1. Two Variants of New Rs 500 Note Surface, RBI Says Printing Defect Due to Rush
Just two weeks into circulation, there are already different variants of the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Rs 500 notes, which experts fear could not only create confusion in the minds of the citizens but also aid counterfeiting — countering which was one of the top objectives of Centre's demonetisation move and introduction of new notes.
In case of one note, Abshar (he goes by one name), a resident of Delhi, says: “There is a more than visible shadow of Gandhi's face, besides alignment issues with the national emblem on the note and even serial numbers.”
Rehan Shah, a resident of Gurugram, pointed out that the size of the borders of the notes were different. In case of two notes a Mumbai resident got when he made change for Rs 2,000 the notes were of different colours, with one being of a lighter shade.
RBI spokesperson Alpana Killawala, said: “It is likely that notes with printing defect has got released due to the current rush. However, people can freely accept such a note in transaction or return it to RBI.”
Source: The Times of India
2. 41% of Indian Women Face Violence Before the Age of 19: Survey
More than four in 10 women (41%) in India experience harassment or violence before the age of 19, according to a new ActionAid research.
The four-nation survey conducted by the international women and child rights NGO also revealed that women experience harassment for the first time at a very young age with 6% of them experiencing it before the age of 10 in India.
The research also found that around 73% of women in India have experienced some form of violence or harassment in the past month. More than one in four (26%) women in India said they had been groped in the past month.
This compared with one in five women in Brazil (20%), one in four women in Thailand (26%) and one in six in UK (16%), according to the YouGov poll of over 2,500 women aged 18 and above.
The findings also show how women are increasingly taking steps in their daily lives to guard against such threats. More than 82% women in India said they had taken steps to protect themselves against harassment.
The measures they take range from avoiding parks and poorly lit areas (35%) and changing a travel route (36%) to using everyday objects like keys as a weapon (23%) or carrying a protective device such as a rape alarm or pepper spray (18%).
Source: The Times of India
3. With 7 Lakh Newborn Deaths in 2015, India Fared Worse than Most Neighbours
India was home to 700,000 of the one million babies who died within 28 days of birth in South Asia in 2015, according to a Unicef report released in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
India consistently ranked a low sixth in newborn-care services among the eight countries in the region, including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Only Pakistan and Afghanistan ranked lower than India.
India accounts for 26% of newborn deaths in the world.
The total number of deaths are highest in India because of its large young population and corresponding high number of births, but the high newborn mortality rate is an indicator of where India sits in the region, and the ranking needs to be a lot higher.Douglas Noble, UNICEF Regional Health Adviser, South Asia
Newborn mortality rates (NMR), defined as deaths per 1,000 live births, in India are the third highest at 28.
Source: Hindustan Times
4. The Politics of Opposition: What Led Up to Manmohan Singh’s Sharp Criticism
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh delivered a stinging riposte to the government on Thursday over demonetisation, but the ground for his stirring speech in Rajya Sabha was created by separate events a few days earlier.
Singh, after all, was least likely to speak in the winter session but for the uproar over a comment by the leader of opposition in the Upper House, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who drew a parallel between people killed by terrorists and deaths linked to demonetisation.
Sources said after the BJP latched on to Azad’s comment and tried to project the Congress as “insensitive”, at least three top opposition leaders felt there was an urgent need to “change the narrative” of the discourse.
Last Friday, two opposition leaders spoke to Azad and Anand Sharma. Both suggested that the Congress should field “a prominent, respected face” to speak on the subject so that the BJP can’t have its way.
During back channel discussions between the Congress and other parties, three names came up as choices for a “surprise speaker” in the debate: Manmohan Singh, Karan Singh and AK Antony.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. Demonetisation: Govt Rushes Teams to Speed Up Printing of Notes
With the opposition keeping up the heat on the government over continuing queues outside banks and ATMs for new currency notes, the Centre has rushed teams headed by senior officers to Nashik (Maharashtra) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) — the two locations where new currency notes are printed, to personally oversee speeding up of the process of printing and distribution of new notes.
