Today's Hot Stories - February 26, 2013 - PT education

Today's Hot Stories - February 26, 2013

10 Headlines for Today

(1) Promote socially relevant uses of technologies, says President
(2) States should join hands to fight terror, says Shinde
(3) Anti-austerity vote delivers hung parliament in Italy
(4) SBI preferential offer issue price fixed at Rs. 2,313
(5) Kingfisher loses flying slots
(6) Ranbaxy restarts production of Atorvastatin for U.S.
(7) India clinch first Test by eight wickets
(8) Hockey: Unbeaten India advances to Round 3
(9) Football: Punjab staves off a strong challenge from Bengal
(10) Eat eggs for breakfast to fight flab

5 Stories for Today

(1) Right to Homestead Bill: Task force to finalise draft
(2) Karzai orders US forces out of Afghan regions in two weeks
(3) S&P sees 6.4 per cent growth in next fiscal
(4) MphasiS outlook bleak despite HP’s better than expected earnings
(5) For Bansal, it's pragmatism vs populism

(1) Right to Homestead Bill: Task force to finalise draft


Draft Bill to be discussed on Tuesday

After legislating the Right to Information and Education — and making a stab at the Right to Work and Food through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Food Security Act respectively — the government’s next step seems to be aimed at legally upholding the right to a home of your own.

On Tuesday, a task force set up by the Rural Development Ministry — including government officials and civil society members — is expected to finalise a draft of the National Right to Homestead Bill 2013.

The Bill aims to ensure that “every shelterless poor family has a right to hold homestead of not less than 10 cents … Within a period of 10 years commencing from the date of notification,” according to the draft to be discussed by the task force on Tuesday, a copy of which is available with The Hindu.

According to the National Land Reforms Policy draft — which may also be finalised at the meeting — more than 31 per cent of households in the country are landless. Almost 30 per cent own less than 0.4 hectares, meaning 60 per cent of the population owns only five per cent of the country’s land.

Jan Satyagraha impact

The Jan Satyagraha movement, spearheaded by the Ekta Parishad last year, brought thousand of landless people together to protest this state of affairs. Their march to Delhi ended in Agra when Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh agreed to a charter of demands, with the Right to Homestead and a National Land Reforms Policy heading the list.

The task force, headed by Mr. Ramesh, has held three meetings so far to try and fulfil that agreement. The draft Bill calls for State governments to notify an implementation plan within one year to identify beneficiaries, make an inventory of available lands and acquire more, and develop and allot plots. It mandates that the Central government will bear 75 per cent of the cost — through a National Homestead Guarantee Fund.

Eligibility criteria uncertain

The draft seems uncertain about the specific eligibility criteria for beneficiaries. The Bill is aimed at poor families in rural areas only. Government employees, landowners, income tax payers are all exempt. Other criteria, including a maximum income level, have not yet been finalised. The title to the homestead will be given in the name of the adult woman member of the household.

Source: The Hindu

(2) Karzai orders US forces out of Afghan regions in two weeks


Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded on Sunday the withdrawal of US special forces from Wardak and Logar within two weeks, accusing them of fuelling "insecurity and instability" in the volatile provinces neighbouring the capital Kabul.

"In today's national security council meeting ... President Karzai ordered the ministry of defence to kick out the US special forces from Wardak and Logar provinces within two weeks," said presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi.

"The US special forces and illegal armed groups created by them are causing insecurity, instability, and harass local people in these provinces," he told a press conference.

The announcement would be another blow to the prestige of US-led forces as they prepare to withdraw combat troops from the war against Taliban Islamist insurgents by the end of next year.

The bulk of Nato's 100,000 troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

A US Forces Afghanistan ( USFOR-A) spokesman said he was aware of the reported comments by Faizi.

"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," he said.

"Until we have had a chance to speak with senior (Afghan) officials about this issue we are not in a position to comment further. This is an important issue that we intend to fully discuss with our Afghan counterparts."

More than 3,200 Nato troops, mostly Americans, have died in support of Karzai's government in the war since the Taliban were ousted by a US invasion in 2001, but relations between the president and the US are often prickly.

Source: The Times of India

(3) S&P sees 6.4 per cent growth in next fiscal


Welfare spending, improvement in private consumption, lower interest rates and better show by agriculture will lead to the growth number going up to 6.4 per cent

Global ratings major Standard & Poor’s (S&P), which has threatened to downgrade the country’s sovereign rating to junk, on Monday, said it sees economic growth improving to 6.4 per cent next fiscal.

The agency also retained its growth forecast for the current fiscal at 5.5 per cent, half-a-percentage-point above the readings by the Central Statistics Office.

“The increased government welfare spending because of the next general elections, improvement in private consumption, lower interest rates and a better show by agriculture will lead to the growth number going up to 6.4 per cent in 2013-14,” agency’s credit analyst Geeta Chugh said.

Ms. Chugh said the growth number would go up further to 7.2 per cent in 2014-15 as mining and power sectors would also start showing improvement.

The comments come within a fortnight of the CSO forecasting a poor 5 per cent reading of GDP in the current fiscal, the lowest in a decade.

Ms. Chugh, however, clarified that the relative uptick in growth had already been factored in the sovereign rating, which was the lowest investment grade rating and the worst among BRIC.

The agency had cited a host of concerns, including the sagging growth numbers, fiscal imprudence and lack of policy initiatives in the past as the pain areas.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, assuming charge in August, took a slew of measures which led to an increase in investor confidence.

Ms. Chugh said these steps would lead to a gradual recovery, but warned that the agency would look for progress on the implementation front.

Early signs

Referring to specifics like the Cabinet Committee on Investments and a new Land Acquisition Bill, which is likely to be passed in the Budget session, Ms. Chug said, “These are early signs that things have started to move.”

