/STs in states and UTs during the last decade.
• The SC population in India now stands at 201.4 million, which is 20 per cent more than the last census.
• The ST population stands at 104.3 million in 2011 – 23.7 per cent more than 2001.
Census 2011 is the 15th National Census of the country. This is the only source of primary data at village, town and ward level. It provides valuable information for planning and formulation of polices for Central & State Governments and is widely used by National & International agencies, scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.
The delimitation/reservation of Constituencies - Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census. Census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, monitoring the on-going schemes of the Government and most importantly, plan for the future. That is why the slogan of Census 2011 is "Our Census, Our Future".
Some of the salient features of the data released are as below: -
a) Population:
• India's total population stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade, and growth of females was higher than that of males.
• There was an increase of 90.97 million males and increase of 90.99 million females. The growth rate of females was 18.3 per cent which is higher than males -- 17.1 per cent.
• India's population grew by 17.7 per cent during 2001-11, against 21.5 per cent in the previous decade. Among the major states, highest decadal growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4 per cent) while 14 states and Union Territories have recorded population growth above 20 per cent.
b) Rural and Urban population
• Altogether, 833.5 million persons live in rural area as per Census 2011, which was more than two-third of the total population, while 377.1 million persons live in urban areas.
• Urban proportion has gone up from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 31.2 per cent in 2011. Empowered Action Group (EAG) states have lower urban proportion (21.1 per cent) in comparison to non EAG states (39.7 per cent).
• Highest proportion of urban population is in NCT Delhi (97.5 per cent). Top five states in share of urban population are Goa (62.2 per cent), Mizoram (52.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent), Kerala (47.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (45.2 per cent).
c) Literacy:
• Literacy rate in India in 2011 has increased by 8 per cent to 73 per cent in comparison to 64.8 per cent in 2001.
• While male literacy rate stands at 80.9 per cent – which is 5.6 per cent more than the previous census, the female literacy rate stands at 64.6 per cent -- an increase of 10.9 per cent than 2001.
• The highest increase took place in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 18.6 points (from 57.6 per cent to 76.2 per cent), Bihar by 14.8 points (from 47.0 per cent to 61.8 per cent), Tripura by 14.0 points (from 73.2 per cent to 87.2 per cent).
• Improvement in female literacy is higher than males in all states and UTs, except Mizoram (where it is same in both males and females) during 2001-11.
• The gap between literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. Gender gap in literacy rate is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points.
• Top five states and UTs, where literacy rate is the highest, are Kerala (94 per cent), Lakshadweep (91.8 per cent), Mizoram (91.3 per cent), Goa (88.7 per cent) and Tripura (87.2).
• The bottom five states and UTs are Bihar (61.8 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (65.4 per cent), Rajasthan (66.1 per cent), Jharkhand (66.4 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (67 per cent).
d) Density:
• The density of population in the country has also increased from 325 in 2001 to 382 in 2011 in per sq km. Among the major states, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001.
• Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited followed by Chandigarh (9,258), among all states and UTs, both in 2001 and 2011 Census. The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both 2001 and 2011 Census.
e) Sex Ratio:
• The sex ratio of population in the country in 2011 stands at 943 female against 1000 males, which is 10 per cent more than the last census when the number female per thousand male stood at 933.
• Haryana has the dubious distinction of having the worst male-female ratio among all states while Kerala fares the best.
• The number of females per 1000 males in Haryana in 2011 stands at 879 followed by Jammu and Kashmir (889 female) and Punjab (895 females).
• The other two worst-performing states in terms of skewed sex ration are Uttar Pradesh (912 females) and Bihar (918 females).
• Five top performing states in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).
f) Child population:
• Child population in the age of 0 to 6 years has seen an increase of 0.4 per cent to 164.5 million in 2011 from 163.8 million in 2001.
• The child population (0-6) is almost stationary. In 17 states and UTs, the child population has declined in 2011 compared to 2001.
• With the declaration of sex ratio in the age group 0-6, the Census authorities tried to bring out the recent changes in the society in its attitude and outlook towards the girl child.
• It was also an indicator of the likely future trends of sex ratio in the population. There has been a decline of 8 per cent in the sex ratio of 0-6 age group. In 2011, the child sex ratio (0-6) stands at 919 female against 1000 male in comparison to 927 females in 2001.
• Male child (0-6) population has increased whereas female child population has decreased during 2001-11. Eight states, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Meghalaya have proportion of child population more than 15 per cent.
• The worst performing states in regard to sex ration in the age group of 0 to 6 years are Haryana (834 females), Punjab (846), Jammu and Kashmir (862), Rajasthan (888) and Gujarat (890).
• The best performing states are Chhattisgarh (969), Kerala (964), Assam (962), West Bengal (956) Jharkhand (948) and Karnataka (948).
g) SC/ST data:
• According to the Census, Scheduled Castes are notified in 31 states and UTs and Scheduled Tribes in 30 states. There are altogether 1,241 individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as SCs in different states and UTs.
• The number of individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as STs is 705. There has been some changes in the List of Scs/STs in states and UTs during the last decade.
• The SC population in India now stands at 201.4 million, which is 20 per cent more than the last census.
• The ST population stands at 104.3 million in 2011 – 23.7 per cent more than 2001.
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FEATURES
Sachar Committee Report
The Prime Minister has constituted a High Level Committee, headed by Rajindar Sachar, to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India in 2005.
The Committee's mandate was to:
(a) Obtain relevant information and conduct a literature survey on the relative social, economic an educational status of Muslims in India at the state, regional and district levels;
(b) determine the level of their socio-economic development;
(c) determine the relative share in public and private sector employment;
(d) determine the proportion of OBCs from Muslim community in the total OBC population in various states,
(e) Determine access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure and bank credit provided by Government/ public sector entities.
Major findings of the report:
Literacy
The literacy rate for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committee’s findings, far below the national average. The difference between the two rates was greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap was greater in the urban areas.
When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in 1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslims—that was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)—recorded a figure of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs.
According to the Sachar Committee’s findings, 25 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-14 age-group either never went to school or else dropped out at some stage.
The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas. According to the Sachar Committee only one out of 25 undergraduate students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in ‘premier colleges’ are Muslims.
An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes.
Employment
Muslims have a considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs. According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the population.
The Sachar Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios for Muslims are ‘essentially’ due to the much lower participation in economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather than in offices or factories.
Population
According to the 2001 Census, the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the total population). The period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committee’s findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among Muslims is slightly lower than the average. Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one year) than the average.
Poverty
The Committee has found that substantially large proportions of Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure bracket. The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban areas compared to rural areas in most States. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other way round: the Committee found a “significant inverse association” between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are, somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops.
Major recommendations of the Committee are:
a) Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprivedgroups like minorities.
b) Provide legal mechanism to address complaints of discrimination against minorities in matters of employment, housing, schooling and obtaining bank loans.
c) Initiate and institutionalise a process of evaluating contents of textbooks to purge them of explicit and implicit material that may impart inappropriate social values, especially religious intolerance.
d) Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained.
e) Set up an autonomous assessment and monitoring authority to evaluate the extent of development benefits.
f) Encourage the University Grants Commission to evolve a system where part of allocation to colleges and universities is linked to diversity in student population.
g) Facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all socio-religious categories in regular universities and autonomous colleges and evolving alternate admission criteria
h) Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth potential.
i) Increase employment share of Muslims, particularly where there is great deal of public dealing. Working out mechanisms to link madarsas with higher secondary school board.
j) Recognise degrees from madarsas for eligibility in defence, civil and banking examinations.
k) Promote and enhancing access to Muslims in ‘Priority Sector Advances’.
l) Include in teacher training components that introduce importance of diversity and plurality and sensitising teachers towards needs and aspirations of Muslims and other marginalised communities.
m) Open high quality Urdu medium schools wherever they are in demand and ensuring high quality textbooks for students in the Urdu language.
n) Improve participation and share of minorities, particularly Muslims, in business of regular commercial banks.
o) Set up a national Wakf development corporation with a revolving corpus fund of Rs 500 crore and Create new cadre to deal with specific Wakf affairs.
The Committee's mandate was to:
(a) Obtain relevant information and conduct a literature survey on the relative social, economic an educational status of Muslims in India at the state, regional and district levels;
(b) determine the level of their socio-economic development;
(c) determine the relative share in public and private sector employment;
(d) determine the proportion of OBCs from Muslim community in the total OBC population in various states,
(e) Determine access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure and bank credit provided by Government/ public sector entities.
Major findings of the report:
Literacy
The literacy rate for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committee’s findings, far below the national average. The difference between the two rates was greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap was greater in the urban areas.
When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in 1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslims—that was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)—recorded a figure of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs.
According to the Sachar Committee’s findings, 25 per cent of Muslim children in the 6-14 age-group either never went to school or else dropped out at some stage.
The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas. According to the Sachar Committee only one out of 25 undergraduate students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in ‘premier colleges’ are Muslims.
An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes.
Employment
Muslims have a considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs. According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the population.
The Sachar Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios for Muslims are ‘essentially’ due to the much lower participation in economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather than in offices or factories.
Population
According to the 2001 Census, the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the total population). The period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committee’s findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among Muslims is slightly lower than the average. Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one year) than the average.
Poverty
The Committee has found that substantially large proportions of Muslim households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure bracket. The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban areas compared to rural areas in most States. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other way round: the Committee found a “significant inverse association” between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are, somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus stops.
