Bharath March- 2017

BHARATH

Geographical features

Happenings since 1947:

Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, PV, MMS, NM.

Demonetization, I.T. Raids

March-2017-State Election Result

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PHYSICAL FEATURES

The Four regions are: the great mountain zone, plains of the Ganga and the Indus, the desert region and the southern peninsula.

The Himalayas comprise three almost parallel ranges interspersed with large plateaus and valleys, some of which are fertile, extensive and of great scenic beauty.

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India’s Geography

India is a civilization with a variety and rich cultural heritage. It has become self-sufficient in agricultural production and is now the tenth industrialized country in the world. It covers an area of 32,87,2631 sq km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan

heights to the tropical rain forests of the south.

India is marked off by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west.

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India’s Geography

Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4' and 37°6' north, longitudes 68°7' and 97°25' east and measures about 3,214 km from north to south between the extreme latitudes and about 2,933 km from east to west between the extreme longitudes. It has a land frontier of about 15,200 km. The total length of the coastline of the mainland, Lakshadweep Islands and Andaman & Nicobar Islands is 7,516.6 km.

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Himalayan ranges

Some of the highest peaks in the world are

found in these ranges. The high altitudes

admit travel only to a few passes, notably

the Jelep La and Nathu La on the main

Indo-Tibet trade route through the Chumbi

Valley, north-east of Darjeeling and Shipki

La in the Satluj valley, north-east of Kalpa

(Kinnaur).

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Eastern hills

The mountain wall extends over a distance of about 2,400 km with a varying depth of 240 to 320 km.

In the east, between India and Myanmar and India and Bangladesh, hill ranges are much lower. Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga Hills,running almost east-west, join the chain to Mizo and Rkhine Hills running north south.

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River systems

The plains of the Ganga and the Indus, about

2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad, are

formed by basins of three distinct river systems

- the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.

They are one of the world’s greatest stretches

of flat alluvium and also one of the most

densely populated areas on the earth. Between

the Yamuna at Delhi and the Bay of Bengal,

nearly 1,600 km away, there is a drop of only

200 metres in elevation.

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Arid and desert regions

The desert region can be divided into two parts - the great desert and the little desert. The great desert extends from the edge of the Rann of Kuchch beyond the Luni river northward. The whole of the Rajasthan-Sind frontier runs through this. The little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur up to the northern wastes. Between the great and the little deserts lies a zone of absolutely sterile country,

consisting of rocky land cut up by limestone ridges.

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The Peninsular Plateau

The Peninsular Plateau is marked off from the plains of the Ganga and the Indus by a mass of mountain and hill ranges varying from 460 to 1,220 metres in height. Prominent among these are the Aravalli, Vindhya, Satpura, Maikala and

Ajanta. The Peninsula is flanked on the one side by the Eastern Ghats where average

elevation is about 610 metres and on the other by the Western Ghats where it is generally from 915 to 1,220 metres, rising in places to over 2,440 metres.

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Coastal area and hills

Between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea lies a narrow coastal strip, while between Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal there is a broader coastal area.

The southern point of plateau is formed by the Nilgiri Hills where the Eastern and the Western Ghats meet.

The Cardamom Hills lying beyond may be regarded as a continuation of the Western

Ghats.

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The climate of India may be broadly

described as tropical monsoon type.

There are four seasons: (i) winter

(January-February), (ii) hot weather

summer (March-May); (iii) rainy south-

western monsoon (June-September) and

(iv) post-monsoon, also known as north-

east monsoon in the southern Peninsula

(October-December).

CLIMATE

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CLIMATE

India’s climate is affected by two seasonal

winds - the north-east monsoon and the

southwest monsoon. The north-east monsoon

commonly known as winter monsoon blows

from land to sea whereas south-west monsoon

known as summer monsoon blows from sea to

land after crossing the Indian Ocean, the

Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The south-

west monsoon brings most of the rainfall during

the year in the country.

