India has 50% of world’s modern slaves

Largest Proportion Of Victims Made Up Of Indians Exploited By Indians: Study

Sixty-six years after independence, India has the dubious distinction of being home to half of the world’s modern day slaves. The first Global Slavery Index has estimated that 13.3 million to 14.7 million people — roughly equal to the population of Kolkata — live like slaves in the country. 
    The index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, ranked 162 countries based on three factors that include estimated prevalence of modern slavery, a measure of child marriage and a measure of human trafficking in and out of a country. Modern slavery includes slavery, practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children as well as human trafficking and forced labour. 
    According to the index, there are 29.6 million people in modern slavery globally. India leads the world, followed by China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh. 
    These 10 countries account for 76% of the world’s modern slaves. India ranks fourth in terms of modern-day slaves as a percentage of the population, just after Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan. In Mauritania, 4% of people are regarded as slaves largely because they inherit the status from their ancestors. 
    The study says that in India there’s some exploitation of foreign nationals, but by far the largest proportion of slaves are Indians exploited by other Indians within the country, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labour. India is one of the few countries that has not ratified the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. 
    The country with the second highest number of enslaved is China, with an estimated 2.8 to 3.1 million in modern slavery. This includes forced labour in many parts of the economy, including domestic servitude and forced begging, commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, says the study. Pakistan is estimated to have 2 to 2.2 million in slavery. 
    Iceland, Ireland and the United Kingdom are tied with the lowest rankings in the index. These countries are not slavery-free, with the UK alone estimated to have 4,200-4,600 such people. Iceland has the lowest numbers — less than 100. While Asia and Africa are home to the vast majority of modern slaves, no continent is free from modern slavery. 
    “It would be comforting to think that slavery is a relic of history, but it remains a scar on humanity on every continent. This is the first slavery index but it can already shape national and global efforts to root out modern slavery across the world,” said Nick Grono, CEO of Walk Free Foundation. 
    The index was created in consultation with an international panel of experts and has been endorsed by former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, former Australian PM Julia Gillard, and philanthropists Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and Mo Ibrahim. WFF was founded by Andrew Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, and his wife Nicola in May this year.

Battle For Budtameez Dils

Rahul Gandhi’s groping in the dark when it comes to tapping India’s irrepressible youth