Major recommendations of the Committee are:
a) Set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to look into grievances of deprivedgroups like minorities.
b) Provide legal mechanism to address complaints of discrimination against minorities in matters of employment, housing, schooling and obtaining bank loans.
c) Initiate and institutionalise a process of evaluating contents of textbooks to purge them of explicit and implicit material that may impart inappropriate social values, especially religious intolerance.
d) Create a National Data Bank (NDB) where all relevant data for various socio-religious categories are maintained.
e) Set up an autonomous assessment and monitoring authority to evaluate the extent of development benefits.
f) Encourage the University Grants Commission to evolve a system where part of allocation to colleges and universities is linked to diversity in student population.
g) Facilitate admissions to the most backward amongst all socio-religious categories in regular universities and autonomous colleges and evolving alternate admission criteria
h) Provide financial and other support to initiatives built around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth potential.
i) Increase employment share of Muslims, particularly where there is great deal of public dealing. Working out mechanisms to link madarsas with higher secondary school board.
j) Recognise degrees from madarsas for eligibility in defence, civil and banking examinations.
k) Promote and enhancing access to Muslims in ‘Priority Sector Advances’.
l) Include in teacher training components that introduce importance of diversity and plurality and sensitising teachers towards needs and aspirations of Muslims and other marginalised communities.
m) Open high quality Urdu medium schools wherever they are in demand and ensuring high quality textbooks for students in the Urdu language.
n) Improve participation and share of minorities, particularly Muslims, in business of regular commercial banks.
o) Set up a national Wakf development corporation with a revolving corpus fund of Rs 500 crore and Create new cadre to deal with specific Wakf affairs.
Alagh Committee Report
An expert committee, headed by Dr. Yoginder K. Alagh, former Union Minister and Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, has been set up by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to look into the state of the civil services has found serious deficiencies in the system of recruitment.
The committee refers to some basic flaws in the "mindset" of civil servants. It says that in the popular perception members of the civil services have a "ruler mindset", show no signs of courteous and humane behaviour, are totally devoid of transparency in decision-making, and seem to be preoccupied with their own survival and vested interests. This mindset, according to the report, becomes apparent when they are called upon to take care of the needs of the weaker sections of society, especially while implementing policies that can lead to a clash with the interests of influential persons in society.
"As a result, the objectives of justice, fair play, development and welfare vis-a-vis the weaker sections tend to suffer by default”.
A negative orientation, declining professionalism, intellectual sluggishness and a lack of ability to acquire new knowledge, undynamic outlook and, at times, a complete lack of intellectual honesty are some of the other weaknesses identified in the report. The report makes a special mention of the decline in the levels of integrity among civil servants. It points out that extensive regulatory controls by way of export and import licensing, industrial licensing, allocation of permits and quotas and the lowering of domestic duties and taxes on different products offer opportunities to the "venal among those administrating the regulatory set-up to exercise discretion in favour of particular clients on ulterior considerations".
Over the past few decades, the report says, there has been significant erosion of esprit de corps within the higher civil services. It underlines that while some members of the civil service have maintained a firm commitment to high standards of ethics and to the service of the nation, many others have breached the codes of professional conduct and entered into unethical, symbiotic pacts of convenience and mutual accommodation with influential politicians and business interests.
The report states that many civil servants suffer from intellectual sluggishness, which is manifested in the flattening of their learning curves. Most civil servants have the attitude that they are repositories of the wisdom and knowledge needed to deal with matters that lie within their spheres of authority. This attitude, has made them unreceptive to new ideas and impervious to innovations that are essential in a dynamic administrative environment.
The report expresses concern over the "phenomenon of caste and regional prejudice exhibited by some members of the higher civil services". The tendency to favour colleagues belonging to one's own caste, regional or linguistic group implies that those not belonging to any such group will suffer inequitable treatment.
According to the report, postings and transfers have become a tool in the hands of the political executive with which to force civil servants to comply with their diktats. Civil servants who show the flexibility to go along with the directions of their political masters are rewarded and those who refuse to compromise their professional independence, honesty and integrity are sidelined and penalised. The "punishment" comes in the form of frequent changes in assignments.
The report has recommended insulation of the civil service from the vagaries and arbitrariness of the political executive. This can be done by vesting the authority to post and transfer civil servants in independent boards consisting of service professionals.
The other recommendations of the report deal with eligibility parameters, the desired characteristics of candidates in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes and the modalities of identifying the most suitable candidates. It makes a strong case for lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that the economic cost of taking the examination at a higher age affects candidates from poorer families.
The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates. It suggests that the preliminary examination be made more objective and the main examination include papers on diverse subjects, including environment and law.
The report says that the recruitment and training of civil servants should be a long-term exercise. Future civil servants, it says, should be exposed to field-oriented developmental activities so that they remain in touch with people at the grassroots. Civil servants should develop an ability to work closely with civil society. The report emphasises the need to recruit candidates who can champion reforms, facilitate the functioning of non-governmental organisations and cooperative groups and help the economy and society to operate within the national and global markets.
The report suggests that at the time of recruitment it has to be checked whether the aspirants are aware of the direction in which the country is moving and the strengths and weaknesses of civil society. They should also have an ability to interface with modern technology and institutions of local self-government and perform their duties with a sense of fair play, compassion and a commitment to achieve the objectives set by the Founding Fathers. The report also makes a strong case of lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that economic cost of taking examination at a higher age effects from poorer family.The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates.
The report emphasises the need to re-orient the civil service in the context of the diminishing role of the state in providing direct economic services, the state's growing importance in the economic and social sectors and the growing scarcity of non-renewable resources and the need to protect vulnerable groups of society.
The committee refers to some basic flaws in the "mindset" of civil servants. It says that in the popular perception members of the civil services have a "ruler mindset", show no signs of courteous and humane behaviour, are totally devoid of transparency in decision-making, and seem to be preoccupied with their own survival and vested interests. This mindset, according to the report, becomes apparent when they are called upon to take care of the needs of the weaker sections of society, especially while implementing policies that can lead to a clash with the interests of influential persons in society.
"As a result, the objectives of justice, fair play, development and welfare vis-a-vis the weaker sections tend to suffer by default”.
A negative orientation, declining professionalism, intellectual sluggishness and a lack of ability to acquire new knowledge, undynamic outlook and, at times, a complete lack of intellectual honesty are some of the other weaknesses identified in the report. The report makes a special mention of the decline in the levels of integrity among civil servants. It points out that extensive regulatory controls by way of export and import licensing, industrial licensing, allocation of permits and quotas and the lowering of domestic duties and taxes on different products offer opportunities to the "venal among those administrating the regulatory set-up to exercise discretion in favour of particular clients on ulterior considerations".
Over the past few decades, the report says, there has been significant erosion of esprit de corps within the higher civil services. It underlines that while some members of the civil service have maintained a firm commitment to high standards of ethics and to the service of the nation, many others have breached the codes of professional conduct and entered into unethical, symbiotic pacts of convenience and mutual accommodation with influential politicians and business interests.
The report states that many civil servants suffer from intellectual sluggishness, which is manifested in the flattening of their learning curves. Most civil servants have the attitude that they are repositories of the wisdom and knowledge needed to deal with matters that lie within their spheres of authority. This attitude, has made them unreceptive to new ideas and impervious to innovations that are essential in a dynamic administrative environment.
The report expresses concern over the "phenomenon of caste and regional prejudice exhibited by some members of the higher civil services". The tendency to favour colleagues belonging to one's own caste, regional or linguistic group implies that those not belonging to any such group will suffer inequitable treatment.
According to the report, postings and transfers have become a tool in the hands of the political executive with which to force civil servants to comply with their diktats. Civil servants who show the flexibility to go along with the directions of their political masters are rewarded and those who refuse to compromise their professional independence, honesty and integrity are sidelined and penalised. The "punishment" comes in the form of frequent changes in assignments.
The report has recommended insulation of the civil service from the vagaries and arbitrariness of the political executive. This can be done by vesting the authority to post and transfer civil servants in independent boards consisting of service professionals.
The other recommendations of the report deal with eligibility parameters, the desired characteristics of candidates in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes and the modalities of identifying the most suitable candidates. It makes a strong case for lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that the economic cost of taking the examination at a higher age affects candidates from poorer families.
The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates. It suggests that the preliminary examination be made more objective and the main examination include papers on diverse subjects, including environment and law.
The report says that the recruitment and training of civil servants should be a long-term exercise. Future civil servants, it says, should be exposed to field-oriented developmental activities so that they remain in touch with people at the grassroots. Civil servants should develop an ability to work closely with civil society. The report emphasises the need to recruit candidates who can champion reforms, facilitate the functioning of non-governmental organisations and cooperative groups and help the economy and society to operate within the national and global markets.
The report suggests that at the time of recruitment it has to be checked whether the aspirants are aware of the direction in which the country is moving and the strengths and weaknesses of civil society. They should also have an ability to interface with modern technology and institutions of local self-government and perform their duties with a sense of fair play, compassion and a commitment to achieve the objectives set by the Founding Fathers. The report also makes a strong case of lowering the age limit for recruitment, arguing that economic cost of taking examination at a higher age effects from poorer family.The committee has designed a scheme to identify younger candidates.
The report emphasises the need to re-orient the civil service in the context of the diminishing role of the state in providing direct economic services, the state's growing importance in the economic and social sectors and the growing scarcity of non-renewable resources and the need to protect vulnerable groups of society.
National Mission for Green India
The National Mission for a Green India, as one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), recognizes that climate change phenomena will seriously affect and alter the distribution, type and quality of natural resources of the country and the associated livelihoods of the people. The Mission (henceforth referred to as GIM) acknowledges the influences that the forestry sector has on environmental amelioration through climate mitigation, food security, water security,biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest dependent communities.
The objectives of the mission are three-fold:
• Double the area to be taken up for afforestation/eco-restoration in India in the next 10 years, taking the total area to be afforested or eco-restored to 20 million ha.(i.e., 10 million ha of additional forest/non forest area to be treated by the Mission, in addition to the 10 million ha which is likely to be treated by Forest Department and other agencies through other interventions).
