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14TH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The date for the 14th

Presidential election was notified

by the Election Commission of

India on 11 June 2012. In

accordance with the sub-section (1)

of section (4) of the Presidential and

Vice Presidential Elections Act,

1952, the Election Commission of

India fixed the schedule for the

presidential election 2012. Article

52 of the Indian constitution states

that there shall be a President of

India. The executive powers of the

Union shall be vested in the

President. He, as the head of a state,symbolises the nation. Article 55 (3)

of the Indian Constitution provides

for the manner of the Presidential

election in India. The presidential

election is held in accordance with

the system of Proportional

representation by means of Single

transferable vote method. The

Voting takes place by secret ballotsystem.

Article 324 of the Constitution

read with the Presidential and Vice

–Presidential Elections Act, 1952,

and the Presidential and Vice-

Presidential Elections Rules, 1974

vests the superintendence,

direction and control of the conduct

of election to the office of the

President of India in the Election

Commission of India. The ElectionCommission is mandated to ensure

that the election to the office of the

President of India, which is the

highest elective office in the nation,

must be a free and fair election and

the Commission is taking all

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necessary steps for discharging its

constitutional responsibility.

However, in case of any dispute

regarding the Presidential election,

the Supreme Court of India decides

the matter.

As per the article 54 of the

Indian constitution, the President

is elected by electoral college

comprising the elected members of

both Houses of Parliament, and

elected members of the Legislative

Assemblies of all States including

National Capital Territory of Delhi

and the Union Territory of

Puducherry. The nominated

members of Rajya Sabha, Lok

Sabha and Legislative Assemblies

of the States cannot participate in

the election. The Electoral College

for the Presidential poll 2012 is

4896. A total of 776 Members of

Parliament and 4120 Members of

Legislative Assemblies will

participate in presidential election

2012.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE

An electoral colleg1e is a set

of electors who collectively elect the

President of India. It consists of

elected members of both Houses of

Parliament, and elected members of

the Legislative Assemblies of all

States including National Capital

Territory of Delhi and the Union

Territory of Puducherry.

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

SYSTEM

In the ordinary straight voting

system a candidate who secures the

highest number of votes is declared

elected, while under the

Proportional Representation

system any member who secures

the necessary quota of votes is

declared elected. There are several

ways of finding out the quota, but

the most common method is to

divide the total number of valid

votes cast by the total number of

seats in the constituency plus one

and add one to the quotient.

S INGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE

SYSTEM

The Single Transferable Vote

means that each elector has only

one vote, irrespective of the number

of seats to be filled up. For instance,

if there are six seats to be filled up,

the elector does not cast six votes

but indi cate s si x su ccessi ve

preferences, by marking his first

preference and the succeeding

preferences with the appropriate

numerals against the name of

candidates printed on his ballotpaper.

SINGUR LAND REHABILITATION AND

DEVELOPMENT ACT, 2011

SCRAPPED

The Calcutta High Court on

22 June 2012, held the Singur Land

Rehabilitation and Development

Act, 2011 as unconstitutional and

void. The legislation enabled the

government to recover the disputedSingur land from Tata Motors, who

was leased 997 acre of land at

Singur in Hooghly district by

previous left front government in

the state. The Singur Land

Rehabilitation and Development

Act was passed by the West Bengal

state assembly in 2011 when

Mamata Banrjee led Trinamool

Congress swept to power in May

2011. The legislation which

justified the state government’s

land re-acquisition drive,

empowered the government to

recover 1000 acres of land at the

abandoned Tata Nano factory site

in Singur.

SINGUR LAND DISPUTE

Singur land dispute surfaced

in May 2006, following the left frontgovernment’s decision to lease 997

acre land for 99 years, at Singur in

Hooghly district, about 40 km from

Kolkata, for The Tata Motors’ Nano

car project. The party demanded

the return of 400 acre of land to

farmers reluctant to give land for

the project. Following the dispute

and the political hindrances

occurring in the project the Tata

Motors decided to move to Sanandin Gujarat in 2008 to keep its

ambitious Nano project going. The

company, however, kept possession

of the leased land at Singur. When

the Trinmool Congress swept to the

power in May 2011, throwing long

standing left front government out

of power, the Chief Minister

Mamata Banarjee passed the

Singur Land Rehabilitation and

Development Act, which enabledthe government to reclaim the

Singur land from the Tata Motors.