How you view Rahul Gandhi indicates how old you are. If you’re a venerable, mature sort (as most Indian political analysts are, the assumption being dyeing your hair gives brighter ideas), you might look at Rahul indulgently. You might murmur about his surprising choice of words – ‘nonsense’ which ‘deserves to be torn up’, dalits needing ‘Jupiter’s escape velocity’, et al. But it’s possible you’ll note his sentiments, the apology following his Press Club stop-press, the empathy behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe-style analogies. 
    However, if you’re 35 or under – 65% of India’s population today – it’s likely you won’t buy any of that. This is because Rahul’s strategists have addressed this constituency too little, too late, leaving Rahul groping in the dark while thundering 2014 will see a government of youth – how little his advisers understand this youth reflects in many missteps. 
    India’s youth today are unique. Every young generation energetically questions the status quo, but India’s youth does something more. This is a generation typified by the Bollywood song ‘Budtameez Dil’, cheeky heart, with its naughty stereotypes, sequined numbers in nightclubs, kisses in nooks throbbing to a DJ’s beat, the hedonism of youth, all hips and hormones, highs and lows. 
    But what’s special is that every bit of this zest has been earned by young people themselves. The evidence is in roof-shattering school results, girls’ struggles to learn, brave choices to forsake traditional occupations and step into unfamiliar worlds, an IIM Ahmedabad study finding 75.90% young Indians enthusiastically supporting entrepreneurship as a career compared to 66.97% Chinese. Alongside, young Indians are investing more in education while mushrooming malls salute their openness to spend on a good time. 
    Clearly, this is a generation shaking off constraints, its self-determination challenging social norms. More young people are marrying across identity lines and fewer are willing to stay bound, divorces reportedly doubling since 1990. This intense transition mirrors individualism amongst the young, choosing the right to reject in manifold ways, working hard and playing harder. 
    Yet, this isn’t a generation of clichéd yuppies. It has a dil with social concern. One reflection glimmered in the enthusiasm around Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Another showed in the grief after a gang rape evidenced a callous system that taxes but doesn’t serve. Beating with hope, this heart’s also hurt by corruption, inflation and politicians refusing to reform themselves. 
    This dil lends itself to budtameezi then, meaningful cheekiness, what Slavoj Zizek elsewhere calls ‘jouis-sense, enjoyment-insense’ or ‘enjoy-meant’. This is natural for Indians, apart from being argumentative, are an impertinent lot. But in older days, there were limited forums to cackle at officialdom falling apart. Newspapers had a markedly lecturing tone while Doordarshan smiled mainly during Krishi Darshan. All that’s changed. Today, social media is a vibrant network where news, views, jokes and jibes flow fast and fearlessly. TV shows, radio talk-ins, movies, magazines follow virtual budtameezi, like the ‘Pappu’ versus ‘Feku’ face-off, spotlighting the most engrossing jousts. 
    Such budtameezi isn’t sparing Rahul Gandhi jabs. Rather than personality, this reflects the Congress’s delay in understanding two concerns core to this group – freedom and jobs. The UPA’s record on creating the latter has been so dismal, Rahul couldn’t have seriously addressed the same, but he could’ve spoken for the former to his gain. 
    Opportunities abounded when two girls were arrested for comments online, a young cartoonist was jailed for drawings, an IAS officer suspended for doing her job, when water cannons and batons rained down on those protesting Nirbhaya’s death. Speaking then would’ve helped Rahul understand one ideal budtameez dils cherish. It would have also strengthened Rahul’s own liberal credentials, armour for his forthcoming clash. 
    Instead, opting for 1980s-style photo-ops – dinner in a dalit’s hut, a train across Mumbai, swinging a spade at an MGNREGA dig – Rahul overlooked this chance. Mentioning Kalawati, a widow in darkness after her farmer-husband committed suicide, his oratory swung the Indo-US nuclear deal debate. But the following neglect of Kalawati recalled Rahul’s earlier gesture, opening the Youth Congress to non-dynasts, tanking before you could quip, new card, old hand, leaving budtameezes laughing out loud. 
    This amuses opponents too. At 63, Narendra Modi is an unlikely youth icon but sidestepping the question of individual liberty, he’s capitalised on the second thing young people consider – jobs. Highlighting the UPA’s abysmal show, Modi describes his vision in words that may not bear close scrutiny but throb with passion and cheekiness. The last endears him to budtameez dils, themselves more candid than candied. 
    Not keeping up shows Congress’s lethargy. Ironic, as it was in Rajiv Gandhi’s time that this generation emerged. As the vote went to 18-year-olds, India became computerised and a communications revolution started in an STD booth, all the conditions fell into place to create a forthright cohort. Reforms added fizz to this test-tube, creating a young weaned on Bollywood and B R Ambedkar, Indi-pop and Steve Jobs, RTI and EMI, whose debates and debit cards warm India’s autumnal bones. 
    Poised to vote soon, this generation’s impudence can pressure dynasts to walk their democratic talk and demagogues to listen up. This generation can shred nonsense that must be torn up. This generation can truly change the game with its budtameez dil, jo easily maane na.

Source/ Crdit: Srijana Mitra Das

 

India being infected by Sleazy gurus and muddied politics

The one and only time that I have ever met superstar Amitabh Bachchan in my life – at the launch of a French perfume for men and women named after him, nearly a decade ago – I asked him what I had always wanted to know: why he had described politics as a cesspool when he was a member of parliament and why he had quit even before his term was over.

He, of course, ignored the first query but his answer to the second was very revealing. Bachchan said he had contested the 1984 elections from Allahabad out of his friendship with then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Notwithstanding the troubles he was put to by veteran Congressmen like VP Singh who believed Bachchan could cut the ground from under their feet if he was allowed to flourish unfettered (that is probably why he thought of politics as a cesspool), he said he had been on a special aircraft to Guwahati in Assam, which was under tremendous strife those days, as one of the campaigners for the Congress at the forthcoming elections.

Activists of the Assam Gana Parishad, which had not yet come to power in the state, had surrounded the aircraft on the tarmac and were not allowing any of the Congress leaders to get through and enter the city. Ultimately looking at the emotions running high, the authorities decided that in the interest of security, it was better for the Congress leaders to return whence they had come from or risk a real conflagration.

As Bachchan reboarded the aircraft, one of the demonstrators came running across to him and stuffed a piece of paper in his hands. When Bachchan began to read the hastily written letter on the return flight, he was stunned by what that boy said.