The real effect of the recent measures, which have boosted investor confidence, will be visible only starting the second half of 2013, she said.

The reform process needed to be pushed and carried forward, she added.

“We are at the bottom while it comes to the corporate sector, but the recovery will take at least six to nine months. It will not be a V-shaped sharp recovery but a gradual one,” she said.

Banking system

On the banking system, the rating agency said the asset situation of banks would continue to be under stress next fiscal and the scenario would improve only by 2015, as economy started to look up.

“The troubles for the banking system here are likely to increase in the next 12 months due to slow economic growth and sluggish fiscal reforms,” the agency said. It also added that the woes were close to bottoming out.

Source: The Hindu

(4) MphasiS outlook bleak despite HP’s better than expected earnings


Hewlett-Packard surprised analysts with better-than-expected earnings last week, but group company MphasiS, which counts HP as its largest client, is expected to report declining revenues from the parent when it announces first quarter earnings on Friday .

Analysts expect the Bangalore-based software services company to report a 4-5 .5% sequential fall in sales during the three months to January 30 on account of lesser number of working days at customers during the holiday season and reduced business from government contracts in India.

Operating profit margins are estimated to fall below 16% compared to the 17.4% in the previous quarter largely due to lower sales and rise in sales-related investments made during the quarter.

"The weakness is likely to persist in the first half of fiscal 2013 as well," analysts Shashi Bhushan and Pratik Shah wrote in a report for brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher.

According to the Mumbaibased brokerage, business from largest client and parent HP, is expected to decline during the quarter. Over the past one year, MphasiSBSE 0.61 % has been trying to reduce its dependence on HP, which is undergoing large scale organisational restructuring, including shedding some 29,000 jobs to save billions of dollars.

Most of these cuts are widely believed to take place in HP's enterprise services group, which focuses on IT consulting and data centre operations. HP contributes about 55% of Mphasis overall revenues.

As part of its efforts to grow non-HP revenues, MphasiS had acquired US-based data analytics company Digital Risk in December for about Rs 1,100 crore. Revenues from the Digital Risk acquisition are expected to reflect in Mphasis revenues from the second quarter onwards.

Last week, however, HP beat Wall Street estimates when it reported revenues at $28.4 billion, better than the $27.8 billion analyst estimate. According to analysts, the US-based PC maker is still grappling with weak demand for PC's , printers and IT services.

Analysts said that while the better-than-consensus earnings was largely on account of one-off items, it could still be an early indicator of turnaround efforts taking hold.

"We maintain our Reduce on higherthan-anticipated HP channel declines and slower-than-anticipated growth progression in the direct channel," wrote analysts Pinku Pappan and Ashwin Mehta of Nomura Equity Research, which expects revenues from HP to stabilise only by the third quarter this year.

On Monday, Mphasis shares closed at Rs 375.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a 2.79% rise from the previous close. Mphasis was acquired by EDS in 2006, and became a part of HP when the PCmaker acquired EDS in 2008 in a bid to diversify into IT services.

In December, MphasiS CEO Ganesh Ayyar had told ET that the company expects to grow its direct channel revenues at 1.5x of the industry growth rate in FY' 13, despite fall in revenues from HP.

Last year, the company had added a large USbased auto sector client in its direct channel , along with multiple deals from Indian firms in the banking, financial services and insurance sectors.

Source: The Economic Times

(5) For Bansal, it's pragmatism vs populism


Railway minister Pawan Bansal spent a quiet day at Rail Bhawan on Monday, polishing his maiden budget that is almost certain to be guarded in its populism while leaning towards pragmatism and fiscal prudence.

The rail budget to be presented by Bansal, the first by a Congressman in 17 years, is expected to mark a sharp departure from his predecessors like Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad who rode high on "populist" agendas.

There will be some attention on whether he bites the bullet on another fare hike, or leaves it for another day.

The railway budget will be seen as a precursor to the general budget to be presented on Thursday with political observers and economy watchers looking for reform signals on how Bansal addresses the challenge of mending the railways' failing finances.

The task of providing capital for expanding services by adding track so that the pressure of running passenger and freight trains on the same lines is reduced, improving passenger amenities and catering to the clamour for new trains and junctions will test Bansal.

Bansal is likely to focus on connecting more cities and towns surrounding urban and industrial centres with faster and comfortable trains, laying of new track to cater to power plants and enhancing passenger amenities like cleanliness.

Expenditure on new rail infrastructure is likely to be muted and there may not be many additions to the long list of "socially desirable but economically unviable" lines considering the transporter's tight fiscal situation.

The northern states, mainly Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana, and northern Bengal are likely to be major beneficiaries when it comes to announcement of new trains, new lines, setting up of production units and inclusion of stations for upgrades under the Adarsh station scheme.

States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have agreed to bear land cost and 50% of the project cost are likely to find some favour.

The plan size is expected to see a moderate increase or will be around the same as the current fiscal's Rs 61,000 which was slashed twice and brought down to around Rs 51,000 crore.

Fare hike - both passenger & freight - is imperative and it is only a matter of time. It will be interesting to watch whether Bansal announces a passenger fare hike in the budget, the second in his four-month tenure or chooses other ways to mobilize resources to restore the national transporter's fiscal health.

The minister had hiked passenger fares across the board on January 22 while saying it would not be revised in the budget.

In his budget speech, the minister is likely to talk about steps been taken to ensure safety of women passengers, including 24x7 helpline, cleanliness on stations and bio-toilets in trains, measures initiated to ensure better quality food and introducing Braille stickers in coaches for visually-challenged passengers.

Bansal may announced new AC double-decker trains and semi high-speed trains running at 160-200 kmph for inter-city travel.

Source: The Times of India

All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.