• Increase the GHG removals by India's forests to 6.35% of India's annual total GHG emissions by the year 2020 (an increase of 1.5% over what it would be in the absence of the Mission). This would require an increase in above and below ground biomass in 10 million ha of forests/ecosystems, resulting in increased carbon sequestration of 43 million tons CO2-e annually .
• Enhance the resilience of forests/ecosystems being treated under the Mission enhance infiltration, groundwater recharge, stream and spring flows, biodiversity value, provisioning of services (fuel wood, fodder, timber, NTFPs, etc.) to help local communities adapt to climatic variability.
The Mission targets can be classified as:
The objectives of the mission are three-fold:
• Double the area to be taken up for afforestation/eco-restoration in India in the next 10 years, taking the total area to be afforested or eco-restored to 20 million ha.(i.e., 10 million ha of additional forest/non forest area to be treated by the Mission, in addition to the 10 million ha which is likely to be treated by Forest Department and other agencies through other interventions).
• Increase the GHG removals by India's forests to 6.35% of India's annual total GHG emissions by the year 2020 (an increase of 1.5% over what it would be in the absence of the Mission). This would require an increase in above and below ground biomass in 10 million ha of forests/ecosystems, resulting in increased carbon sequestration of 43 million tons CO2-e annually .
• Enhance the resilience of forests/ecosystems being treated under the Mission enhance infiltration, groundwater recharge, stream and spring flows, biodiversity value, provisioning of services (fuel wood, fodder, timber, NTFPs, etc.) to help local communities adapt to climatic variability.
The Mission targets can be classified as:
• 2.0 m ha of moderately dense forests show increased cover and density.
• 4.0 m ha of degraded forests are regenerated/afforested and sustainably managed.
• 0.10 m ha of mangroves restored/established.
• 0.10 m ha of wetlands show enhanced conservation status.
• 0.20 m ha of urban/peri urban forest lands and institutional lands are under tree cover.
• 1.50 m ha of degraded agricultural lands and fallows are brought under agro-forestry.• 0.10 m ha of corridor areas, critical to wildlife migration are secure.
• Improved fuel wood use efficiency devices adopted in about 10 million households (along with alternative energy devices).
• Biomass/NTFP based community livelihoods are enhanced that lead to reduced vulnerability.
Some key highlights of the Mission strategy are listed below:
1. Holistic view to “greening” (broader than plantations):
The scope of greening will not be limited to just trees and plantations. Emphasis will be placed on restoration of ecosystems and habitat diversity e.g. grassland and pastures (more so in arid/semi-arid regions), mangroves, wetlands and other critical ecosystems. It will not only strive to restore degraded forests, but would also contribute in protection/enhancement of forests with relatively dense forest cover.
2. Integrated cross-sectoral approach to implementation:
The Mission would foster an integrated approach that treats forests and non forest public lands as well as private lands simultaneously, in project units/ sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds. Drivers of degradation e.g. firewood needs and livestock grazing will be addressed using inter sectoral convergence (e.g. livestock, forest, agriculture, rural development, energy etc.)
3. Key role for local communities and decentralized governance:
Local communities will be required to play a key role in project governance and implementation. Gram Sabha and its various committees/groups including JFMCs, CFM groups, Van Panchayats, etc. would be strengthened as institutions of decentralized forest governance. Likewise, the Mission would support revamping/strengthening of the Forest Development Agencies. The Mission would support secured community tenure, capacity building for adaptive forest management and livelihood support activities e.g. community based NTFP enterprises.
4. Vulnerability' and 'Potential' as criteria for intervention:
An overarching criterion for selection of project areas/sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds under the Mission would include vulnerability to climatic change projections and potential of areas for enhancing carbon sinks.
5. Robust and effective monitoring framework:
A comprehensive monitoring framework at four different levels is proposed. In addition to on-ground self- monitoring by multiple agencies, the Mission would support use of modern technology like Remote Sensing with GPS mapping of plot boundaries for monitoring at output/ outcome level. A few identified sites within the project area will be selected for intensive monitoring using additional parameters like ground cover, soil condition, erosion and infiltration, run-off, ground water levels to develop water budgets as well as biomass monitoring indicators. The Mission would also commission a comprehensive research needs assessment in support of Mission aim and objectives. The Mission would set up a cell within Mission Directorate to coordinate REDD Plus activities in the country.
• 4.0 m ha of degraded forests are regenerated/afforested and sustainably managed.
• 0.10 m ha of mangroves restored/established.
• 0.10 m ha of wetlands show enhanced conservation status.
• 0.20 m ha of urban/peri urban forest lands and institutional lands are under tree cover.
• 1.50 m ha of degraded agricultural lands and fallows are brought under agro-forestry.• 0.10 m ha of corridor areas, critical to wildlife migration are secure.
• Improved fuel wood use efficiency devices adopted in about 10 million households (along with alternative energy devices).
• Biomass/NTFP based community livelihoods are enhanced that lead to reduced vulnerability.
Some key highlights of the Mission strategy are listed below:
1. Holistic view to “greening” (broader than plantations):
The scope of greening will not be limited to just trees and plantations. Emphasis will be placed on restoration of ecosystems and habitat diversity e.g. grassland and pastures (more so in arid/semi-arid regions), mangroves, wetlands and other critical ecosystems. It will not only strive to restore degraded forests, but would also contribute in protection/enhancement of forests with relatively dense forest cover.
2. Integrated cross-sectoral approach to implementation:
The Mission would foster an integrated approach that treats forests and non forest public lands as well as private lands simultaneously, in project units/ sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds. Drivers of degradation e.g. firewood needs and livestock grazing will be addressed using inter sectoral convergence (e.g. livestock, forest, agriculture, rural development, energy etc.)
3. Key role for local communities and decentralized governance:
Local communities will be required to play a key role in project governance and implementation. Gram Sabha and its various committees/groups including JFMCs, CFM groups, Van Panchayats, etc. would be strengthened as institutions of decentralized forest governance. Likewise, the Mission would support revamping/strengthening of the Forest Development Agencies. The Mission would support secured community tenure, capacity building for adaptive forest management and livelihood support activities e.g. community based NTFP enterprises.
4. Vulnerability' and 'Potential' as criteria for intervention:
An overarching criterion for selection of project areas/sub-landscapes/sub-watersheds under the Mission would include vulnerability to climatic change projections and potential of areas for enhancing carbon sinks.
5. Robust and effective monitoring framework:
A comprehensive monitoring framework at four different levels is proposed. In addition to on-ground self- monitoring by multiple agencies, the Mission would support use of modern technology like Remote Sensing with GPS mapping of plot boundaries for monitoring at output/ outcome level. A few identified sites within the project area will be selected for intensive monitoring using additional parameters like ground cover, soil condition, erosion and infiltration, run-off, ground water levels to develop water budgets as well as biomass monitoring indicators. The Mission would also commission a comprehensive research needs assessment in support of Mission aim and objectives. The Mission would set up a cell within Mission Directorate to coordinate REDD Plus activities in the country.
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FEATURES
Friday, August 23, 2013
Government approved for the constitution of Judicial Appointments Commission
According to the Constitution under Article 124 the appointment of Supreme Court judges should be made by the President after consultation with such judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court as the President may deem necessary. The CJI is to be consulted in all appointments, except his or her own. Further, Article 217 deals with the appointment of High Court judges. It says a judge should be appointed by the President after consultation with the CJI and the Governor of the state. The Chief Justice of the High Court concerned too should be consulted. But with passage of time amendments were introduced to make passage for collegiums system.
Collegium is a system under which appointments and transfers of judges are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.
Thus to reduce the sole authority of judiciary in selection of the judges, the Union Cabinet has cleared the Bill for setting up of a Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC) that would scrap the present collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
It would give the executive a say in the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges. As per the proposal, the JAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. It will have two Supreme Court judges, the Law Minister and two eminent personalities as its members and the Secretary (Justice) in the Law Ministry would be the Member Secretary. The body will recommend appointment and posting of apex court and HC judges. The two eminent persons on the JAC will be selected by a panel comprising the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition of either House of Parliament.
Collegium is a system under which appointments and transfers of judges are decided by a forum of the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court.
Thus to reduce the sole authority of judiciary in selection of the judges, the Union Cabinet has cleared the Bill for setting up of a Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC) that would scrap the present collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
It would give the executive a say in the appointment of Supreme Court and High Court judges. As per the proposal, the JAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. It will have two Supreme Court judges, the Law Minister and two eminent personalities as its members and the Secretary (Justice) in the Law Ministry would be the Member Secretary. The body will recommend appointment and posting of apex court and HC judges. The two eminent persons on the JAC will be selected by a panel comprising the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition of either House of Parliament.
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DAILY DOSE
Parliamentary Panel emphasizes on providing proper training to elected representatives of panchayats
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Panchayati Raj Institutions in its report on 'Capacity Building of Panchayati Raj Institutions' has stated that training infrastructure for elected representatives of panchayats across the country is "thoroughly inadequate which includes as many as 29 lakhs elected representatives of panchayats, of which 10 lakhs are women.
The committee has recommended that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj constitutes an expert committee to expand the present training network.
Citing examples of various states, it said for 50 districts and 3.96 lakh elected representatives in Madhya Pradesh, there is only State Institute for Rural Development (SIRD), seven Panchayat training centres and six Extension Training Centres (ETC).
In Bihar, there is only one SIRD and three ETCs for 1.3 lakh representatives, it said.
The committee also expressed disapproval of the absence of any system of evaluation of the training imparted to the elected members.
The ministry gave an assurance to the committee that Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan would address these issues.