Tata Motors moved to the Calcutta

High Court against the legislation.

The single judge bench of Calcutta

High Court upheld her decision in







its ruling held on 28 June 2011.

Perturbed of the ruling, Tata

Motors challenged the verdict

before the Di visi on Be nch of

Calcutta High Court comprising

Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and

Just ice Joymalya Bagchi on 1

November 2011.

4.5 PER CENT SUB-QUOTA FOR

MINORITIES SET ASIDE

The Andhra Pradesh High

Court on 28 May 2012 invalidated

the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for

minorities carved out of the 27 per

cent reservation for OBCs by the

Union government. A high court

division bench of Chief Justice

Madan Lokur and Justice P V

Sanjay Kumar quashed the sub-

quota as it observed that the Union

government’s move was based on

religious lines and not any other

consideration. The court was

hearing to a Public Interest

Litigation (PIL) filed by backwardclass’s leader R Krishnaiah against

the sub-quota.

The Union Government will

move to the Supreme Court against

the high court verdict. The court

also refuted the Union

Government’s claim that the

decision to provide sub-quota to

the minorities was based on their

backwardness and not on religious

grounds. The bench observed thatthe very use of the words

“belonging to minorities” or “for

minorities” indicates that the sub-

quota has been carved out only on

religious grounds and not on any

other intelligible basis.

GUIDELINES FO R TH E FOREIGN

UNIVERSITIES ENTERING INDIA

According to the new set of

guidelines approved by UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) on 2

June 2012, only global top 500

universities will be allowed to start

their operation in India. The new

guidelines set the norms for the

foreign universities aspiring to

enter into agreement with Indian

universities for offering education

programmes in the country. As per

the new guidelines the foreign

varsities entering into tie-ups withIndian partners should be ranked

among the top 500 by the Times

Higher Education World

University Ranking or by Shanghai

Jiaotong University of the top 500

universities. Institutes who fail to

abide by the new UGC guidelines

would be suitably penalised which

also includes stoppage of grants

from the UGC. The UGC came up

with the new guidelines followingthe rising concerns among the

educationists in the country over

the quality of foreign institutions

which is tying up with Indian

colleges offering separate

education programmes.

20000 CRORE RUPEES PROPOSAL

APPROVED BY MOD

The Union Ministry of

Defense (MoD) on 22 June 2012approved defense proposals worth

over 20000 crore rupees for the

procurement of defense

equipments for the Indian army.

The proposals were given the nod

of the government in a meeting

chaired by Defense Minister AK

Antony. The government in the

meeting cleared an IAF proposals

worth over 8500 crore rupees for

procuring 14 Dornier aircraft and

setting up a nationwide

communication network and guns

for navy and the coast guard ships.

Besides, the proposal for procuring

eight regiments of QR-SAMs worth

over 10000 crore rupees was also

approved by the defense ministry.

The decision to accelerate the

defense procurements came

following the former Army Chief

Gen VK Singh’s letter to the Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh, in

which he had raised serious

questions over the preparedness of

India’s defense system. In his letter

to the Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh, the former Army Chief had

blamed the extensive process for

arms procurement for the poor

operational capabilities of the 1.13

million-strong Indian

army.General Singh had pointed

out that 97 per cent of the

equipment with the Army Air

Defense was outdated.

DISSMISSAL OF LT. GEN. AVADESH

PRAKASH RATIFIED

Chief of Army Staff General

VK Singh on 21 May 2012 ratified

a court martial’s decision to

dismiss former military secretaryLt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash from

service after he was found guilty

by an army court for his role in the

Sukna land scam case. The

dismissal will deprive Lt. Gen.

Prakash of all the benefits like







pension and any privilege attached

with military service. Prakash is the

senior-most officer to have been

awarded this punishment by the

army. The General Court Martial

(GCM) had announced its decision

to dismiss Lt. Gen. (retired) Prakash

in December 2011. He was found

guilty of abusing his position under

Section 45 (conduct unbecoming of

his position as an officer) and

Section 52 (intent to defraud) of the

Army Act by the General Court

Martial at 51 sub-area of the Army

station at Narengi in Guwahati.

