JLR introduces new Range Rover Evoque

If both of your hands are occupied with carry bags and baggage, the tailgate (boot) of this vehicle opens automatically. You need not have to physically touch either the vehicle or the remote key. You just have to wave your foot under the rear of the vehicle and the tailgate opens on its own enabling you to load the bags with ease.

The hands-free powered tailgate also closes automatically with a wave of your foot so that you need not have to put the bags on the ground to shut the gate. Called Powered Gesture Tailgate, this is one of the many features that are loaded in the 2016 model of Land Rover Evoque, which has been introduced by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India.

Keeping up the momentum of new product offerings, JLR on Tuesday unveiled the refreshed version of Land Rover Evoque, at a price of Rs.47.1 lakh (ex-showroom, pre-octroi in Mumbai). This luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) comes with a comprehensive range of new design elements and technologies, the company said. The vehicle is on offer in four variants with the top-end model priced at Rs.63.2 lakh (ex-showroom, pre-octroi in Mumbai). The new Range Rover Evoque is available for sale at all the 22 authorised retail outlets of JLR.

“This car is already recognised as the ultimate statement of style and luxury for the young at heart. Over 2,000 such cars are already on the road and we are confident of its continued success. With the refreshed avatar this car will continue to play new trend,” said Rohit Suri, President Jaguar land Rover India Ltd. (JLRIL).

“This is our sixth vehicle launch this year and we have already received order for 125 Range Rover Evoque vehicles,” he added.

The price of the vehicles includes a three year service plan, which makes it easy during the ownership cycle. Land Rover Evoque is the top selling brand of JLR, which is owned by Tata Motors. The vehicle is targeted at high net worth individuals, executives and youth enamoured with a four-wheel drive.

Baddi gets state’s first dry port

Baddi today got the state’s first dry port with the inauguration of an Inland Container Depot (ICD) set up by the Container Corporation of India (Concor).

The ICD was inaugurated by SL Thakur, Principal Commissioner, Central Excise, Chandigarh. He flagged off a truck carrying industrial cargo to the Pipavav port in Gujarat.

Set up at a cost of Rs 73 crore, the inauguration of the ICD has come as a relief to investors. The services of the local truck union have been roped in to transport the goods from BBN to Ludhiana and Dappar.

Thakur said the Baddi terminal would provide cost-effective and reliable logistic services to the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh hub. He said it was equipped with modern infrastructure and handling equipment with fully computerised system. It is also linked to other depots of Concor through the V-Sat connectivity thus providing easier transportation of cargo to various ports and destinations.

The depot will also provide domestic services from its Dappar terminal to Chennai, Bangaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

The state government has provided 87 bighas for the facility at Shitalpur at a nominal lease of Re 1 per annum to the Concor.

Anil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Concor, YD Banga, Commissioner, Customs, Ludhiana, SS Katiyar, Additional Commissioner, Customs, P Alli Rani, Director, Finance, Concor, Shushil Kumar Executive Director, North, Concor, were also present on the occasion.

Jayakumar takes over as MD, chief executive of Bank of Baroda

PS Jayakumar, 53, former chief executive of VBHC Value Homes, on Tuesday assumed charge as the new MD and and CEO of the state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) for three years.

The bank is currently under investigation for the alleged default of black money transactions worth `6,000 crore.

Jayakumar’s new assignment assumes significance as the government has introduced a significant policy change allowing private sector professionals to head state-owned banks.

Ravi Venkatesan, ex-chairman of Microsoft India, has been appointed the non-executive chairman of Bank of Baroda.

The Central Bureau of Investigation recently raided the BoB bank branches in connection with the alleged illegal money transfer of Rs 6,172 crore from its branches to Hong Kong. However, its executive director BB Joshi said 90% of the alleged illegal money transfer from its branches came in from at least 30 more banks — both public and private.

Sajjan Kumar is new GM for IndianOil Bihar

Mr Sajjan Kumar has joined Indian Oil’s Bihar state office as General Manger and state-level coordinator of Bihar and Jharkhand.

Mr Kumar holds a masters degree in business management apart from a B.E. and M.Sc. in civil engineering.

Having joined Indian Oil in 1984 as an engineering officer, he has worked in engineering, planning and operations department.

Before taking over as General Manager, Bihar, he was serving as Deputy General Manager (Operations) at the company’s marketing division in Mumbai.

Mr Kumar has replaced Mr B.B.Choudhary, who has moved to the corporate office as Executive Director (Exploration and Production and RE and SD division).

Modi, Mukesh, Sundar in fray for Time Person of the Year

Time said 2015 is filled with newsmakers who have defined the year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reliance Industries Ltd. chairman Mukesh Ambani and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are among over 50 global leaders, business chiefs and pop icons named as contenders by the Time magazine for its “Person of the Year” honour to be announced on December 9.

The title goes to a person who “most influenced the news this year for better or worse”.

“Prime Minister of India has encouraged foreign direct investment in India and is trying to modernise the world’s largest democracy. He has also faced controversy over what some see as right-wing extremism,” the magazine said.

Mr. Modi was a contender last year too, but was only named the winner of the readers’ poll as he had secured more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast. The readers’ poll this year will close at 11.59 p.m. on December 4 and the winner announced on December 7. Mr. Modi now ranks 19th in the poll, with 1.4 per cent of the vote share, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping who has 0.9 %.