“Mr Bachcan, you are my hero. I never miss a single film of yours and sometimes see your films six or seven times each. But I hate the Congress. Please do not make me hate you, too. I do not want to stop worshipping you for endorsing the Congress. Just be the hero that you are and we will continue to love you forever.”

Bachchan said he gave that some deep thought and realised the boy was right – he was primarily a film star and his popularity was owing to that profession. He clearly had no business to misuse that popularity to garner votes for a political party and put his fans into a dilemma like this one.

I noticed that, bar Amar Singh when he was with the Samajwadi Party and with whom he had a personal friendship, Bachchan has steadfastly refused to endorse any political party or leader ever since – including Narendra Modi of the BJP.

There was a recent video promoting Modi as Prime Minister that used Bachchan’s voice-over and the veteran was very anguished in his disavowal of that endorsement. He makes it repeatedly clear that he supports neither Modi nor the BJP or even Gujarat; just that he promotes Gujarat’s tourism.

But so many years later I can empathise with that boy in Guwahati who urged Bachchan not to put him into a position of having to choose between one good thing for endorsing what he thought was a bad thing. I now feel the same about Yoga guru Ramdev Baba whose yoga practices I applied to my own life during a spell of terrible illness.

The swift recovery brought about gratitude but now I am being compelled to look at him as a slime ball – not because he is supporting the BJP or any other pary, which he has the complete right to do so, but because of his rather despicable personal comments against his opposition.

I could forgive him for describing Congress general secretary as an asura (though he called Singh an asuraputra) for Singh is quite equal to taking him on, but I think it is completely pointless and needless to rake up Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s friendship with Edwina Mountbatten and give it a sly, sleazy twist, to talk about Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s character — they are both dead and cannot defend themselves.

Also, I do not think Rahul Gandhi’s alleged multiple girlfriends have anything to do with yoga or elections either.

Why should people care about Rahul Gandhi’s girlfriends or not and how does Pandit Nehru’s private friendships of more than a half century ago have any bearing on the country today?

I think it is only a human being of very low calibre who would use such sleaze to score points against his rivals and I notice that though the BJP may be opposed to the Congress bitterly at all the elections coming up in the states this winter, none of its leaders targets any of their rivals in such reptilian fashion.

Barring Narendra Modi, of course who, apart from targetting Union minister Shashi Tharoor for allegedly having a 50 crore girlfriend, once described Sonia Gandhi as a Jersey cow and Rahul as her hybrid calf.

Ramdev should be reminded that the BJP lost that election to the Congress in 2004 and has so far not been able to score any substantial victory over either the Congress or the Nehru-Gandhis.

In my part of the world, Gopinath Munde of the BJP was never targeted by his rivals over his alleged illicit relationship with a tamasha dancer which was common knowledge in the 1990s and even Bal Thackeray was left well alone over his indulgences towards certain people he had no business having relationships with.

Even we, as journalists, followed the rules set by the Congress politicians vis-à-vis their rivals at the time –- keep the personal attack strictly out of the purview of public meetings and election campaigns. They were all cleaner at the time, even if leaders like Thackeray indulged in occasional mimicry of Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders like Sharad Pawar.

But clearly now Ramdev Baba is under some tremendous pressure to lose his own character and the ’shuchita’ and ’samrasta’ that were the bywords of the BJP in the decade of Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani is over. Even if they may not be indulging in these kinds of cretinous behaviour, since Ramdev Baba campaigns on their behalf, I believe they should be advising him to restrain or stand in danger of allowing the Congress to be seen as victims and run away with a lot of sympathy.

They should remember what happened in Mahaashtra in 1998 when Pramod Mahajan, at a public meeting in Gondia, equated Sonia Gandhi with Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton’s infamous intern who was making headlines in those years.

The Congress was waiting for just such an oportunity to enliven its campaign and they went to town over the insult to the widow of their late leader. The party won 42 of the 48 seats from Maharashtra that helped the Congress to reach the 3-digit figure in the Lok Sabha.

Else the party would have sunk below the 100-members mark and may never have risen again to form the UPA six years later.

They have the BJP to thank for their resurrection and may just be looking for such an opportunity in states like Madhya Pradesh where they have little chance of a return to power. Perhaps, then, Ramdev’s rantings are a conspiracy against the BJP? After their support to Asaram Bapu what does that tell us about godmen and the BJP?

Souce/ Credits: Sujata Anandan

Money Matters!