The presses are now working 24×7 and the staff has been promised financial incentives to get them to work extra hours and also give up their holidays.
Sources told The Indian Express that the government has also asked the RBI, which also prints new notes at its Mysuru (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal) security presses, to speed up the process.
While 65 per cent of the currency is printed at the RBI units, the rest is printed at government presses.
The teams, comprising senior functionaries of the Union Finance Ministry, are also working with various other agencies, including the Indian Air Force and commercial airlines, to ensure seamless airlifting of currency to various parts of the country.
Source: Indian Express
6. Farmers Short of Cash, West Bengal Stares at 1/3 Paddy Wastage
West Bengal’s agriculture department has estimated that 35 percent of the monsoon paddy might go waste if not harvested in time, an exercise that has been badly hit with farmers lacking the cash to pay for labour.
The estimate is part of an agriculture department report, commissioned to assess the impact of demonetisation on monsoon paddy.
West Bengal is India’s largest producer of rice at 158 lakh tonnes a year. Of this, nearly 110 lakh tonnes is harvested during the kharif season. Going by the agriculture department’s estimate, an official said, the kharif output would come down by some 38 lakh tonnes, reducing the annual output to 120 lakh tonnes.
The report says not harvesting the rice produced in the kharif season would mean that the crop would rot in the fields in changing weather conditions.
The kharif crop needs to be harvested by end-November. If this isn’t done, a large portion of the grain will fall off with the cold setting in. It will result in massive crop loss.
Source: Indian Express
7. After DGMOs Talk, Border Becomes Quiet
Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday witnessed an eerie calm on the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border (IB), a day after the Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan revived a hotline to discuss the deteriorating situation.
There have been no major ceasefire violations since 6 pm on Wednesday, said security agencies in Srinagar and Jammu.
However, an Army spokesman said two infiltration bids were foiled in north Kashmir. But the Army did not disclose the timing of the bids.
“Alert troops pushed back intruders in the Gulmarg and Nowgam sectors after heavy exchange of fire in the past 18 hours,” said a Defence Ministry spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Army Commander, Western Command, Lt. Gen. Surinder Singh, called on Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu. A government spokesman said the latest situation on the borders, as a result of continuing cross-border shelling, was discussed.
Ms Mufti, according to the spokesman, asked the Army Commander to extend all possible help to the civil administration in border areas for rehabilitation and safety of people living there.
Source: The Hindu
8. Nepal Bans New Indian Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 Notes, Waits for RBI Notification
At a time when Nepalese citizens are facing problems in exchanging withdrawn Indian notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination, the country’s central bank on Thursday banned the exchange of India’s new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes.
The Nepal Rastra Bank said the new Indian notes cannot be exchanged until the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues a new notification under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Such a notification allows citizens of foreign countries to hold a certain amount in Indian currency, officials said.
Ramu Poudel, the Nepal Rastra Bank’s chief for the eastern region, told members of the business community in Biratnagar that the new Indian rupees are considered “illegal” and cannot be exchanged until new arrangements are made by the Indian side.
As of now, our understanding with the Reserve Bank of India is that a Nepali citizen can hold up to Indian Rs 25,000 (in the) old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Even the fate of those old notes is uncertain, how can these new Indian notes coming into the market be considered as legal?Ramu Poudel
Source: Hindustan Times
9. Corporates Can Start Medical Colleges: Medical Council of India
The Medical Council of India has permitted corporates and “for profit” institutions to start medical colleges in the country.
Nearly two months after the Niti Aayog committee recommended privatisation of medical colleges, the general body of the council that met in New Delhi on Tuesday resolved to allow corporate companies to start medical colleges.
If the Supreme Court-appointed oversight panel and the ministry of health and family welfare approve this, corporates can apply for new colleges, officials said.
At present, educational institutes are run by government or registered not-for-profit societies or charitable trusts.
Foreign direct investment rules also prohibit investments from foreign companies in these societies or trusts. Though a group of doctors in the general body raised concerns that allowing corporates will further commercialise education, a majority of them said that allowing corporates will improve standards to the level of Harvard and Oxford universities.
Source: The Times of India
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