The goals of the RGPSA are to enhance capacities and effectiveness of Panchayats and the Gram Sabhas; Enable democratic decision-making and accountability in Panchayats and promote people’s participation; Strengthen the institutional structure for knowledge creation and capacity building of Panchayats; Promote devolution of powers and responsibilities to Panchayats according to the spirit of the Constitution and PESA Act; Strengthen Gram Sabhas to function effectively as the basic forum of people’s participation, transparency and accountability within the Panchayat system; Create and strengthen democratic local self-government in areas where Panchayats do not exist; and Strengthen the constitutionally mandated framework on which Panchayats are founded.
The committee has recommended that the Ministry of Panchayati Raj constitutes an expert committee to expand the present training network.
Citing examples of various states, it said for 50 districts and 3.96 lakh elected representatives in Madhya Pradesh, there is only State Institute for Rural Development (SIRD), seven Panchayat training centres and six Extension Training Centres (ETC).
In Bihar, there is only one SIRD and three ETCs for 1.3 lakh representatives, it said.
The committee also expressed disapproval of the absence of any system of evaluation of the training imparted to the elected members.
The ministry gave an assurance to the committee that Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan would address these issues.
The goals of the RGPSA are to enhance capacities and effectiveness of Panchayats and the Gram Sabhas; Enable democratic decision-making and accountability in Panchayats and promote people’s participation; Strengthen the institutional structure for knowledge creation and capacity building of Panchayats; Promote devolution of powers and responsibilities to Panchayats according to the spirit of the Constitution and PESA Act; Strengthen Gram Sabhas to function effectively as the basic forum of people’s participation, transparency and accountability within the Panchayat system; Create and strengthen democratic local self-government in areas where Panchayats do not exist; and Strengthen the constitutionally mandated framework on which Panchayats are founded.
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DAILY DOSE
National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme unveiled
Union Finance Minister Shri P Chidambaram has unveiled the National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme that will be implemented on pan-India basis. The scheme was first proposed by the Finance Minister in the last Union Budget, government will allocate Rs 1,000 crore for a scheme that will motivate the youth to acquire a vocational skill. The scheme is expected to benefit a million people in the first year of its implementation.
The scheme is branded as STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) for promotional purposes.
The National Skill Development Corp will set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills and any institution or body may offer training courses. Upon completion the candidate then has to take a test conducted by authorised agencies. Upon passing the test, the candidate will be given a certificate as well as a monetary reward of an average of Rs 10,000 per candidate.
The National Skilling Mission envisages adding 500 million skilled Indians by the year 2022. While 150 million are expected to be contributed by the private sector working under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), 350 million will be contributed by 18-odd ministries at the Centre.
National Skill Development Corporation, a body under the Ministry of Finance, is one of its kind public private partnership endeavour with 51 per cent equity held by private sector and 49 per cent by the Union Government. Formed in 2010, NSDC is a professionally run not-for-profit company that includes 22 Sector Skill Councils and 87 training partners with over 2500 training centres spread across 352 districts in the country.
The scheme is branded as STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) for promotional purposes.
The National Skill Development Corp will set the curriculum and standards for training in different skills and any institution or body may offer training courses. Upon completion the candidate then has to take a test conducted by authorised agencies. Upon passing the test, the candidate will be given a certificate as well as a monetary reward of an average of Rs 10,000 per candidate.
The National Skilling Mission envisages adding 500 million skilled Indians by the year 2022. While 150 million are expected to be contributed by the private sector working under National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), 350 million will be contributed by 18-odd ministries at the Centre.
National Skill Development Corporation, a body under the Ministry of Finance, is one of its kind public private partnership endeavour with 51 per cent equity held by private sector and 49 per cent by the Union Government. Formed in 2010, NSDC is a professionally run not-for-profit company that includes 22 Sector Skill Councils and 87 training partners with over 2500 training centres spread across 352 districts in the country.
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DAILY DOSE
India asks U.S. to renew GSP scheme
India has taken up the issue of immediate renewal of the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme, which is going to be expired on July 31. Any delay or failure to renew the programme will result in an adverse impact on trade exchanges between the two countries. Last time the GSP renewal by the U.S. was delayed by about three months. Though the time gap had been covered by retrospective effect in the administrative action, it had put both the U.S. importers and overseas exporters at a disadvantage for some time. In view of this, it is very important to get GSP renewal notified at the earliest.
The GSP programme helps developing countries expand their economies by increasing exports to the U.S. It also aids U.S. businesses by lowering the cost of imported goods that are used as inputs in value-added US production. U.S. jobs and corporate interests are equally linked to the renewal of the GSP programme.
In the Trade Policy Agenda released in March this year, the U.S. administration said that helping developing countries grow and expand their economies through trade also helps the U.S. by providing its exporters greater opportunity to sell products to billions of new consumers abroad. U.S. businesses imported $19.9 billion worth of products under the GSP programme in 2012, including many inputs used in U.S. manufacturing. The U.S. accounts for 16 per cent of India’s total services imports. Indian imports of US services will see a sharp increase in the coming years as India’s middle-class market grows larger and key services sectors see further reforms.
The U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 5,000 products when imported from one of 127 designated beneficiary countries and territories. GSP was instituted on January 1, 1976, by the Trade Act of 1974.
Products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP include: most manufactured items; many types of chemicals, minerals and building stone; jewelry; many types of carpets; and certain agricultural and fishery products. Among the products that are not eligible for GSP duty-free treatments are: most textiles and apparel; watches; and most footwear, handbags, and luggage products.
The GSP programme helps developing countries expand their economies by increasing exports to the U.S. It also aids U.S. businesses by lowering the cost of imported goods that are used as inputs in value-added US production. U.S. jobs and corporate interests are equally linked to the renewal of the GSP programme.
In the Trade Policy Agenda released in March this year, the U.S. administration said that helping developing countries grow and expand their economies through trade also helps the U.S. by providing its exporters greater opportunity to sell products to billions of new consumers abroad. U.S. businesses imported $19.9 billion worth of products under the GSP programme in 2012, including many inputs used in U.S. manufacturing. The U.S. accounts for 16 per cent of India’s total services imports. Indian imports of US services will see a sharp increase in the coming years as India’s middle-class market grows larger and key services sectors see further reforms.
The U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 5,000 products when imported from one of 127 designated beneficiary countries and territories. GSP was instituted on January 1, 1976, by the Trade Act of 1974.
Products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP include: most manufactured items; many types of chemicals, minerals and building stone; jewelry; many types of carpets; and certain agricultural and fishery products. Among the products that are not eligible for GSP duty-free treatments are: most textiles and apparel; watches; and most footwear, handbags, and luggage products.
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DAILY DOSE
High Level Committee constituted to study the socioeconomic status of the tribal communities of India
The union government Saturday announced constitution of a high-level committee to study the present socio-economic, health and educational status of tribals. The HLC shall suggest policy initiatives as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service delivery to STs and other tribal populations. The High Level Committee will be headed by Prof. Virginius Xaxa.
The Terms of reference of the High Level Committee (HLC) are as follows:
The HLC will prepare a report on the overall socioeconomic, health and educational status of the tribal communities of India. The HLC will finalise and present its report within nine months from the date of this notification.
The committee will look into:
a) Regions in which tribal communities of India mostly live.b) Changes in the wake of involuntary displacement and enforced migration.c) Source of earning and newer avenues of employment and livelihood available to them.d) Level of their socio-economic development in terms of relevant indicators such as literacy rate, dropout rate, maternal mortality rate.e) Relative share of public and private sector employment.f) Access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure, bank credit, and other services provided by public sector.g) Structures available for implementing protective legislation involving them.
The HLC will be provided all possible assistance by all Ministries/ Departments and other bodies under the Government to ensure timely collection of data and information to facilitate their task.
The Terms of reference of the High Level Committee (HLC) are as follows:
The HLC will prepare a report on the overall socioeconomic, health and educational status of the tribal communities of India. The HLC will finalise and present its report within nine months from the date of this notification.
The committee will look into:
a) Regions in which tribal communities of India mostly live.b) Changes in the wake of involuntary displacement and enforced migration.c) Source of earning and newer avenues of employment and livelihood available to them.d) Level of their socio-economic development in terms of relevant indicators such as literacy rate, dropout rate, maternal mortality rate.e) Relative share of public and private sector employment.f) Access to education and health services, municipal infrastructure, bank credit, and other services provided by public sector.g) Structures available for implementing protective legislation involving them.
The HLC will be provided all possible assistance by all Ministries/ Departments and other bodies under the Government to ensure timely collection of data and information to facilitate their task.
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DAILY DOSE
Important Facts of Indian HistoryHistory of Modern India
● Muazzam occupied the Mughal throne as Bahadur Shah after his success in the war of succession.
● Muazzam, the son of Aurangzeb was called as the ‘Shah Bekhabar’.
● The Mughal King Farrukh Siyar gratned concession to the English men to trade in Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad.
● In 1759 Ali Mohar, the son of Alamgir sat upon the Mughal throne as Shah Alam II.
● After the death of Maratha ruler Shahu, the real power of the State came in the hands of Peshwas.
● Nawab Murshid Quli Khan of Bengal transferred his capital to Murshidabad from Dacca.
● Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal transferred his capital to Moongher from Murshidabad.
● In the middle of the 18th century, the nominal ruler of Mysore was Chika Krishnaraj. The real power of the State lied with the two brothers—Nand Raj and Dev Raj.
● In 1761 Hyder Ali captured Nandraj and became the master of Mysore.
● In the first Anglo-Mysore war, Hyder Ali badly defeated the English army.
● In 1781 Hyder Ali conqurered Arcot but in 1781 at Porn Novo Sir Eyerkoot defeated him.
● Ali Muhammad Khan established the State of Rohilkhand.
● The early capital of Rohilkhand was ‘Awala’ which later shifted to Rampur.