Finance is relatively a young discipline and, therefore, filled with opportunities for further discovery, writes Rama Seth, professor, Control and Finance, IIM Calcutta 

It is probably not fair to rank the different disciplines of management as one being more important than the other. The knowledge contained in the entire field comes from potentially intersecting contributions from all the disciplines. That said, if you define finance as the study of forces and dynamics in the flow of money in all its various forms, one could argue that finance can be viewed as a strong platform on which many other disciplines depend.

After all, it encapsulates the learning around money, which was perhaps one of the first tools of co-operation at scale, and in the end, touches everyone's lives.

Finance, when compared to other sciences like mathematics or physics, is relatively young, and is, therefore, filled with opportunities for further discovery, and the moulding of theory and practice in building its foundations. The type of people that should be particularly attracted to finance are those that who want to understand the economic tools at their disposal and how to use them judiciously.

Particularly in light of the last few upheavals in world economics, it has become clear that the invention and use of new tools (complex derivatives, structured finance, asset-backed securities, etc) have not been integrated well enough into the existing system, and the new challenges are in the area of developing instruments of control that can keep the system stable, while still allowing it to function to the benefit of mankind, and maintaining the agility that is required to keep pace with a changing world.

The area of finance can be well served by students from a wide variety of educational disciplines, be it from the hard sciences, life sciences, engineering, political science, history, even medicine: a medical background can be invaluable for someone managing the finances of a hospital chain, or even healthcare for a country. There are numerous prospects for those who study finance.

In India's politics, jail time is a badge of honour

DALTENGANJ: When he decided to run for a parliamentary seat from this impoverished, and mainly low-caste constituency in northeast India, Kameshwar Baitha made no effort to sugarcoat his criminal record.

Obediently, he catalogued the serious charges pending against him, all of which he says are false. There were 17 for murder, 22 for attempted murder, 6 for assault with a dangerous weapon, 5 for theft, 2 for extortion, and so on, a legacy from Baitha's previous career as a leader of the local Maoist insurgency. On top of that was the fact that he was in jail.

But this did not hurt him with voters here, noted his son, Babban Kumar, who hopes to follow his father into politics. With people in this area, who look to elected leaders as Robin Hood figures, it may have helped.

"You have to fight against something, how else can you get into politics?" Kumar said. "Without going to jail, you cannot be a big politician."

New impulses are rippling through Indian politics this year, as a growing, urbanized middle class demands that hundreds of tainted politicians be driven from the system.

In Delhi, crowds driven by internet campaigns have rallied around an anticorruption platform, holding brooms to symbolize the coming cleansing. The Supreme Court, sensing the public mood, ruled in July that it was illegal for politicians who had been convicted of crimes to continue holding office by simply filing an appeal against their convictions. The ruling would disqualify politicians sentenced to more than two years in prison by a lower court. This change, which could uproot formidable political forces, was endorsed this month by the governing coalition's crown prince, Rahul Gandhi.

The effort will meet its greatest challenge in another India - the old one, where voting is still largely driven by caste. In the tribal region that Baitha represents, the vast majority of elected officials face criminal charges, most related to corruption, but many for violent crimes. Voters typically dismiss such charges as trumped-up, one more attempt by elites to crush the champions of the poor.

These are some of the things that allowed Baitha to discuss the subject comfortably in the red-velvet seating area of a government guesthouse, as a ceiling fan turned slowly overhead. He urged his guest to imagine if everyone convicted of a crime were barred from politics.

"The whole Parliament will be empty," he said. "It will become a joke."

A big test of the new measures' effect will come in the case of Lalu Prasad, the longtime leader of the neighboring state of Bihar, who was disqualified from holding office and running in coming elections this month after being sentenced on corruption charges. The case against him had proceeded at a snail's pace for 17 years, as Prasad had thumbed his nose at prosecutors.

A master of populist showmanship who came from a caste of cow herders, he transformed his court dates into political theater. He arrived for one session in the back of a bicycle rickshaw, surrounded by throngs of adoring supporters, and once left jail on the back of a small elephant.

The dance seemed to end with his sentencing. But last week, sitting inside the Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi, it seemed he was perfectly capable of managing his still-formidable political empire. Scores of aides and supporters were clustered outside the jail's iron gate, bearing coconuts and handwritten letters. Prison guards let visitors in and out at regular intervals, as if they were operating a reception center. The Telegraph, Ranchi's main English-language daily newspaper, reported that he had summoned a tailor to his cell.