BHARATH

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Happenings since 1947:

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Gandhi, Jinnah and the British

Gandhi & Jinnah didn’t last long after the British departed from their

Crown Jewel of the Empire, one was bumped off by Godse and the

other was claimed by TB.

No one cared for Gandhi’s ‘Hind Swaraj’ and Jinnah’s Secular

Muslim Majority Democratic state.

While India brought in ‘Unity in Diversity’ Pakistan practiced

between Democracy and ‘Unity by Army guided Governance’.

‘the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to

have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil’

‘Independence Day came, January 26th, 1930; it revealed to us, as

in a flash, the earnest and enthusiastic mood of the country.’

Ah! Hitler’s air force and Gandhi’s truth-force finally convinced the

British to quit India, creating Pakistan as a parting gift.

The Polity:

INDIA, a Union of States

INDIA, a Union of States, is a Sovereign Secular Democratic

Republic with a parliamentary system of government.

The Republic is governed in terms of the

Constitution, which was adopted by

Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949 and came into

force on 26 January 1950.

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Martyrdom of Gandhi

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Gandhi had fought for a free and united India; and yet, at the end,

he could view its division with detachment and equanimity.

Others were less forgiving. On the evening of 30 January he was shot

dead.

The assassin, who surrendered afterwards, was named Nathuram

Godse. He was tried and later sentenced to death.

Godse claimed that his main provocation was

the Mahatma’s ‘constant and consistent pandering to the Muslims’,

‘culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast [which] at last goaded me to the

conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end

immediately’.

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The Constitution of India formed, adopted

WITH 395 ARTICLES AND 12 schedules the constitution of India is

long. Coming into effect in January 1950, it was framed over a period

of three years.

During this time its drafts were discussed clause by clause in the

Constituent Assembly of India. In between the sessions the work of

revising and refining the drafts was carried out by various committees

and sub-committees.

B. R. Ambedkar was law minister in the Union government; and also

chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution.

After its adoption, the constitution has been amended many times.

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Nehru era: Indian economy consolidated, but did not take off, why?

1. Import substituting inward looking ‘swaraj’ no global outlook

2. Massive, monopolistic, inefficient public sector investment with

no autonomy of working. (Trained and employed youth?)

3. Diminished competition in the market by over-regulation.

4. Less FDI, no benefit of world class competition.

5. Pampered organized labour, lower productivity.

6. Insufficient investment in education, specially, girl children.

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Nehru’s ‘Tryst with destiny’

Preserve, consolidate and strengthen India's unity, to build

up and protect the national state as an instrument of

development and social transformation.

Indian unity was strengthened by recognizing and accepting

India's immense regional, linguistic, ethnic and religious

diversity.

Indianness was to be further developed by acknowledging

and accommodating the Indians' multiple identities and by

giving different parts of the country and various sections of

the people an adequate space.

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Goa liberated from being a Portuguese colony

In the third week of December 1961 a detachment of

the Indian army moved up to the borders of the

Portuguese colony of Goa.

For a decade now New Delhi had sought, by persuasion

and non-violence, to convince Portugal to give up that

territory.

With those measures failing, Nehru’s government

decided to ‘liberate’ Goa by force.

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Colonial Legacy: Educational System, Based on English

• The British evolved a general educational system, based on English as the

common language of higher education,. This system in time produced an India-

wide intelligentsia which tended to have a similar approach to society and

common ways of looking at it and which was, capable of developing a critique of

colonialism— during the second half of the nineteenth century and after.

• But English-based education had two negative consequences.

• One, it created a wide gulf between the educated and the masses. Though this

gulf was bridged to some extent by the national movement which drew its

leaders as well its cadres from the intelligentsia, it still persisted to haunt

independent India.

• Second, the emphasis on English prevented the fuller development of Indian

languages as also the spread of education to the masses.

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Linguistic states reorganisation-1

After an agitation, with death of P.Sriramulu in December, 1952,

Andhra would come into being with Telugu language.