● Guru Har Gobind Singh constructed the Akaal Takht at Amritsar.
● Guru Gobind Singh converted the Sikhs into a warring and military group.
● In 1721, the two sects of Sikhism ‘Bandai’ and ‘Tatkhalsa’ merged in one sect ‘Khalsa’. This sect became a headache for the Mughals.
● The Sikhs were organized in 12 unions or misls which grew in political significance. Later Ranjeet Singh conquered these misls and organized them into Punjab State.
● The ruler of the Afghanistan conferred the title of Raja upon Ranjeet Singh and appointed him the Subedar of Lahore.
● The treaty of Amritsar was signed between the English and Ranjeet Singh in 1809. As a result the English checked the expansion of Ranjeet Singh towards the region of Sutluj.
● According to the treaty of Amritsar, the English accepted Ranjeet Singh as an independent ruler.
● During first Anglo-Sikh war, the Governor-General of India was Lord Hardinge.
● Punjab was ruled by Maharaja Dalip Singh when the Lahore Treaty was signed in 1846 between the Sikhs and the English after the defeat of Sikhs in the first Anglo Sikh war.
● During Sirajudaulla’s time, the English settlement at Calcutta became a resort for the enemies of Nawab and the traitors.
● On 4th June, 1756 Sirajudaulla invaded and captured the Qasim Bazar factory of English near Murshidabad.
● The Black hole tragedy as it is known in history, came to light through the letter of Holvell. Some of the historians consider it imaginery.
● In the contemporary historical works like Sher-a-Mutkherin and Royas-us-Salatin, there is no reference to the Black hole tragedy.
● On 9th February, 1757, the Ali Nagar Treaty was signed between the English and the Nawab.
● After the war of Plassey, when Sirajudaulla was running away from Murshidabad towards Patna he was captured and killed.
● On 28 June, 1757, the English declared Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal.
● After victory in Plassey war, the English Company obtained concessions to trade in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
● On 25 November, 1759, the Bedara war was fought between the English and the Dutch and the Dutch were defeated. The victory helped the English in consolidating their hold on Bengal.
● Mir Qasim planned friendship with Vansittart to become the Nawab of Bengal.
● Mir Qasim gave to East India Company, the districts of Vardhman, Midnapur and Chittgaon for the expenditure of the English army.
● In 1764 the joint army of Mir Qasim, Shujauddaulla and Shah Alam fought with the English—the war of Buxar, the English were victorious in this war.
● After the Buxar War, the Allahabad treaty was signed between English and the Mughal King Shah Alam in 1765 AD.
● According to Allahabad Treaty, the districts of Kara and Allahabad were taken away from the Nawab of Oudh and given to Mughal King. The East India Company agreed to pay to the king a pension of Rs. 26 lacs. In lieu the English got Diwani rights in Bengal.
● After the death of Mir Jafar, his son Nizamuddaula was enthroned as Nawab of Bengal.
● K. M. Panikkar holds that from 1765 to 1772, the rule of East India Company in Bengal was the ‘rule of dacoits’.
● During Warren Hastings period, the Treasury was transferred by the East India Company to Calcutta from Murshidabad and Calcutta was made the capital.
● During the Governorship of Warren Hastings, in every district of subjugated India one Civil and one Criminal Court was opened.
● The cases upto to Rs. 500 were referred to the Civil Court and alone it, the appeal could be made to the Sadar Diwani Adalat.
● The District Criminal Court was put in charge of an Indian Officer.
● The Regulating Act of 1773 established a Supreme Court at Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement introduced by Cornwallis brought changes in the land system. Most of the land came in the hands of commercial and rich classes of Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement ensured the income of the Government. Besides the cooperation of the new Zamindars was obtained.
● In the Mahalwari system, land revenues was fixed either through the local Zamindars or their hereditary tax collectors or the Zamindars of the Mahal. Mahal was the collection of villages. The Mahalwari system was known in Punjab as the village system.
● The Raiyyatwari system was introduced during early 19th century in some regions of Madras and Bombay. The Govt. directly obtained a fixed amount from the peasants.
● In the Raiyyatwari system, the revenue rate was fixed 45% to 50% of the total produce separately.
● The Raiyyatwari system had many defects which the Govt. official accepted at the time of a parliamentary inspection for the renewal of the Company’s Charter.
● In the Fifth and Sixth decades of 19 century, the English invested in large amount to control Indian economy.
● The English invested their capital on roads and communications, Railway, Post and Telegraph, Banks and tea gardens.
● In 1830 the Ahoms again rebelled against the English. This time, the English Company adopted a peaceful policy and granted north Assam and some other region to King Purandar Singh.
● Raja Teerath Singh of Nanakkalo rebelled against the English with the help of Garo, Khampati and Sinhopo tribes. Soon it took the shape of a mass-movement. In 1833, the English could crust it with superior military force.
● In 1825, the Assam Rifles rebelled against the English.
● In 1838, the Indian troops stationed at Sholapur rebelled due to non-payment of the full allowances.
● In 1850 the Gobind Garh regiment rebelled.
● On 1 January, 1857, the use of British made Enfield Rifles was started in India. In the cartridges of this Rifle, the fat of cows and pigs were used.
● In March 1857, the soldiers of Bairakpur Cantt refused to use the fat cartridges.
● On 2 May, 1857, the Oudh Regiment of Lucknow too refused to use these cartridges. As a result, the Oudh regiment was disbanded.
● To the soldiers of Meerut who had refused to use the fat cartridges, an English military officer—Carr Michael Smith issued the jail punishment of 5 years.
● On 10 May, 1857, a section of the infantry and cavalry of Merrut rebelled at about 5 P.M.
● The rebels marched to Delhi, captured the city and declared Bahadurshah the emperor of India. Bahadurshah assumed the leadership of revolt in Delhi.
● During this rebellion, Nana Saheb established his suzeranity over Kanpur and declared himself the Peshwa.
● In Bundelkhand Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi assumed the leadership of the revolt.
● In Bihar, the zamindar of Jagdishpur, named Kunwar Singh led the revolt.
● On 28 May, 1857, the soldiers of Nasirabad Cantt in Rajasthan, rebelled.
● Kota and Adva were the main centres of revolt in Rajasthan.
● The Central India, Tantya Tope led the revolt.
● In U.P. the importnat centres of revolution were Jhansi, Kanpur, Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
● The Bareilly rebellion was led by Batakhs Khan.
● The Commissioner of Oudh, Henry Laurrence died of a blast on 4th July, 1857.
● While suppressing the revolt, the English officer Neil buried the dead Brahmans and burnt the dead Muslims.
● In March 1858, under the leadership of Kunwar Singh, the rebels captured Azamgarh.
● While marching towards Benaras from Azamgarh, there was an encounter between Kunwar Singh and the English officer Lord Mark in which Lord Mark had to run away to save his life.
● Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur was the only leader to have died under the banner of freedom.
● On 14 December, 1857, the English army blasted Kashmiri Gate of Delhi.
● In November 1857 the rebels defeated the English General Windaham near Kanpur.
● Vinayak Damodar Saverker was the first to name the rebellion of 1857 as the first war of Indian independence.
● According to Sir Seeley, the rebellion of 1857 was fully a national revolt conducted by selfish soldiers.
● Sir John Lawrence, P. E. Roberts and V. A. Smith have called it a Sepoy Mutiny.
● According to V. A. Smith, the rebellion of 1857 was purely a sepoy mutiny which fully reflected the indiscipline of Indian soldiers and the foolishness of English military officers.
● According to Sir James Outtram, the revolt of 1857 was the result of a conspiracy of the Muslims who desired to fulfill their self-interest on the strength of the Hindus.
● Ashok Mehta in his book, ‘The Great Revolt’, has attempted to prove that it was a national revolt.
● Pattabhi Sita Ramaiyya takes it to be the first war of Indian independence.
● After crushing the revolt of 1857, they constituted an India Council and abolished the Board of Directors. There were 15 members in the India Council and a Secretary of State for India.
● After the revolt, Lord Canning announced the Declaration of the Queen at a Durbar held at Allahabad. He called it, ‘the Magna Carta of Indian people’.
● In the Declaration of the Queen, the policy of expansion of the political limits came to an end.
● The rebels responsible for the murder of Englishmen were punished. All others were pardoned.
● The objective of Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramkirshna Mission and the Theosophical society etc. was to herald a renaissance in India.
● Brahmo Samaj was founded in Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1828.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy always advocated the appointment of Indians on high govt. posts. He played a major role in the abolition of Sati system.
● After the death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1833, Devendara Nath Tagore assumed the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj.
● Aadi Brahmo Samaj was established by Devendra Nath Thakur.
● Bhartiya Brahmo Samaj was founded by Keshav Chandra Sen.
● The principles of Brahmo Samaj helped immensely in the birth and Spread Indian nationalism.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy established Vedant College, English School and Hindu College at Calcutta.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the advocate of English Education and he thought English to be the vehicle of progress.
● It was due to the effort of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, that the restriction upon the newspapers were lifted.
● In 1819, at Maharashtra, Prarthna Sabha was founded. It came to an end due to its limited scope.
● In 1867 Atma Ram Pandurang established Prarthna Samaj. M. G. Ranade, R. G. Bhandarkar and Narayan Chandrawarkar were the prominent members of this Samaj.
● Dayanand Saraswati left his house at the age of 21. As a Brahmachari Sadhu, he travelled to different places in India.
● Dayanand Saraswati started the propagation of his religion from Agra.
● In 1874, he wrote his famous book Satyarth Prakash.
● On 10 April, 1875 he founded Arya Samaj at Bombay.
● Totapuri, a Vedantic sadhu taught Vedant Sadhna to Dayananda.
● Ramkrishna Paramhans was born in 1836 in a poor Brahman family of Hoogly district of Bengal.
