Financial Crisis & India & Turkey+GM Crops & Apex Court+Fert Problem+Education FDI

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NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development

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1. Fighting global crisis: Turkey seeks India's hand

 

2. Critics gear up to challenge GEAC’s approval of GM crops in SC

 

3. US-based soil body pitches for optimum use of fertiliser

 

4. Govt bid to sell wheat through tender irks millers

 

5. Foreign universities seek partnerships in India

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Fighting global crisis: Turkey seeks India's hand

 

http://www.financialexpress. com/news/fighting-global- crisis-turkey-seeks-indias- hand/388862/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: 2008-11-21 20:41:02+05:30 ISTUpdated: Nov 21, 2008 at 2041 hrs IST

 

New Delhi, Nov 21 : Turkey has urged India to join hands in bailing out small economies from the adverse impact global recession and financial meltdown. It has that the business houses from both the countries should go for more investments and creation of more employment opportunities.

 

Speaking at conclave hosted by the three apex industry bodies – FICCI, CII and Assocham- in Delhi on Friday the visiting Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "This global financial crisis is not due to economic instability in one country or one region. The poor nations are likely to bear the burnt of this crisis. We need to rise up to the occasion. Now is the time for making more investments and creation of more jobs. We need to effectively regulate our economy and not go for protectionism. We also need to rely upon regional cooperation."

 

Erdogan suggested that Indian and Turkish business houses should come forward and make investments in energy, iron and steel and construction sectors in third countries. He said both the countries, being strong economies, could afford to do so and seize the opportunity for investment.

 

Endogan is leading a strong business delegation to India as talks on India-Turkey FTA are underway.

 

He also invited Indian companies to invest in Turkey and said that his country had conducive climate for investment and was one of the top 15 countries in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs). Turkey is also strategically located connecting Asia and Europe and 65% of the workfoce in age below 24 years.

 

Citing an example of India-Turkey investment cooperation, Erdogan said that Indian companies like Tatas, ArcelorMittal, Mahindra & Mahindra and the GMR group were a part of the consortium that operates the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul and a Turkish company had undertaken the expansion programme at the Mumbai Airport.

 

Bilateral trade between India and Turkey has increased four-fold from $637 million in 2003-04 to $3,439 million in 2007-08. India's exports to Turkey increased from $563 million to $1,749.44 million while its imports from Turkey increased from $73 million to $1,689.36 million. In this context, Erdogan called for addressing the imbalance in trade.

 

Speaking on the occasion the Indian science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal called for a fresh agreement for cooperation in science and technology which not taken place since 2003.

 

India's exports to Turkey mainly consists of cotton, cotton yarn, TV CRTs, mobile phones, antibiotics, clothing and apparel, polyester and chemical products while its imports from Turkey primarily consists of poppy seeds, marbles, handloom, carpets, denim, textile machinery, iron and steel, copper, automotive components and coal.

 

The CII representative and chairman of GMR group, GM Rao suggested cooperation in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, tourism and aviation sectors. He said that Indian companies were participating in oil and gas pipeline projects in Turkey and Turkish construction companies were participating in Indian infrastructure projects. Power sector can be a possible area for such a cooperation, he said.

 

Assocham President and MD of JSW Steel Ltd, Sajjan Jindal said that Turkish investment in India needed to be enhanced to match Indian presence in Turkey. He informed that more that 60 Indian companies were present in Turkey in thhe form of joint ventures, trade and representative offices – IRCON, GMR, Tata, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries being some of the big names

 

FICCI senior vice president and MD of JK Paper Ltd, Harsh Pati Singhania suggested that India can export textiles, spices and meat products to Turkey and Turkey can export processed food, plastics, construction materials, and heavy equipment and machinery to India. Turkish business can enhance their presence in Indian market in textiles, chemicals, plastics. Energy, mining, biotech, pharmaceuticals, tourism, information technology and railway transportation were the segments where Indian companies can enter into cooperation agreements with their Turkish counterparts in Turkey, he said.. -------------------------------