Once Nehru conceded Andhra, he had to set up the States

Reorganization Commission-1956.

Unexpectedly, Linguistic reorganization did not disturb, but

consolidated the unity of India. Hindi is now official language along with

English (which is an interstate and international one).

Eventually, on 1 May 1960, the states of Gujarat (Gujarati) and

Maharashtra (Marati) came into being, with Bombay allotted to the

latter.

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Linguistic states reorganisation-2

Other examples of states with language:

Assam (Assamese), Bengal(Bengali),

Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (Hindi),

Telangana (Telugu),Tamil Nadu (Tamil), Odisa (Oriya), Karnataka

(Kannada), Kerala (Malayalam) Punjab (Punjabi) Goa (Konkani),

etc. Sanskrit is an originating language and Urdu is a recognised

language.

Officially (statutorily) recognised languages are 22.

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Integration of Princely States into India

By 15 August most of the states had signed the Instrument of

Accession. Congress Party cleverly used the threat of popular

protest to make the princes fall in line. They had acceded; now they

were being asked to integrate, that is to dissolve their states as

independent entities and merge with the Union of India.

They would be allowed to retain their titles and offered an annual

allowance. There was the threat of uncontrolled agitation by

subjects whose emotions had been released by the advent of

Independence.

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‘Socialistic pattern’ for India _ Nehru

(1947-1964 and later)

Develop and industrialize rapidly through the agency of the

State, within a democratic framework.

Even though foreign capital and technology may be essential,

these would be under the control of the State.

(Do not grant freedom for FDI, they exploit us)

Rationality of technocrats, economists and scientists would

bear on decision making. Mixed or khichdi economy.

Thus India started Five Year Plans.

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Indira Gandhi era: Modernized agriculture

The 1960s and 1970s showed India was still vulnerable to the effects

of failed monsoons, droughts and food shortages: in 1965 – 1996

India was forced to turn to the United States for grain imports and

Indira Gandhi was obliged to devalue the rupee. She initiated

agriculture with high yielding wheat.

The Green Revolution brought some respite by increasing domestic

grain yields, but the benefits were unevenly distributed regionally – the

Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu were the states where the new

varieties were most successfully introduced.

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Indira Gandhi era: Socialism, Bangladesh

Indira took over the Indian premiership two years after

Nehru's death in 1964. Domestically, Indira Gandhi

picked up where Nehru had left off, further tightening

the government's hold on industry—nationalizing

banks and forcing foreign companies to either go into

partnership with an Indian firm or quit the country.

The war between India and Pakistan over East

Pakistan took place in 1971 and a new liberated

nation called Bangladesh resulted.

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India in Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, MMS Years

Rajiv Gandhi initiated long overdue moves to rid India of the burden of

bureaucratic controls that had been built up since the late 1940s, to

encourage new industries like telecommunications and computers,

and to open the country up to global markets after fifty years of near

isolation.

Momentum was sustained by Manmohan Singh (MMS) as finance

minster in the coalition administration of P. V. Narasimha Rao in the

early 1990s.

Faced with a deepening economic crisis which saw India turn to the

International Monetary Fund for a US$1.4 billion loan, Manmohan

Singh committed the Government of India to range of radical reforms.

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India ’ s rapid economic growth since the early 1990s has

also been aided by the Indian diaspora.

The old swadeshi ideal has largely been supplanted by a

belief that India has most to gain by being a global player,

using its domestic resources and overseas connections to

build an economy closely tied to the outside world.

Special Economic Zones have been created as tax - free

havens in which firms can operate unconstrained by the

labour laws and environmental protection legislation that

prevail across the country as a whole.

Significant economic growth since 1991

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Economic liberalization and participation in a globalized economy

have brought wealth and material benefits to many Indians. They

have helped increase not just the size but also the confidence of

the Indian middle classes, finally freed from the austerity of

Gandhian economics and Nehruvian state socialism.

However, in the 1990s more than 260 million people, nearly 30 per

cent of the total population, lived below the poverty line.