● Swami Vivekanand was the most devoted disciple of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans.
● Ramkrishna Pramhans did not establish any Ashram or sect.
● In 1893 in the All Religion Conference at Chicago Vivekanand impressed everyone, and started a Vedant Samaj there.
● In 1896 Vivekanand established Ramkrishna Mission.
● In the last years of the third decade of the 19th century, the young Bengal movement was led by an Englishman named Henry William Derozio.
● On 7 September, 1875 in New York, U.S.A. Madame H.P. Blatavesky (Russian) and Col. H. S. Alcott (American) founded the Theosophical Society.
● Mrs. Annie Besant, an Irish lady was a very active member of Theosophical Society in India.
● Due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, in 1856, the Widow Remarriage Act was legislated.
● The slogan of ‘Inkalab Zindabad’ was given by Mohammad Iqbal.
● Sir Saiyyad Ahmad Khan founded the Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh in 1877 which later became known as Aligarh Muslim University.
● Haji Shariatullah was the initiator of Faryaz movement.
● In Maharashtra the Bharat Sewak Samaj was started by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
● In 1922 Amrit Lal Viththal Das established the Bheel Sewa Mandal.
● Jyoti Ba Phule was the champion of widowremarriage in Maharashtra.
● In 1911 Narayan Maltar Joshi organised the Social Service League, a society to solve the social problems. He was assisted by some educated Indians.
● Avanindra Nath Thakur founded the society known as—The Indian Society of Oriental Art.
● In the 19th century, the famous Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed the song— Vande Matram.
● In 1875, Sisir Kumar Ghose founded the India League.
● The Indian Association founded by Surendra Nath Banerjee was replaced by the Indian League in 1876.
● The credit for founding the Indian National Congress in 1885 goes to an English officer, Allen Octavian Hume.
● The first Conference of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay under the chairmanship of W. C. Banerjee.
● Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Ganesh Mahotsav in 1893 and Shivaji Samaroh in 1895.
● Pandit Jugal Kishore published the first newspaper of India—Udant Martand. It was a paper which gave top priority to Indian interests.
● During Lord Curzon’s time in 1905, Bengal was divided.
● In 1911, in Lord Hardinge’s time, the partition of Bengal was cancelled.
● Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajeet Singh were exiled to Burma in 1907.
● In 1911 the capital of India was shifted to Delhi from Calcutta.
● On Nov. 1913, the Ghadar Party was founded at Sanfransisco city of America by the great revolutionary of Punjab named Lala Hardayal.
● Kashi Ram and Hardayal were the active members of the Ghadar Party.
● In 1906, Agha Khan founded the All India Muslim League.
● In 1916, a pact was signed between Muslim League and Congress which is known in history as the Lucknow Pact.
● In 1916 Bal Gangadhar Tilak established the Home Rule League of India.
● After Lucknow Pact, Congress and League presented the plan of political reforms based on separate electoral regions. This pact led to an increase in communalism.
● In 1914 Annie Besant brought out a newspaper in English named ‘New India’.
● Gandhiji established the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
● On 30 March, 1919, Satyagraha Day was observed in whole of India. The Satyagraha was peaceful at all places except Punjab and Delhi.
● Dr. Satyapal and Dr. Saifuddin, the leaders of the Punjab Satyagraha were imprisoned. In protest, a meeting was organized at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar . The people who assembled here were gunned down. This is known as ‘Jalhianwalla bagh Massacre’ of April 1919.
● After the world war I, the Indian Muslims were excited due to the treatment meted out to Caliph by the British in Turkey. In 1919 they started the Khilafat movement under the leadership of Maulana Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
● The Congress joined the Muslims in Khilafat movement. On 31 August, 1919, the Khilafat Day was observed.
● Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-cooperation Mass Movement in 1920-21. But violence broke out at Chauri Chaura then in Gorakhpur district which saddened Gandhiji. In February 1922 he announced the closure of the movement.
● In March 1922 Motilal Nehru and Deshbandhu Chitranjan Das established the Swaraj Party.
● In the elections of 1923 the Swaraj Party scored 40 seats out of 148.
● In 1927 the Bardoli Satyagraha was conducted by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
● In 1928 under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon a Commission came to India to inspect the administrative work. The Indians boycotted it as no Indian was a member of the Commission. In March 1928 the Commission went back.
● In the 1929 Lahore Congress session held under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the meaning of Swaraj was declared as total independence.
● In 1930 Gandhiji broke the Salt laws by his Dandi March and he started the Civil Disobedience movement.
● In 1930, the Congress boycotted the first Round Table Conference.
● In 1931, after Gandhi-Irwin pact Gandhiji went to attend the second Round Table Conference along with the members of Muslim League.
● In the third Round table conference in 1932, Congress did not send any representative. Only 46 members went to participate under different categories.
● The meeting of the Executive of Congress held on 1 January, 1932 decided to again start the Civil Disobedience Movement due to the completely negative attitude of the Government.
● The British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald declared the communal award on 16 August, 1932.
● On 25 September, 1932, the Poona Pact was signed. Common agreement was made on two conditions for preparing the electoral regions. The representative of the Depressed classes was B.R. Ambedkar.
● In 1932 Gandhiji founded the Harijan Sewak Sangh for the uplift of the Harijans.
● On 8 May, 1933 Gandhiji declared the programme of 21 days fast for his self-purification.
● Gandhiji began ‘Individual Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience on 1 August, 1933.
● The Government of India Act of 1935 had 312 articles and 19 enclosures.
● In 1935, the British provinces were 11 e.g., Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa, Central Provinces, Assam, North West Frontier Provinces, United Provinces and Sindh.
● The Government of India Act of 1935, the subjects were divided into three departments—Federal, Provincial and Concurrent.
● This Act divided the British provinces of India in two categories. 11 were the provinces under the Governor and 5 provinces were under Lieutenant Commissioners.
● The Govt. of India Act, 1935, proposed Federal system and Provincial autonomy. The plan of Federal system could not be implemented. The elections for the Provincial legislative Councils were held in the January-February of 1937.
● The Congress won majority in 5 provinces—Madras, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa in the general election of 1937.
● In Punjab, the Unionist Party and Muslim League jointly formed the Government. This Government worked without any obstruction till 1947.
● In Bengal the Krishak Praja Party and the Muslim League jointly formed the Government. Its Cabinet worked till 14 August, 1947. Sikandar Hayaat Khan was the head of this Government.
● The Congress Cabinets worked from 1937 to 1939.
● In 1934, the members of Congress Executive, Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash and Achyut Patvardhan organized the Congress Socialist Party.
● In the Haripura session of the Congress (1938), S. C. Bose was unanimously elected the President.
● Subhash Chandra Bose organized a National Planning Committee.
● In 1939 Bose was relected Congress President defeating Gandhi’s candidate P. Sitaramayya.
● In April 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the post of the President and started a militant party known as Forward Block.
● In 1939, Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the Tribal Conference of Indian States.
● In 1933, a Muslim student named Choudhary Rahmat Ali studying in England proposed the formation of a separate Muslim State and called it Pakistan.
● On 24th March, 1940, in the Lahore Conference of the Muslim League, the Pakistan proposal was passed.
● Lord Linlithgo presented the August proposal before the Congress on 8 August, 1940 for getting cooperation during the war.
● The Individual Satyagraha was started from 17 October, 1940. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Satyagrahi. Gandhiji postponed it on 17 December, 1940.
● It was restarted on 5 January, 1941. During this period more than 20 thousand people were arrested.
● Cripps Mission visited India in 1942. It was onemember Commission and only Sir Strafford Cripps was the member.
● The Congress and the League, both rejected the Cripps Proposals.
● The Quit India movement resolution was passed on 14 July, 1942 in the Executive of the Congress Session held at Wardha. It was reaffirmed on 8 August, 1942.
● The interim government of free India was organized on 21 October, 1943 by Subhash Chandra Bose in Singapore.
● 21 Indian political leaders were invited to attend a Conference at Simla in June 1945. It ended in failure.
● In December 1945, the General Elections were held in India. The Congress received the majority in 6 provinces.
● On 18 February, 1946, the non Commissioned officers and Naval soldiers of the Royal Indian Navy who were called Rattings, began a militant revolt at Bombay.
● In order to remove the Constitutional crisis the British Government sent the Cabinet Mission to India.
● It came on 29 March, 1946 to New Delhi and it declared its proposals.
● Muslim League observed the Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946.
● The Interim Government of India was organized under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Cabinet took oath on 2nd September, 1946.
● The Constituent Assembly first met under the chairmanship of Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 6th December, 1946.
● Atlee declared on 20 February, 1947 that the English would leave India after transferring the power to responsible people before June 1948.
● The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June, 1947 was mainly the Plan of partition. It was agreed upon by the Executive of the Indian National Congress on 14-15 June in a meeting at Delhi.
● In July 1947, the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament.
● India became independent on 15 August, 1947.
● On 26 January, 1950, the state of Hyderabad merged in the Indian Federation.
● On 20 April 1954, the Panchsheel Pact was signed between India and China.
● On 20 October, 1962 China invaded upon India. Soon it occupied Assam Valley and Laddakh. On 21 November, 1962, China declared one sided ceasefire.
● Muazzam, the son of Aurangzeb was called as the ‘Shah Bekhabar’.
● The Mughal King Farrukh Siyar gratned concession to the English men to trade in Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad.
● In 1759 Ali Mohar, the son of Alamgir sat upon the Mughal throne as Shah Alam II.
● After the death of Maratha ruler Shahu, the real power of the State came in the hands of Peshwas.
● Nawab Murshid Quli Khan of Bengal transferred his capital to Murshidabad from Dacca.
● Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal transferred his capital to Moongher from Murshidabad.