The court martial was

conducted when an Army court

found Lt. Gen. Prakash guilty of

misusing his post in the land scam.

Prakash was accused of illegal

transfer of 71 acres of land adjacent

to the Sukna military station near

Siliguri in West Bengal to a private

realtor for constructing an

educational institution in 2008. Lt.

Gen. Prakash is the third Lt Genrank officer to have been given the

punishment in a corruption-related

case. Earlier Lt Gen S.K. Sahni was

removed from service given his role

in the ration scam and Lt Gen P.K.

Rath was given a punishment for

his involvement in the Sukna case.

While Prakash and Sahni were

punished after their retirement,

Rath was in service when he was

rebuked. Sukna land scam cameinto public notice in 2008 when the

alleged move to transfer the land

in Siliguri to a private educational

trust came out in the open.

Following the grave allegations

against the top army officials the

army began disciplinary

proceedings against Lt. Gen.

Prakash and Lt. Gen. Rath among

other top officials.

IT IS MANDATORY TO LABEL GM

FOODS

The Ministry of Consumer

Affairs in its gazette notification

published on 5 June 2012 made it

mandatory to make labelling of

every package containing

genetically modified food from 1

January 2013. The ministry in the

notification noted that every

package containing the genetically

modified food shall bear at the top

of its principal display panel the

words ‘GM’. The ministry’s move

will affect the numerous GM

products which enters into the

Indian market for sale. The move is

aimed at educating consumers and

make them aware of GM products,

much in the manner that there is

labelling to distinguish non-vegetarian food from vegetarian.

Under the current practice

Importers or exporters rarely

display the GM label on the

product. Under the new rule the

consumers will have the liberty to

make a choice on whether they

want to buy the GM products or not.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS

Genetically modified foodsalso known as GM foods or biotech

foods are foods derived from

genetically modified organisms.

The process includes the

introduction of certain specific

changes into the DNA of

Genetically modified organisms by

genetic engineering techniques.The

GM foods were first introduced in

the market in year 1996.

SUPREME COURT REFUSED TO STAY

ON ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT

ORDER

The Supreme Court of India

on 11 June 2012 refused to entertain

the Union Government’s petition

seeking a stay on an Andhra

Pradesh high court order which

quashed a 4.5 per cent sub-quota

for minorities in educational

institutions and government jobs

in the existing OBC quota. The two-

judge Supreme Court bench of

Justices K.S.Radhakrishnan and

J.S .Khehar refused to stay the

Andhra Pradesh High Court order

as it observed the government did

not present any material to show

how it had arrived at a figure of 4.5

percent reservation. As per the

bench’s directions the reports by the

Union Government are to be

produced on 13 June 2012.

The Congress-led UPA

government on 22 December 2011,

ahead of the key assembly polls in

the five states including UP in

February-March 2012, had

announced the 4.5 per cent sub-

quota for socially and

educationally backward minority

communities. It envisaged carvingthis sub-quota out of the existing

27 per cent quota for Other

Backward Classes (OBCs). On 28

May 2012, an Andhra Pradesh

High Court’s division bench had

struck down the government’s sub-







quota for minorities, and held that

the Centre acted in a “casual

manner”. The High Court said that

the government Office

Memorandum (OM) creating the

sub-quota was based on religious

grounds and not on any other

intelligible consideration.

RS. 1,500-CR. PLAN FOR CENSUS

TOWNS

If a rural area boasts a high

population — well above 5,000,

sometimes as high as 20,000 —

with most of its workforce in non-

farm jobs, is it a village or a town?

For almost 4,000 such areas, the

definition is unclear: the census

calls them towns, but since they

have gram panchayats rather than

municipal corporations, the

government seems to consider them

rural. The government has now

launched a Rs. 1,500-crore revamp

of the PURA (Provision of Urban

Amenities for Rural Areas) schemeto bring basic infrastructure to

these areas that are falling through

the cracks of the rural-urban divide.