A huge slice of the population either remains excluded from the

boom - time economy or has its cheap but arduous labour (as in the

garment industry) exploited to fuel India ’ s dynamic

export sector.

Economic liberalization and a section of

people below poverty line

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India’s Urban Economy

India will add millions of people to the urban economy in the years

and decades ahead. India’s cities need to be safe, efficient, pleasant

to live in, supported by infrastructure (water, sewerage, electricity,

transport, etc.).

Cities be able to create jobs which are globally competitive and India

needs a revolution in sustainable urban planning.

Sustainable cities mean: walk able, mix used areas, public transport,

urban planning, public health and other services, and climate

resilient especially coastal cities.

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• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) began with a modest budget of

• Rs. 150 crores which now stands at a staggering Rs. 20,000 crores.

• SSA has undoubtedly helped the country take impressive strides in

the elementary education sector with opening of large number of

schools; large-scale hiring of teachers; provision of free school books

for students from the BPL families; mid-day meals program and so

on. As a result, while in 2001, 28.5 percent of the 205 million children

in the 6-14 age group were out of school, by 2006 this proportion had

dropped to 6.9 percent and further to 4.3 in 2010.

• However, many schools have only one or two classrooms and most

lack running water and toilets.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All)

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On the national infrastructure front, India needs

• inter-city rail upgrading,

• sustainable and secure energy,

• watershed management (river-linking to the extent that this is

a sound and safe concept), dams policy,

• fiber connectivity nationally,

• ports and airports, etc.

• India will also need an integrated, life-cycle, population scale

vision of human capital accumulation.

• This includes: Population stabilization and early childhood

development, especially to overcome the scars of under-

nutrition, which may be India’s greatest plague.

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Knowledge revolution and world-scale economy

In fact, India was the world’s largest economy in the first

millennium and also at the beginning of the industrial

revolution around 1,700 A.D. But subsequently, its share in

the world economy headed south, being a latecomer to the

industrial revolution.

Now, three centuries down the line, India is again poised to

become the second largest, if not the largest, economy in

the world as it increasingly assumes leadership of the

current knowledge revolution.

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India and Pakistan, Estranged brothers?

India and Pakistan will have great economic potential to exploit if

they bury their differences and join hands to promote bilateral

trade.

India and Pakistan continue to talk to each other, even though the

dialogue often appears to be heading nowhere.

Pakistan claims that relations between the two countries can

improve only if the Kashmir dispute is settled.

India and Pakistan have been the worst of neighbors, on four

different occasions descending into a shooting war.

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Over the past many years, since India

embarked on the path of economic

reforms, there have been several

governments and different prime

ministers, but the economy has moved in

just direction –

a sustained eight-percent-plus economic

growth and no reversal of the processes of

economic reform and liberalisation.

Economic Reform

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What is India in 2016?

India, for administrative purposes, is divided into the

National capital territory of Delhi, 29 States, and 6

centrally administered union territories.

States: Andhra, Arunachala Pradesh, Assam, Bengal,

Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal

Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka,

Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur,

Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab,

Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura,

Uttarakhand, Uttara Pradesh.

Union Territories: Andaman and Nicobar Islands,

Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu,

Lakshadweep, Puducherry.

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Demonetization and its impact

Event Update-8-11-2016

The move by the government to demonetize Rs.500

and Rs.1000 notes by replacing them with new

Rs.500 and Rs.2000 notes has taken the country

with surprise. The move by the government is to

tackle the menace of black money, corruption, terror

funding and fake currency.

From a market perspective, we think that this is a

very welcome move by the government and which

has taken the black money hoarders with surprise.