When a local anticorruption activist filed a complaint, charging that the visits were a major violation of prison regulations, Prasad decided to keep a "low profile" by receiving visitors only after 3pm, the newspaper reported. His visitors all said the charges were false. "People in Delhi don't want the poor people to rise," said one of them, Kumar Lakshman, 28. "Lalu is causing the poor people to rise."

Nationwide, the number of Indian officeholders facing criminal charges is extraordinary: 30 percent of winners in national and regional elections since 2008, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms, a research group based in New Delhi. The reasons are manifold; as India's democratic system evolved, candidates depended heavily on thuggish "muscle men," and later "money men," to influence voters and sweep them into office. Corruption is widespread.

But it is also true that spending limits are so low that virtually any candidate bent on winning would have to be willing to break the law. The penalty for filing false charges is negligible. And India's independence movement was founded on civil disobedience, so lawbreaking is enmeshed in the political culture.

It is not yet clear whether this will change now, said Neerja Chowdhury, a journalist and political commentator. Major parties may steer clear of candidates facing criminal charges, fearful of losing a seat in case of disqualification. But they may also consider the outpouring of popular support extended to Prasad or Jaganmohan Reddy, another regional leader facing corruption charges. "It is a strange paradox, there is huge sympathy for him, and by all accounts he is gaining ground," Ms. Chowdhury said of Reddy. Corruption, she added, "is more of an urban middle-class issue rather than for groups who are in ascendance."

A similar dynamic drove the improbable rise of Baitha, 60, a former revolutionary who received visitors in a snow-white tunic and pajamas, discreetly accepting a packet of chewing tobacco from an aide.

Baitha's region erupted in a peasant rebellion in the 1970s, as Maoist fighters clashed with private armies fielded by high-caste landlords. The authorities have identified Baitha as an expert in explosives who masterminded many attacks. He denies this, saying he served strictly as an ideological leader after his organization was banned by the Indian government in 1986 and never took up arms.

Baitha decided to enter politics after he was jailed pending trial in 2005. With time on his hands, he reread the writings of Mao and Lenin, considered the effects of economic growth and technology on Indian society and began to question the Maoists' confidence that an armed struggle would sweep away the government in New Delhi.

"It was a difficult period for me, but I decided," he said. "I changed my ideology."

He had such high name recognition in Jharkhand, he said, that he easily won the seat without leaving the jail to campaign. There was, however, the somewhat delicate matter of the criminal charges pending against him; of all 4,807 candidates elected since 2008, he had the longest record, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms. Voters made it clear, however, that the charges did not matter, and he said most of the cases were dropped after he was elected to Parliament.

People approached in Jharkhand's capital said the accusations were false, advanced by Baitha's political opponents. Others conceded that there was truth in the charges, but said it had in no way damaged Baitha's image. Santosh Kumar Dube, who holds a municipal office in Ranchi, said he believed that Baitha "fought with arms, and participated in some massacres" during his time as a Maoist. But he added: "All these charges against him were made in the process of fighting for poor people. People are not afraid of him."

For his part, Baitha admitted some anxiety about the changes in Indian politics, which he acknowledged could have prevented him from running in the first place. The new rigor over leaders' criminal convictions, he said, has put a powerful new weapon in the hands of political opposition and has called into question the judgment of voters, who are, he said, perfectly aware who they are voting into office.

"I have this concern, that my political career ends because of these charges," he said, but then he collected himself.

"I have full faith it will not happen to me," he said. "I have faith in the judicial system."

Source: Ellen Barry, NYT News Service

India: Globalization, Nationalization & Regionalization

Its always being a great feeling whenever we see back and sail across our great and globally appreciated history. If some one ask me today to introduce India with globally known person then i can proudly shut his mount with ample of names without taking a breath.

But now, the current problem which took place in last few weeks makes me to think what should i answer, if anyone ask me the same question today? Do i need to collect all those names in my mind and then i need to segregate those names with respect to their cast and now considering the current affairs across Maharashtra i also have to classify them as per the region from which they belong. But i think before i answer that probe these calculation embarrass me as a Indian but as being an Indian i have to sum up my mind and confidence on our people , and have to take all those names who took India on a Global Platform.

Mob segregation is not new in India, if we dig up in past then we cant even find the root of it, but as per my Knowledge in every era this compulsory step has always been taken by famous and successful leaders, some of them were controversial and some of them were uncontroversial.

Example for the same extended from Lord Ram (Vibhishan from Ravan), Chanakya (Army cheif from Alaxander), Britishers (Division of Indian Kingdom which resulted as a division of nation, a famous "divide and rule" policy), to Mulayam singh, L K Advani, Balasaheb (Hindu- Mulsim) and finally adopted by Raj Thakre.