BIG PHENOMENON

“This is the big phenomenon

of the 2011 Census,” says Rural

Development Minister Jairam

Ramesh. “The number of statutory

towns [with a municipal

corporation] has stayed almost thesame from 2001. The number of

villages is almost the same. But the

number of so-called census towns

has grown from just 1,362 in 2001

to 3,894 now.” A census town is

defined as a place with a

population of over 5,000, a

population density of more than

400 per square kilometre, with

three-fourths of its male workforce

employed in non-agricultural jobs.

“We have schemes for rural

infrastructure, and schemes for

urban infrastructure, but neither of

them apply for these trishanku —

caught in the middle areas,” added

Mr. Ramesh. The Planning

Commission has now agreed to

grant Rs. 1,500 crore during the

12th Five Year Plan period to fund

a public-private partnership

scheme to bring water supply,

sewerage, drainage, solid waste

management and street lighting to

such unofficial urban clusters,

mostly in the six States — Uttar

Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,

Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and

Kerala — which have seen the

highest growth of census towns.

KALAM SCHEME REVISITED

The scheme is a revamp of the

former President A.P.J. Abdul

Kalam’s brainchild, PURA, which

was initially aimed at providing

city amenities to

villages. In its latest

avatar, PURA 2.0 is

focussing on the

development of 50

to 60 potential

growth centressuch as census

towns. Initial pilot

projects have begun

in Kerala, with eight

other projects

awaiting final

approvals from State governments.

Earlier this week, the Rural

Development Ministry invited

expressions of interest for 10 to 15

more projects. Under the scheme,

the Central government will grant

Rs. 40 crore for each project with

the private player expected to invest

Rs. 20-30 crore. Another Rs. 80

crore is expected to come from the

convergence of existing schemes.

Gram panchayats will sign

agreements with private players to

build and mainta in the

infrastructure for a 10-year period

during which they can recoup their

investment, says the Ministry’s

advertisement.

ON IMPLEMENTATION OF

DHARMADHIKARI COMMITTEE REPORT

A PANEL CONSTITUTED

The Union Government of

India on 1 June 2012 announced to

constitute an implementation panel

to look into the ways of

implementing the Dharmadhikari

committee report on Air India and

erstwhile Indian Airlines merger.

The implementation panel will







suggest the government of ways to

implement the recommendations

of Dharmadhikari Committee on

issues including pay, allowances

and career progression structure.

The implementation committee

will submit its report within 45

days of its constitution. The

committee will also be given the

task of ‘level mapping’ of

employees of Air India and

erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The four-member

Dharmadhikari committee on

integration of nearly 29000

employees of Air India and Indian

Airlines was headed by former

Supreme Court judge Justice D. M.

Dharmadhikari. The committee

had submitted its report in January

2012. The committee had consulted

all the concerned parties including

pilots and management staffs

before submitting its findings. The

committee was constituted in

March 2011. Some of the major

recommendations of Dharma-

dhikari committee are as follows:

• Air India should continue to

maintain two separate lines of

seniority for pilots belonging

to the pre-merger Indian

Airlines and Air India

• Pilots of both erstwhile

carriers must be allowed to fly

aircraft of all types

• A 10-15 per cent salary cut for

pilots and engineers to bring

their salaries on par with

industry standards

• Uniform salaries for both sets

of pilots

• Cross-utilisation of pilots,

which means Indian Airlines

pilots can fly Dreamliners,

and Air India pilots can fly

Airbus aircraft after obtaining

requisite endorsements and

training

The Government of India in

2007 announced the merger of Air

India with Indian Airlines.

Subsequently a new company

called the National Aviation

Company of India Limited (NACIL)

was established, into which both

Air India (along with Air India

Express) and Indian Airlines

(along with Alliance Air) was

merged. On 27 February 2011, Air

India and Indian Airlines merged

along with their subsidiaries to

form Air India Limited. The merger

did not go down well with thenational carrier as it got trapped

under a huge debt of 10 billion

dollar.

Besides the post merger days

have also been marred with the

reports of controversies and rifts

among the management. The pilots

of Air India have been on indefinite

strike since 8 May 2012.

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