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Income Tax Evasion - Raids

Tax noncompliance is a range of activities that are unfavorable to a

state's tax system. This may include tax avoidance, which is tax

reduction by legal means, and tax evasion which is the criminal non-

payment of tax liabilities. The use of the term 'noncompliance' is

used differently by different authors. Its most general use describes

non-compliant behaviors with respect to different institutional rules

resulting in what Edgar L. Feige calls unobserved economies. Non-

compliance with fiscal rules of taxation, gives rise to unreported

income and a tax gap that Feige estimates to be in the neighborhood

of $500 billion annually for the United States

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These are the major raids I-T Department has

conducted since demonetisation-1

Post demonetisation, headlines about income tax and police raids

across the country have caught everybody's attention with the

authorities seizing large stashes of new Rs. 2,000 notes

Given that the new banknote is being carefully rationed, the raids have

raised some serious questions about how these people have managed

to get hold of so much of the new currency.

Within days of the announcement of the note ban, two people were

arrested with Rs 3.5 crore in New Delhi. Also, Axis Bank managers

were arrested in the capital for alleged illegal conversion of currency

notes.

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But, that was just the beginning. Here's a list of the major raids Income

Tax Department has carried out since then:

Over 13 crores seized in New Delhi: Income Tax officials and Delhi Police

on December 10 raided the office of a law firm T&T in southern part of the

national capital and found over Rs. 13 crore in cash, of which Rs. 2.5

crore was in new currency notes.

The Crime branch team found 7 crores in old Rs 1,000 rupee notes, 3

crores in Rs. 100 denominations, and the rest a mix of old and new

notes. When the police team raided the office, most of the rooms were

locked and only a caretaker was present. The founder of the firm has not

been arrested yet.

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166 crore currency seized from Chennai: On December 10, the

Income Tax department seized 24 crore rupees cash in new notes in

Chennai. This comes on the back of the biggest haul of cash and

gold post demonetisation in the city, in which over Rs 142 crore

unaccounted assets were recovered on Friday. The total value of the

seizure in Chennai has now risen to 166 crore rupees.

Hyderabad: In Hyderabad, CBI busted a note exchange racket by

recovering 65 lakh rupees of new 2000 denomination notes from the

Senior Superintendent of Post Offices.

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Challakere, Karnataka: In another development, on December 10,

the Income Tax department zeroed in on 5.7 crore rupees cash in new

notes. Besides 32 kgs of Bullion (gold biscuits) and old notes worth 90

lakh rupees was stashed inside bathroom tiles of a Hawala operator in

Challakere town in Karnataka. The department officials laid their hands

on the stash on the basis of searches that began against casino and

bullion traders in Hubballi and Chitradurga districts on December 9.

Vellore, Tamil Nadu: On December 9, a seizure took place in Vellore

where Rs 24 crore in cash was recovered. Rs 2,000 currency notes,

kept in 12 boxes, were seized from a car.

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Poll bound states of UP and Punjab: In Punjab, fake currency with

face value of 4.15 lakh rupees was seized in Sangrur. In Uttar

Pradesh, Enforcement Directorate reportedly found huge amount

of cash in a raid at the ruling Samajwadi Party MLC Santosh

Yadav's house.

Bhilwara, Rajasthan: In yet another raid on December 10, Income

Tax Department seized Rs 7, 20, 000 in new Rs 2,000 currency

notes from Bhilwara, Rajasthan.

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• Surat, Gujarat: In Surat, on December 9, Income Tax officials raided

different locations in the city and found Rs 1.57 crore in the form of

new currency notes issued by the government after demonetisation.

• Goa: The CBI and local police arrested eight persons and

confiscated Rs 1.5 crore worth of new currency in Goa on Dec. 7.

• Raid at former BJP leader's house in West Bengal: On December 6,

former BJP leader Mahesh Sharma from West Bengal was arrested

by the special task force. Rs 33 Lakh in form of Rs 2,000 notes was

confiscated from him.

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I-T raid at Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Rammohan Rao's son's office;

33 crore in new currency seized? Reports [22-12-2016]

In a major crackdown on black money, the Income-Tax

department officials have conducted raid at the office of Tamil

Nadu Chief secretary Rammohan Rao's son even as he

admitted to a Rs. 5 crore secret income, according to TV

reports. It has been learned that a whopping 33 crore in new

currency has been seized during the raid.