If we analyse, then all the above names are either rulers, achivers, winners or atleast gained a success in their respective Karma.

So dont think Mr Raj Thakre is doing something different or unique to take the state, oh!! Sorry, i need to say 'MNS' and 'marathi manus' on a path of success and acheivements.

Pakistan's nuke arsenal bigger than India's

Swedish report reveals Pak's nuke plans

After racing ahead of India in ballistic and cruise missiles, with covert help from China and North Korea, Pakistan seems to be surging ahead on the nuclear front too.

A series of recent estimates by international nuclear watchdogs and reputed thinktanks hold that Pakistan has a total of 70 to 90 warheads compared to India's 60 to 80. China, in comparison, has around 240 warheads.

Even as global fears about the possibility of jihadis gaining access to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, enriched uranium or technical know-how continue, its deadly inventory is only going to expand in the coming years.

Pakistan, after all, is supplementing its ongoing enriched uranium-based nuke programme with a weapons-grade plutonium one. Its two new heavy-water reactors being built at Khushab nuclear facility, with China's help, are clearly geared towards producing weapons-grade plutonium, as reported by TOI earlier.

In its latest annual world military expenditure report released on Wednesday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said Pakistan's weapons-grade plutonium production would jump seven-fold with the two new reactors at Khushab nearing completion.

"Our conservative estimates are that Pakistan has 60 warheads and could produce 100 nuclear weapons at short notice," said SIPRI, adding that Islamabad had earmarked its US-supplied F-16 fighters, Ghaznavi and Shaheen missiles as its nuke delivery systems.

India's nuclear weapons programme, in turn, has largely been plutonium-based, basically centred around the Pu-239 produced in research reactors like Cirus and Dhruva at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

Nuclear arsenals of India, Pakistan, and even China, pale in comparison to the gigantic ones of the two former Cold War foes, US and Russia. SIPRI estimates there are a whopping 22,600 active, inactive and stored nuclear warheads around the globe, enough to destroy it several times over.

While Russia has 12,000 warheads, 4,630 of them "deployed" ones, US has 9,600, which includes 2,468 of them operational. The two have, however, recently decided to slash their inventories by nearly one-third.

France comes third with 300, followed by UK with 225. Israel, which like India and Pakistan is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, completes the list of the eight countries with nuclear weapons, with an arsenal of 80 warheads. Then, there is also North Korea, which has produced "enough plutonium for a small number of warheads", SIPRI said.

All these figures are not exact because countries keep their nuclear weapons programmes in thick cloaks of secrecy, which is only now being lifted by countries like US and UK.

India has been concerned about Pakistan's drive to bolster its nuclear arsenal over the past few years. While India has a clear and declared `no-first use' nuclear weapons doctrine, Pakistan has kept it vague to use as a tool to offset India's conventional military superiority.

Moreover, there is continuing controversy in India over whether the country has a credible thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb, given that a few experts contend the 45-kiloton thermonuclear device tested under the Pokhran-II tests in 1998 was "a fizzle".

The armed forces also remain quite worried about the lack of SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) and ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) in their armoury, which are needed for a credible deterrent and for robust second-strike capabilities against both Pakistan and China.

At present, only the short-range Prithvi missile (150-350km) and the 700km range Agni-I have been fully operationalized till now. Agni-II (over 2,000km) and Agni-III (3,500km) are still in the process of being inducted by the Strategic Forces Command. India's most ambitious strategic missile Agni-V, with a 5,000km range, in turn, will be tested for the first time only by early-2011 or so.

Nuclear Warheads (Source: SIPRI)

Russia: 12,000
US: 9,600
France: 300
UK: 225
China: 240
Pakistan: 70-90
Israel: 80
India: 60-80

Budget 2009-2010 Highlights

Highlights

Taxes

· Surcharge of 10% on personal income tax removed

· No change in Corporate taxes

· Increase exemption on personal income tax by Rs 15,000 to Rs 2,40,000 for senior citizens

· Increase exemption on personal income tax by Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,90,000 for women

· Increase in exemption on personal income tax by Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,60,000 for all others