 

Critics gear up to challenge GEAC’s approval of GM crops in SC

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/critics-gear-up-to-challenge-geacs-approval-of-gm-crops-in-sc/389660/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: 2008-11-24 00:12:57+05:30 ISTUpdated: Nov 24, 2008 at 0012 hrs IST

 

New Delhi, Nov 23 : The critics of the transgenic technology in agriculture are gearing up to challenge the regulator's decision in the Supreme Court for allowing limited field trial of several genetically modified (GM) food crops, including Monsanto India's Hishell and 900M Gold corn hybrids.

 

The regulator, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), has recently allowed strip trials of RB-transgenic potato developed by the Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla and limited field trials of GM cotton hybrids, Hishell and 900M Gold containing stacked events - MON 89034 and NK603 - at the farms of five state agriculture universities.

 

On December 3, 2008, the special bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the chief justice KG Balakrishnan, is slated to deliberate on a supplementary affidavit filed by Aruna Rodrigues, PV Satheesh and Rajeev Baruah, presenting extracts from a recent scientific study conducted by the Austrian government, arriving at a conclusion that GM corn caused infertility.

 

The supplementary affidavit is part of the original writ petition 206 of 2005 filed by the petitioners calling for a moratorium on GM crops.

 

The Austrian, study sponsored by the country's agriculture and health ministries and conducted by the team headed by Jurgen Zentek of the University of Vienna, found that mice fed with GM corn had less offspring in the third and forth generations and these differences were statistically significant.

Mice fed with non-GM corn reproduced more efficiently. The research team concluded that this effect could be attributed to the difference in the food source.

 

The Austrian scientists conducted several long-term feeding trials with laboratory mice over a course of 20 weeks.

 

One of the studies was reproductive assessment by continuous breeding (RACB) trial, in which the same parent generation gave birth to several litters of baby mice.

 

The parents were fed either with a diet containing 33% of a GM corn variety - NK603 x MON 810 or a closely related non-GM variety. A decrease in litter size and weight was found to be statistically significant in the third and fourth litters in the GM-corn fed mice compared to the control group.

 

Incidentally, in India, the 900M Gold developed by Monsanto India and allowed for limited field trials by the GEAC contains the same gene NK603 stacked with MON 89034.

 

According to Monsanto India, the gene NK603 makes the corn hybrid tolerant to the application of glyphosate, the active ingredient in roundup herbicide. Spraying of glyphosate on corn destroys the crop along with the weeds.

Corn that is genetically modified allows glyphosate to kill the weeds, while the crop remains safe from its effects. The Monsanto India's GM corn hybrids also contains genes - cry 1A.105 and cry 2Ab2 - derived from the soil bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis, claimed to be resistant to lepidopteran pests.

 

The petitioners have also submitted to the Supreme Court their own study on reproductive problems caused to buffalo and sheep on account of grazing over Bt cotton fields in Hissar in Haryana. The study was conducted with the assistance of veterinary scientists.

 

The petitioners have also produced the recorded comments of scientist Pushpa M Bhargava on the GEAC's dismal performance.

 

Bhargava is the special invitee to GEAC meetings at the instance of the order of the Supreme Court. ----

 

US-based soil body pitches for optimum use of fertiliser

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/usbased-soil-body-pitches-for-optimum-use-of-fertiliser/389743/ ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: 2008-11-24 01:02:30+05:30 ISTUpdated: Nov 24, 2008 at 0102 hrs IST

 

New Delhi, Nov 23 : The US-based International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agriculture Development (IFDC) has urged the Indian government to promote technologies for increasing the fertiliser use efficiency and lend policy support to encourage balanced use of soil nutrients.