According to India Today report, during the search

operations which had commenced yesterday, around Rs 30

lakh and 5 kg gold were recovered from Rao's residence.

Significantly, along with the cash and bullion, 40 valuable

documents were also seized.

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As per reports, at least five officials of I-T department had conducted

raid at Rao's residence in Anna Nagar in the state capital.

They also conducted raid at the office of Rao. It has been learned that

CRPF and Tamil Nadu police personnel were also present at the spot.

Earlier this year, Tamil Nadu Government had appointed Rao as State

Chief Secretary. The searches were conducted in connection with its

tax evasion probe against the son and few other relatives of Rao, said

some reports.

The I-T department recently seized a total of 177 kg of gold and cash

amounting to Rs.96 crore in withdrawn 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and

Rs.34 crore in the new denomination from three businessmen — J.

Shekhar Reddy, Srinivasalu and Prem.

Senior RBI Official Arrested For Allegedly

Money Laundering a Crore

A senior Reserve Bank of India or RBI official has

been arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly helping

convert banned notes. Eight men have also been

arrested in a series of raids in which crores in new

notes have been found. More than Rs. 1.50 crores

was involved in one case.

Investigators pretended to be customers to catch

the eight middlemen allegedly involved in

laundering black or untaxed money for a price

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A government engineer arrested…

Around Rs. 93 lakh in new notes was found on

them in raids over the weekend. One of the

arrested men is the relative of government engineer

SC Jayachandra, who was arrested recently after

Rs. 5.7 crore in new notes was found during raids

at his home.

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Earlier in the city, four bank officers were accused by

the police of converting black money after Rs. 5.7 crore

cash was seized from a hawala operator.

While endless queues at banks and ATMs reflect a

cash crunch and less than adequate number of Rs. 500

and 2,000 notes, crores in new cash has been found in

raids across the country over the past few weeks.

Accused of converting black money….

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Start finding answers to India's most challenging problem,

the plight of its teeming 250 million poor.

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Literacy and general education form the base of the knowledge

pyramid which is essential for a rapid and sustained development of

the society in the 21st Century.

The continuous advancement of science and the application of

improved technology constitute the middle rung.

Social ideals and values form the apex.

Technical education, both vocational and professional, provide the

foundation for development of science and technology.

A large number of the country’s engineering colleges need to be

upgraded to quality standards nearer to those of India’s world-class

IITs.

Knowledge revolution

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Our vision of India in 2020 is of a nation bustling with energy,

entrepreneurship and innovation.

The country’s people will be better fed, dressed and housed, taller

and healthier, more educated and longer living than any generation

in the country’s long history.

India will be much more integrated with the global economy and will

be a major player in terms of trade, technology and investment.

Rising levels of education, employment and incomes will help

stabilise India’s internal security and social environment. A united

and prosperous India will be far less vulnerable to external security

threats. A more prosperous India in 2020 will be characterised by a

better educated electorate and more transparent, accountable,

efficient and decentralised government.

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India, the nation-state, one must insist that its future

lies in the mundane works of men.

So long as the constitution is not amended beyond

recognition, so long as elections are held regularly

and fairly and the ethos of secularism broadly

prevails, so long as citizens can speak and write in

the language of their choosing, so long as there is an

integrated market and a moderately efficient civil

service and army, and – lest I forget – so long as

Hindi films are watched and their songs sung, India

will survive.

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You cannot visit India today without sensing a nation

on the move. A feeling of abundance and optimism

combined with a belief in India's destiny pervades all

walks of life.

India has all the resources—

People, Land, water, oil and gas, coal, minerals—and

is driving forward to take its place among the leading

nations of the world.

An overview of India today

Election Victories in March-2017

Punjab: Return of the Congress.

Uttarkhand: BJP gets full majority.

Uttar Pradesh: BJP won, Anti-

incumbency, Centre’s promises etc.

Goa and Manipur: Coalition

management

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