· Surcharge of 10% on personal income tax removed

· Propose to phase out surcharge on Direct Taxes

· To remove Fringe Benefit Tax

· To remove Fringe Benefit Tax

· States agree on basic structure of Goods and Services Tax

· To raise Minimum Alternate Tax(MAT) TO 15 % of book profit

· MAT hiked from 10% to 15%

· Commodity Transaction Tax scrapped

· Carry Forward Tax credit on MAT to 10 year

· To exempt Pension trust from Securities Transaction Tax

· To create Alternate Tax disputes resolution mechanism for foreign companies

· Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) extended by a year

· GST to be a dual regime with Central and state terms

· No Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on sale/purchase of shares by NPT

Reforms, Tax reforms

· To work on Saral 2 form to make income tax procedure simple

· Tax reform system to be completed in 4 years

· Balanced approach to financial de-regulation in justified

· Review and aims of the budget

· It a mandate we accept with humility and will do all we can for the welfare of the nation

· Strong mandate for growth

· Sensitive to the challenges of a young India

· The govt has to sustain a growth of 9% create 12 mn jobs per year

· Reduce poverty levels by half by 2014 infrastructure investment to more than 9% by 2014

· Focus to sustaining momentum in exports

· Strengthen primary healthcare delivery

· Plan to strengthen primary health care

· Broaden inclusive growth agenda

· Our target of agricultural growth at 4%

· Signs of revival of domestic industry

· Fiscal deficit has widened from 2.7 % to 6.2% of GDP

· Institutional reforms to bring the fiscal deficit under control

Challenges

· To get the GDP growth to 9% at the earliest

· To deepen the process of inclusive development

· To reenergise govt, govt must provide service with accountability

· Growth driver in the last 5 yrs has been private investment

· Structure of Indian economy has changes in last 10 yrs

· Now services constitutes more than 50% of GDP

· Increase investment in infrastructure to 9% by 2014

· To focus on infrastructure development

· Growth co-operative effort of Centre and States

· Job growth rate hit by dip in GDP

· Integration of Indian economy with the world has opened up new opportunities and new challenges

· Aim to return to FRBM target at the earliest

For revival

· Govt provided three stimulus package

· RBI took monetary measures to meet the needs of productive sector

· This led to fiscal deficit to rise to 6.2% in 08-09

· We achieved a growth of 6.7% of GDP last fiscal

· Signal of recovery visible in the last few months

· Uncertainty about revival of global economy remains

Infrastructure

· We had set up IFFCL to provide financial assistance to infra companies

· IIFCL will be given greater flexibility

· IIFCL will refinance 60% of bank loans in critical sectors

· IIFCL will evolve a take-out financing schemes for incremental funding in infra

· Fiscal stimulus at 3.5% of GDP helped economy revive

· Sensitive to the needs of young India

· Endeavour to make Budget participatory and ensure continuity

· Significant increase in capital inflows needs

· PPP to be encouraged especially in infrastructure

· Need to improve and strengthen regulatory framework

· To speed up Golden Quadrilateral Project

· Total investment of 100000 CFR in infrastructure

· Need to remove bottlenecks for speedy implementation of infra projects

· Highways allocated 23% more than 08-09

· Rs 15800cr for Railways

· JNURM allocation increased by 80% to Rs 12887 cr

· Basic amenities for urban poor to get more than 3000 cr to make country slum free in 5 yrs

· Provision for housing urban poor at Rs 3973 cr

· Allocation to NHAI increased to 23& Y-O-Y

· Fiscal deficit has widened to 6.7% of GDP

· Target agriculture credit inflows ay Rs 3.25 lakh cr

· · Focus of NCC, Gammon for highway development

· JNNURM to get more than Rs 12000 cr up 87%

· Basic amenities for urban poor to get more than 3000 cr to make country slum free in 5 yrs.

· Provision for housing urban poor at Rs 3973 cr

· Allocation to NHAI increased to 23& Y-O-Y

· Fiscal deficit has widened to 6.7% of GDP

· Target agri credit inflows ay Rs 3.25 lakh cr

· Focus of NCC, Gammon for highway development

· Rural electrification allocation up 27%

Agriculture

· Interest subvention scheme for agriculture loans to continue

· 60% population depended on agri

· Sustained increased in plan allocation

· Target credit flow Rs 325000 cr

· Loans upto 3 lakh at 7% per annum

· Those who pay their loans in time will get loans at 6%

· Task force set up to look into farmer suicides in Maharashtra

· Rajiv Gandhi Krishi Vikas Yojana allocation up by 30%

· Fertilizer subsidy to go to farmers directly

· To move towards Nutrient based subsidy regime

· Additional allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for accelerated irrigation project