● In the middle of the 18th century, the nominal ruler of Mysore was Chika Krishnaraj. The real power of the State lied with the two brothers—Nand Raj and Dev Raj.
● In 1761 Hyder Ali captured Nandraj and became the master of Mysore.
● In the first Anglo-Mysore war, Hyder Ali badly defeated the English army.
● In 1781 Hyder Ali conqurered Arcot but in 1781 at Porn Novo Sir Eyerkoot defeated him.
● Ali Muhammad Khan established the State of Rohilkhand.
● The early capital of Rohilkhand was ‘Awala’ which later shifted to Rampur.
● Guru Har Gobind Singh constructed the Akaal Takht at Amritsar.
● Guru Gobind Singh converted the Sikhs into a warring and military group.
● In 1721, the two sects of Sikhism ‘Bandai’ and ‘Tatkhalsa’ merged in one sect ‘Khalsa’. This sect became a headache for the Mughals.
● The Sikhs were organized in 12 unions or misls which grew in political significance. Later Ranjeet Singh conquered these misls and organized them into Punjab State.
● The ruler of the Afghanistan conferred the title of Raja upon Ranjeet Singh and appointed him the Subedar of Lahore.
● The treaty of Amritsar was signed between the English and Ranjeet Singh in 1809. As a result the English checked the expansion of Ranjeet Singh towards the region of Sutluj.
● According to the treaty of Amritsar, the English accepted Ranjeet Singh as an independent ruler.
● During first Anglo-Sikh war, the Governor-General of India was Lord Hardinge.
● Punjab was ruled by Maharaja Dalip Singh when the Lahore Treaty was signed in 1846 between the Sikhs and the English after the defeat of Sikhs in the first Anglo Sikh war.
● During Sirajudaulla’s time, the English settlement at Calcutta became a resort for the enemies of Nawab and the traitors.
● On 4th June, 1756 Sirajudaulla invaded and captured the Qasim Bazar factory of English near Murshidabad.
● The Black hole tragedy as it is known in history, came to light through the letter of Holvell. Some of the historians consider it imaginery.
● In the contemporary historical works like Sher-a-Mutkherin and Royas-us-Salatin, there is no reference to the Black hole tragedy.
● On 9th February, 1757, the Ali Nagar Treaty was signed between the English and the Nawab.
● After the war of Plassey, when Sirajudaulla was running away from Murshidabad towards Patna he was captured and killed.
● On 28 June, 1757, the English declared Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal.
● After victory in Plassey war, the English Company obtained concessions to trade in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
● On 25 November, 1759, the Bedara war was fought between the English and the Dutch and the Dutch were defeated. The victory helped the English in consolidating their hold on Bengal.
● Mir Qasim planned friendship with Vansittart to become the Nawab of Bengal.
● Mir Qasim gave to East India Company, the districts of Vardhman, Midnapur and Chittgaon for the expenditure of the English army.
● In 1764 the joint army of Mir Qasim, Shujauddaulla and Shah Alam fought with the English—the war of Buxar, the English were victorious in this war.
● After the Buxar War, the Allahabad treaty was signed between English and the Mughal King Shah Alam in 1765 AD.
● According to Allahabad Treaty, the districts of Kara and Allahabad were taken away from the Nawab of Oudh and given to Mughal King. The East India Company agreed to pay to the king a pension of Rs. 26 lacs. In lieu the English got Diwani rights in Bengal.
● After the death of Mir Jafar, his son Nizamuddaula was enthroned as Nawab of Bengal.
● K. M. Panikkar holds that from 1765 to 1772, the rule of East India Company in Bengal was the ‘rule of dacoits’.
● During Warren Hastings period, the Treasury was transferred by the East India Company to Calcutta from Murshidabad and Calcutta was made the capital.
● During the Governorship of Warren Hastings, in every district of subjugated India one Civil and one Criminal Court was opened.
● The cases upto to Rs. 500 were referred to the Civil Court and alone it, the appeal could be made to the Sadar Diwani Adalat.
● The District Criminal Court was put in charge of an Indian Officer.
● The Regulating Act of 1773 established a Supreme Court at Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement introduced by Cornwallis brought changes in the land system. Most of the land came in the hands of commercial and rich classes of Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement ensured the income of the Government. Besides the cooperation of the new Zamindars was obtained.
● In the Mahalwari system, land revenues was fixed either through the local Zamindars or their hereditary tax collectors or the Zamindars of the Mahal. Mahal was the collection of villages. The Mahalwari system was known in Punjab as the village system.
● The Raiyyatwari system was introduced during early 19th century in some regions of Madras and Bombay. The Govt. directly obtained a fixed amount from the peasants.
● In the Raiyyatwari system, the revenue rate was fixed 45% to 50% of the total produce separately.
● The Raiyyatwari system had many defects which the Govt. official accepted at the time of a parliamentary inspection for the renewal of the Company’s Charter.
● In the Fifth and Sixth decades of 19 century, the English invested in large amount to control Indian economy.
● The English invested their capital on roads and communications, Railway, Post and Telegraph, Banks and tea gardens.
● In 1830 the Ahoms again rebelled against the English. This time, the English Company adopted a peaceful policy and granted north Assam and some other region to King Purandar Singh.
● Raja Teerath Singh of Nanakkalo rebelled against the English with the help of Garo, Khampati and Sinhopo tribes. Soon it took the shape of a mass-movement. In 1833, the English could crust it with superior military force.
● In 1825, the Assam Rifles rebelled against the English.
● In 1838, the Indian troops stationed at Sholapur rebelled due to non-payment of the full allowances.
● In 1850 the Gobind Garh regiment rebelled.
● On 1 January, 1857, the use of British made Enfield Rifles was started in India. In the cartridges of this Rifle, the fat of cows and pigs were used.
● In March 1857, the soldiers of Bairakpur Cantt refused to use the fat cartridges.
● On 2 May, 1857, the Oudh Regiment of Lucknow too refused to use these cartridges. As a result, the Oudh regiment was disbanded.
● To the soldiers of Meerut who had refused to use the fat cartridges, an English military officer—Carr Michael Smith issued the jail punishment of 5 years.
● On 10 May, 1857, a section of the infantry and cavalry of Merrut rebelled at about 5 P.M.
● The rebels marched to Delhi, captured the city and declared Bahadurshah the emperor of India. Bahadurshah assumed the leadership of revolt in Delhi.
● During this rebellion, Nana Saheb established his suzeranity over Kanpur and declared himself the Peshwa.
● In Bundelkhand Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi assumed the leadership of the revolt.
● In Bihar, the zamindar of Jagdishpur, named Kunwar Singh led the revolt.
● On 28 May, 1857, the soldiers of Nasirabad Cantt in Rajasthan, rebelled.
● Kota and Adva were the main centres of revolt in Rajasthan.
● The Central India, Tantya Tope led the revolt.
● In U.P. the importnat centres of revolution were Jhansi, Kanpur, Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
● The Bareilly rebellion was led by Batakhs Khan.
● The Commissioner of Oudh, Henry Laurrence died of a blast on 4th July, 1857.
● While suppressing the revolt, the English officer Neil buried the dead Brahmans and burnt the dead Muslims.
● In March 1858, under the leadership of Kunwar Singh, the rebels captured Azamgarh.
● While marching towards Benaras from Azamgarh, there was an encounter between Kunwar Singh and the English officer Lord Mark in which Lord Mark had to run away to save his life.
● Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur was the only leader to have died under the banner of freedom.
● On 14 December, 1857, the English army blasted Kashmiri Gate of Delhi.
● In November 1857 the rebels defeated the English General Windaham near Kanpur.
● Vinayak Damodar Saverker was the first to name the rebellion of 1857 as the first war of Indian independence.
● According to Sir Seeley, the rebellion of 1857 was fully a national revolt conducted by selfish soldiers.
● Sir John Lawrence, P. E. Roberts and V. A. Smith have called it a Sepoy Mutiny.
● According to V. A. Smith, the rebellion of 1857 was purely a sepoy mutiny which fully reflected the indiscipline of Indian soldiers and the foolishness of English military officers.
● According to Sir James Outtram, the revolt of 1857 was the result of a conspiracy of the Muslims who desired to fulfill their self-interest on the strength of the Hindus.
● Ashok Mehta in his book, ‘The Great Revolt’, has attempted to prove that it was a national revolt.
● Pattabhi Sita Ramaiyya takes it to be the first war of Indian independence.
● After crushing the revolt of 1857, they constituted an India Council and abolished the Board of Directors. There were 15 members in the India Council and a Secretary of State for India.
● After the revolt, Lord Canning announced the Declaration of the Queen at a Durbar held at Allahabad. He called it, ‘the Magna Carta of Indian people’.
● In the Declaration of the Queen, the policy of expansion of the political limits came to an end.
● The rebels responsible for the murder of Englishmen were punished. All others were pardoned.
● The objective of Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramkirshna Mission and the Theosophical society etc. was to herald a renaissance in India.
● Brahmo Samaj was founded in Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1828.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy always advocated the appointment of Indians on high govt. posts. He played a major role in the abolition of Sati system.
● After the death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1833, Devendara Nath Tagore assumed the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj.
● Aadi Brahmo Samaj was established by Devendra Nath Thakur.
● Bhartiya Brahmo Samaj was founded by Keshav Chandra Sen.
● The principles of Brahmo Samaj helped immensely in the birth and Spread Indian nationalism.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy established Vedant College, English School and Hindu College at Calcutta.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the advocate of English Education and he thought English to be the vehicle of progress.
● It was due to the effort of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, that the restriction upon the newspapers were lifted.
● In 1819, at Maharashtra, Prarthna Sabha was founded. It came to an end due to its limited scope.
● In 1867 Atma Ram Pandurang established Prarthna Samaj. M. G. Ranade, R. G. Bhandarkar and Narayan Chandrawarkar were the prominent members of this Samaj.