 

Speaking to FE, the president and CEO of IFDC, Amit H Roy said, “The fertiliser products available today and application methods in use are wasteful. Growing plants generally use only 30% of the nutrients in the urea that farmers apply. This means that two out of every three bags of urea that a farmer applies are lost.â€

 

He said IFDC had developed urea deep placement (UDP) technology and rice growers of Bangladesh were adopting this technology to reduce urea loss. UDP increases yields by 25% while using 40% less urea.

 

Roy also said the current manufacturing process was expensive. “The energy equivalent of about four barrels of oil is used to convert free atmospheric nitrogen to one tonne of urea. Further after leaching and atmospheric losses, the energy equivalent of about 2.5 of these 4 barrels of of oil is wasted for every tonne of urea applied Also important is the energy wasted in transporting more fertiliser products than plants actually need,†he said adding fertiliser industry needs to develop energy saving technologies.

 

Regarding phosphatic fertilisers, he said India imported about 95% of phosphates in terms of DAP, phosphoric rock and phosphoric acid. He said the world’s known reserve of phosphate rock which would last for only 200 years with the current level of technology and rate of use. The cost of exploiting phosphate resources would rise as we exhaust the more readily accessible deposits. Phosphates would be an area of greater concern than nitrogen or potash in the next decade. Therefore efficient technologies are needed for processing phosphate and utilising phosphate rock directly from mines, he said.

 

Roy said “smart†fertilisers needs to be developed that would release nutrients only at the time and in amount needed by the plants. He also said generally plants do not absorb phosphate naturally available in the soil. Hence plants should be developed that exudate from roots to absorb the phosphates naturally available in the soil---------

 

Govt bid to sell wheat through tender irks millers

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/govt-bid-to-sell-wheat-through-tender-irks-millers/389652/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: 2008-11-24 00:11:00+05:30 ISTUpdated: Nov 24, 2008 at 0011 hrs IST

 

New Delhi, Nov 23 : The flour millers have expressed their dissatisfaction over the government’s process of selling wheat to them by inviting bids through open tender.

 

They have said that this system involved bureaucratic delays and do not serve much practical purpose.

 

Alternatively, the flour millers have suggested that the wheat be sold to them directly by the government agencies at determined prices.

 

The president of Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, MK Dattaraj said, "The process of selling wheat by inviting bids has caused problems like delays and inadequate quantity to deserving parties. If the government wants to help us, it should sell wheat directly to us at prices, which are mutually agreed upon according to different regions of the country."

 

The Union food and agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar had announced in August 2008 to release 6 million tonne from the government's stock to calm down prices. In this context, Dattaraj said that the government godowns were overflowing with grain stocks on account of a good harvest in the previous year and procurement by government agencies (about 23 million tonne wheat was procured). At many places the grains are kept under uncovered conditions and are likely to be damaged if a heavy shower occurs. It would be better if the government disposed off some of the grains stored, he said.

 

There would be further problems for the government if it does not dispose off the grains, as for the year 2008-09 a bumper wheat crop is pegged at 78.04 million tonne and the government would go for a massive procurement drive after hiking the minimum support price, he said.

 

The millers have demanded that the government sell wheat to them under actual user conditions till March, 2009, just before the new harvest.

 

Dattaraj said the wheat sold to millers would not only help them to utilise their capacity to an extent, but also the processed wheat flour made thereafter available would help to keep the price inflationary trend under control.

 

The flour mills have a capacity of 25 million tonne in aggregate, while the flour consumption needs are pegged at 12 million tonne.

 

Excess woes

 

•The process of selling wheat by inviting bids has caused problems like delays and inadequate quantity to deserving parties

• The government godowns were overflowing with grain stocks on account of a good harvest in the previous year and procurement by government agencies

• There would be further problems for the government if it does not dispose off the grains, as for the year 2008-09 a bumper wheat crop is pegged at 78.04 million tonne --------

 

Foreign universities seek partnerships in India

 

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/foreign-universities-seek-partnerships-in-india/389596/0 ASHOK B SHARMAPosted: 2008-11-24 23:03:56+05:30 ISTUpdated: Nov 24, 2008 at 2303 hrs IST

 

New Delhi, Nov 23 : Foreign universities are now increasingly looking forward to partnerships with Indian universities specifically institutes of higher learning and research with a view to expand their programmes and outreach.