· Central assistance for storm-water drainage project increased to Rs 500 crore from Rs 200 crore in the interim Budget

Exports

· Market development assistance schemes allocation up by 180% to 124 cr

· Interest subvention extended to march 2010 for employment extensive export sector

· Special fund for small industries development bank of Rs 400 cr

· Focus to sustain momentum in exports

· 2% Interest subvention for exporters

· Extension of interest subvention scheme extended upto March 2010 to cover sectors like handicrafts and handlooms

· Allocation for market development assistance scheme enhanced by 148 per cent

· To set up handloom mega clusters in Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu

· Export Credit Guarantee scheme extended till March 2010

Oil and gas

· Domestic oil prices should be in sync with global crude

· National gas grid to be set up

· Outlay for Assam Gas Project increased

· Effective interest rate is 8% for farmers with foreclosures

· Expert group to be set up petro product pricing

· Domestic oil prices should be in syncy with global crude

· To develop National Gas Grid

PSUs, banks and Insurance

· To hike promoter shareholding in PSUs

· Encourage people participation in disinvestment

· Banks and insurance will remain in public sector and will get all support

· Banking network to be expanded

· One banking centre in every block planned

· 160% hike in ADPRP

· Capital in fusion in PSU banks to keep them competitive

Inclusive development

· Creating entitlements backed by legal authority to provide basic facility to the aam aadmi

· NREGA gave employment to 4.4 cr household

· Reserve wage of RS 100 per day as an entitlement under NREGA

· Rs 39100 cr for 09-10 for NREGA an increase of 140%

· NREGA allocation increase at 144%

· New scheme PMAGY for integrated development of under developed villages

Pilot project this year

· Poverty eradication goal by 2014-15

· Interest subsidy to poor families for loans upto Rs 1 lakhs

Pension

· Substantially improve pension for armymen

· Pension benefit extended to war wounded being liberalised

· One Rank One Pension committee recommendations accepted

National Food Security

· BPL entitled by law for Rs 25 kg of rice/wheat at Rs 3 kilo

· Bharat Niraman allocation up 45%

· PM Gram Sadak Yojana allocation up to Rs 12000 cr

· Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana allocation up by 63%

Women and child development

· Focus on women self help groups

· 22 lakhs such groups of women active today, aim to link such self help groups to banks

· Corpus for such schemes to be raised to Rs 500 cr in this fiscal

· Aim to reduce female literacy by half in 3 years

· New scheme to give interest subsidy to poor students pursue any recognised course

Climate change

· Rs 562 cr for national river and lakes conservation

To build accountable institutions:

· RTI act an important step in ushering in accountability

· Unique ID project is major step in this regard: it also marks a beginning of the private involvement in projects of national importance

Police and security

· Rs 430 cr for police modernisation

· 1 lakh housing units for central paramilitary forces

· Borders: 2284 cr for strengthening of borders

Education

· Rs 50 crore for Chandigarh University

· Interest subsidy on loans for higher education

· Rs 2130 crore to set upto more IITs and IIMs

· Spending on higher education raised to Rs 2010 crore

Minorities

· Allocation hiked from Rs 1000 cr to 1700 cr in 09-10

· Scholarships for minorities

· AMU to get Rs 25 cr for each of its new campuses

· Rs 1740 crore outlay for minorities

Budget estimates

· Rs 1020838 cr total budget allocation for 09-10

· Out this more than Rs 6000 cr is planned expenditure while the rest is non-plan

· Increase in non-plan expenditure was due to pay commission and food subsidy

· Interest payment consists of 36% of non-plan expenditure

· Defence outlay up from Rs 105600 cr in 08-09 to 104703 cr in 09-10

· Total tax receipts expected at Rs 641079 cr

· Revenue deficit is estimated at 4.8% and 4.6 as per provisional account for 09-10

· Revenue deficit as percentage of GDP is pegged at 6.8%

· To spend Rs 10.20 lakh crore as total expenditure in 2009-10, crossing the Rs 10 lakh mark for the first time in history

· Increase in plan expenditure 34 %, non-plan at 37 %

· Revenue deficit projected at 4.8% in FY 10

· Fiscal deficit projected at 6.8 % in FY 10

Others

· DEPB scheme for print media extended

· Stimulus package for print media extended to Dec 31

· Hike in allocation for management of Mumbai Floods

· New project for modernisation of employment exchange

· A national web portal for the same

· New programme for rehabilitation of those effected by cylone Alia