● Dayanand Saraswati left his house at the age of 21. As a Brahmachari Sadhu, he travelled to different places in India.
● Dayanand Saraswati started the propagation of his religion from Agra.
● In 1874, he wrote his famous book Satyarth Prakash.
● On 10 April, 1875 he founded Arya Samaj at Bombay.
● Totapuri, a Vedantic sadhu taught Vedant Sadhna to Dayananda.
● Ramkrishna Paramhans was born in 1836 in a poor Brahman family of Hoogly district of Bengal.
● Swami Vivekanand was the most devoted disciple of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans.
● Ramkrishna Pramhans did not establish any Ashram or sect.
● In 1893 in the All Religion Conference at Chicago Vivekanand impressed everyone, and started a Vedant Samaj there.
● In 1896 Vivekanand established Ramkrishna Mission.
● In the last years of the third decade of the 19th century, the young Bengal movement was led by an Englishman named Henry William Derozio.
● On 7 September, 1875 in New York, U.S.A. Madame H.P. Blatavesky (Russian) and Col. H. S. Alcott (American) founded the Theosophical Society.
● Mrs. Annie Besant, an Irish lady was a very active member of Theosophical Society in India.
● Due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, in 1856, the Widow Remarriage Act was legislated.
● The slogan of ‘Inkalab Zindabad’ was given by Mohammad Iqbal.
● Sir Saiyyad Ahmad Khan founded the Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh in 1877 which later became known as Aligarh Muslim University.
● Haji Shariatullah was the initiator of Faryaz movement.
● In Maharashtra the Bharat Sewak Samaj was started by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
● In 1922 Amrit Lal Viththal Das established the Bheel Sewa Mandal.
● Jyoti Ba Phule was the champion of widowremarriage in Maharashtra.
● In 1911 Narayan Maltar Joshi organised the Social Service League, a society to solve the social problems. He was assisted by some educated Indians.
● Avanindra Nath Thakur founded the society known as—The Indian Society of Oriental Art.
● In the 19th century, the famous Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed the song— Vande Matram.
● In 1875, Sisir Kumar Ghose founded the India League.
● The Indian Association founded by Surendra Nath Banerjee was replaced by the Indian League in 1876.
● The credit for founding the Indian National Congress in 1885 goes to an English officer, Allen Octavian Hume.
● The first Conference of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay under the chairmanship of W. C. Banerjee.
● Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Ganesh Mahotsav in 1893 and Shivaji Samaroh in 1895.
● Pandit Jugal Kishore published the first newspaper of India—Udant Martand. It was a paper which gave top priority to Indian interests.
● During Lord Curzon’s time in 1905, Bengal was divided.
● In 1911, in Lord Hardinge’s time, the partition of Bengal was cancelled.
● Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajeet Singh were exiled to Burma in 1907.
● In 1911 the capital of India was shifted to Delhi from Calcutta.
● On Nov. 1913, the Ghadar Party was founded at Sanfransisco city of America by the great revolutionary of Punjab named Lala Hardayal.
● Kashi Ram and Hardayal were the active members of the Ghadar Party.
● In 1906, Agha Khan founded the All India Muslim League.
● In 1916, a pact was signed between Muslim League and Congress which is known in history as the Lucknow Pact.
● In 1916 Bal Gangadhar Tilak established the Home Rule League of India.
● After Lucknow Pact, Congress and League presented the plan of political reforms based on separate electoral regions. This pact led to an increase in communalism.
● In 1914 Annie Besant brought out a newspaper in English named ‘New India’.
● Gandhiji established the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
● On 30 March, 1919, Satyagraha Day was observed in whole of India. The Satyagraha was peaceful at all places except Punjab and Delhi.
● Dr. Satyapal and Dr. Saifuddin, the leaders of the Punjab Satyagraha were imprisoned. In protest, a meeting was organized at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar . The people who assembled here were gunned down. This is known as ‘Jalhianwalla bagh Massacre’ of April 1919.
● After the world war I, the Indian Muslims were excited due to the treatment meted out to Caliph by the British in Turkey. In 1919 they started the Khilafat movement under the leadership of Maulana Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
● The Congress joined the Muslims in Khilafat movement. On 31 August, 1919, the Khilafat Day was observed.
● Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-cooperation Mass Movement in 1920-21. But violence broke out at Chauri Chaura then in Gorakhpur district which saddened Gandhiji. In February 1922 he announced the closure of the movement.
● In March 1922 Motilal Nehru and Deshbandhu Chitranjan Das established the Swaraj Party.
● In the elections of 1923 the Swaraj Party scored 40 seats out of 148.
● In 1927 the Bardoli Satyagraha was conducted by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
● In 1928 under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon a Commission came to India to inspect the administrative work. The Indians boycotted it as no Indian was a member of the Commission. In March 1928 the Commission went back.
● In the 1929 Lahore Congress session held under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the meaning of Swaraj was declared as total independence.
● In 1930 Gandhiji broke the Salt laws by his Dandi March and he started the Civil Disobedience movement.
● In 1930, the Congress boycotted the first Round Table Conference.
● In 1931, after Gandhi-Irwin pact Gandhiji went to attend the second Round Table Conference along with the members of Muslim League.
● In the third Round table conference in 1932, Congress did not send any representative. Only 46 members went to participate under different categories.
● The meeting of the Executive of Congress held on 1 January, 1932 decided to again start the Civil Disobedience Movement due to the completely negative attitude of the Government.
● The British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald declared the communal award on 16 August, 1932.
● On 25 September, 1932, the Poona Pact was signed. Common agreement was made on two conditions for preparing the electoral regions. The representative of the Depressed classes was B.R. Ambedkar.
● In 1932 Gandhiji founded the Harijan Sewak Sangh for the uplift of the Harijans.
● On 8 May, 1933 Gandhiji declared the programme of 21 days fast for his self-purification.
● Gandhiji began ‘Individual Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience on 1 August, 1933.
● The Government of India Act of 1935 had 312 articles and 19 enclosures.
● In 1935, the British provinces were 11 e.g., Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa, Central Provinces, Assam, North West Frontier Provinces, United Provinces and Sindh.
● The Government of India Act of 1935, the subjects were divided into three departments—Federal, Provincial and Concurrent.
● This Act divided the British provinces of India in two categories. 11 were the provinces under the Governor and 5 provinces were under Lieutenant Commissioners.
● The Govt. of India Act, 1935, proposed Federal system and Provincial autonomy. The plan of Federal system could not be implemented. The elections for the Provincial legislative Councils were held in the January-February of 1937.
● The Congress won majority in 5 provinces—Madras, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa in the general election of 1937.
● In Punjab, the Unionist Party and Muslim League jointly formed the Government. This Government worked without any obstruction till 1947.
● In Bengal the Krishak Praja Party and the Muslim League jointly formed the Government. Its Cabinet worked till 14 August, 1947. Sikandar Hayaat Khan was the head of this Government.
● The Congress Cabinets worked from 1937 to 1939.
● In 1934, the members of Congress Executive, Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash and Achyut Patvardhan organized the Congress Socialist Party.
● In the Haripura session of the Congress (1938), S. C. Bose was unanimously elected the President.
● Subhash Chandra Bose organized a National Planning Committee.
● In 1939 Bose was relected Congress President defeating Gandhi’s candidate P. Sitaramayya.
● In April 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the post of the President and started a militant party known as Forward Block.
● In 1939, Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the Tribal Conference of Indian States.
● In 1933, a Muslim student named Choudhary Rahmat Ali studying in England proposed the formation of a separate Muslim State and called it Pakistan.
● On 24th March, 1940, in the Lahore Conference of the Muslim League, the Pakistan proposal was passed.
● Lord Linlithgo presented the August proposal before the Congress on 8 August, 1940 for getting cooperation during the war.
● The Individual Satyagraha was started from 17 October, 1940. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Satyagrahi. Gandhiji postponed it on 17 December, 1940.
● It was restarted on 5 January, 1941. During this period more than 20 thousand people were arrested.
● Cripps Mission visited India in 1942. It was onemember Commission and only Sir Strafford Cripps was the member.
● The Congress and the League, both rejected the Cripps Proposals.
● The Quit India movement resolution was passed on 14 July, 1942 in the Executive of the Congress Session held at Wardha. It was reaffirmed on 8 August, 1942.
● The interim government of free India was organized on 21 October, 1943 by Subhash Chandra Bose in Singapore.
● 21 Indian political leaders were invited to attend a Conference at Simla in June 1945. It ended in failure.
● In December 1945, the General Elections were held in India. The Congress received the majority in 6 provinces.
● On 18 February, 1946, the non Commissioned officers and Naval soldiers of the Royal Indian Navy who were called Rattings, began a militant revolt at Bombay.
● In order to remove the Constitutional crisis the British Government sent the Cabinet Mission to India.
● It came on 29 March, 1946 to New Delhi and it declared its proposals.
● Muslim League observed the Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946.
● The Interim Government of India was organized under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Cabinet took oath on 2nd September, 1946.
● The Constituent Assembly first met under the chairmanship of Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 6th December, 1946.
● Atlee declared on 20 February, 1947 that the English would leave India after transferring the power to responsible people before June 1948.
● The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June, 1947 was mainly the Plan of partition. It was agreed upon by the Executive of the Indian National Congress on 14-15 June in a meeting at Delhi.
● In July 1947, the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament.
● India became independent on 15 August, 1947.
● On 26 January, 1950, the state of Hyderabad merged in the Indian Federation.
● On 20 April 1954, the Panchsheel Pact was signed between India and China.
● On 20 October, 1962 China invaded upon India. Soon it occupied Assam Valley and Laddakh. On 21 November, 1962, China declared one sided ceasefire.
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