 

Recently, during the Belgian King Albert II’s visit, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, signed a contract with the Universite’ libre de Bruxelles for cooperation in micro-finance research. Additionally, the Universite’ catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve signed a MoU with The Energy Research Institute (TERI) so as to collaborate on projects related to energy, climate change, environment and sustainable development.

 

Last week, a large delegation visited India from the university of Cologne, Germany led by its mayor Fritz Schramma. The university rector, Axel Freimuth and his team went around the country seeking partnerships with the university of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, IIM Ahmedabad, University of Pondicherry, IIM Bangalore and the National Law School, Bangalore.

 

Keeping in view the prevailing situation, Ficci-Ernst & Young study has said, “despite government initiatives, there exists a significant gap in the demand for higher education and the supply of infrastructure facilities. The government needs to step not only through improvised regulatory framework but through a different form of strategy—public-private partnership (PPP).â€

 

According to the study, higher education institutions (HEIs) can operate as a not-for-profit basis like as a trust or a society. Few HEIs that operate as a company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act are not recognised by the UGC and AICTE. The participation by the private sector in HEIs has been on the rise in recent years but the scale of demand and opportunity has led to signification lapses in quality and governance. Hence an effective PPP model backed by appropriate regulation can resolve the issue. The proposed regulatory framework should also facilitate the entry of foreign institutions.

 

With a view to take this concept further the apex industry body, Ficci along with the Canadian government has planned a two-day higher education summit in Delhi. University of Waterloo, Association of Community Colleges of Canada and representatives from a number of universities and colleges of Canada are expected to participate.

 

The higher education summit is slated to be inaugurated by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The valedictory address on November 26 will be given by the President and CEO of Asia Pacific Foundation, Paul Evans. Apart from Canada delegated from 10 countries including UK, US, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, Belarus, Kenya, Rwanda, Gabon are expected to participate.

 

According to the FICCI-Ernst & Young study entitled – Leveraging Partnership in India's Education Sector – with a total eligible population for education at 460 million, only about 63% are studying in India. This percentage is very low when compared to other BRIC countries like Brazil and Russia where 88% and 89% of the eligible population are studying. The report draws attention to India's low GER of 11% in higher education as compared to about 60% in the US and Canada and around 21% on an average in BRIC countries. The higher educational infrastructure in India can enroll only about 8% of the college-age students

 

The report highlights that while public expenditure on education has increased, the percentage share of GDP spent on higher education has come down from 0.77% in 1991 to an estimated 0.7% in 2008. The share of expenditure on higher education as a percentage of total education expense has remained stagnant at around 13% for the past three years. Further, Indian higher education system suffers from imbalanced reach of education institutions across the country which in turm impacts the GER. For instance, the rural areas which represents over 65% of the total population have just 20% of the total professional colleges.

 

However, India's higher education system has seen immense growth since Independence (1947) – from only 20 universities and 500 colleges in 1947-48, there were more than 400 universities and over 20,000 colleges with an enrolment of around 14 million students at the beginning of the academic year 2007-08. In addition, there are a number of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) approved technical institutions. As on August 31, 2007 there existed around 7,000 technical institutions that collectively had an intake of about 1.3 million.

 

Approximately 58% of all higher education institutions are located in six states namely Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, GER across states and union territories range from 4% in Arunachal Pradesh to about 26% in Chandigarh.

 

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the preferred states to establish private institutions with approximately 60% of the private medical colleges located in these states. Maharashtra and Karnataka account for almost 50% of the all hotel management institutes, while the other two states have about half of the country's nursing colleges. ------

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