“The chairman of RIL — which owns everything from telecommunications properties to the world’s largest crude oil refinery — is the richest person in India,” said the magazine. Mr. Mukesh Ambani has been able to garner 0.3 per cent of the vote share and is ahead of Michael Dell who has 0.2 per cent.

As for the Chennai-born Sundar Pichai, the magazine said: “After 11 years at Google, most recently as co-founder Larry Page’s right hand, Pichai assumed the tech giant’s top job. Amid a wave of change, he will oversee core businesses, including search, ads, Android and YouTube.”

In a separate ‘face-off’ poll, Mr. Modi has been pitted against Mr. Xi, and Mr. Ambani against Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

Madrasas on anti-IS drive

Darul Uloom Deoband and Dargah-e-Aala-Hazrat condemn Paris attacks.

Post-Paris attacks, two influential Islamic seminaries have come out strongly against the terrorist group, the Islamic State. Darul Uloom Deoband and the Bareilly-based Dargah-e-Aala-Hazrat have condemned the terror attack as a “murder of humanity”.

Fatwa against IS

The Bareilly-based madrasa decided to mobilise Islamic scholars across the country to issue a joint fatwa against the IS and run a signature campaign among Muslims. The Deoband-based seminary, which generally keeps a low profile, decided to create awareness against the IS through its fatwa against terrorism.

Vice-Chancellor of Darul-uloom-Deoband, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, told The Hindu on the phone, “There should not be any doubt about our condemnation of the IS in strongest possible terms. Killing of innocent people in the name of Islam is a crime as heinous as demolition of the holy Kaaba.”

“This terror group has killed far more Muslims than Christians and people from the West. It is a terror group with political ambitions,” Maulana Nomani said.

The Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat, the Bareilly-based headquarters of the Barelvi sect, said it would mobilise clerics and religious scholars across the country to issue a joint fatwa against the IS and terrorism.

Muslims shocked

Maulana Subhan Raza Khan, who heads the shrine, told The Hindu on the phone that Muslims were not only shocked but also embarrassed by the Paris attacks.

He said no Muslim supported terror. “Our fatwa campaign was to tell the world that followers of Islam would never support terror.”

The seminary at the 100-year-old Sunni organisation, Darul-ifta Firangi Mahal, also issued a fatwa against the IS.

“The fatwa, which is signed by 1,000 scholars, condemns all activities of the IS,” said Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali, who heads the organisation.

Cybercrime hit half of India’s Net users, says study

Nearly half of India’s Internet-using population has been affected by cybercrime during the past year, with each person losing over Rs. 16,500 on an average as a result, says a report released by security services firm Norton.

“In the past year, 48 per cent of India’s online population, or approximately 113 million Indians, were affected by online crime … Despite the threat of cybercrime in India, it hasn’t led to widespread adoption of simple protection measures to safeguard information online, with almost one in four Indians sharing passwords as a common practice,” Ritesh Chopra, country manager (India) for Norton by Symantec, said.

As per the Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report, an Indian lost an average of Rs. 16,558 compared to the global average of Rs. 23,878 ($ 358) due to cybercrime.

“Besides the financial loss, there is an emotional impact as well ... Close to eight in 10 respondents said they would feel devastated if their personal financial information is compromised, while 36 per cent said they felt sad after being affected by online crimes compared with 19 per cent globally.”

Only 40 per cent respondents were confident of knowing what to do if they fell victim to any online crime.

The global study, covering 17 countries and 17,125 device users aged above 18, comprised inputs from over 1,000 people from India.

The report found that baby boomers (55 years and above), a group often considered less tech-savvy, have more secure online habits than the millennials (born between 1980s and early 2000)

Risky behaviour

“While millennials, born in the digital era, often throw caution to the wind with 31 per cent admitting to sharing passwords and other risky online behaviour. They are more reckless in many ways, with only one in four believing they have most responsibility when an online crime occurs,” Mr. Chopra said.

Four in 10 millennials believe that they are not “interesting enough” to be a target of online crime, Mr. Chopra said. “In reality, however, more than seven in 10 millennials in India have ever experienced a form of cybercrime, with every second millennial (54 per cent) experiencing it in the last 12 months alone. Also, 32 per cent Indians (driven mostly by millennials) reported having their mobile device stolen compared with the global average of 15 per cent,” Mr. Chopra said.

Despite concerns towards cybercrime, only 41 per cent said they use a secure password.

Driven by drought, crocodiles leave Manjeera river, enter fields

Lack of rains for the past two years had had an adverse impact on the crocodiles as well. The parched area under Manjeera river resembled a playground.

Few days ago a crocodile was caught in the sugarcane field of the late legislator P. Kishta Reddy at Nadigadda near Narayanakhed.

This was not an isolated incident, as in the past few weeks as many as seven crocodiles were spotted in fields: three at Manoor, one each at Zaheerabad, Nyalakal, Regod and Marpally in Ranga Reddy district. It is said that that the crocodiles ended up in the fields in search of water, sending shivers down the spine of many farmers.

Lack of rains for the past two years had had an adverse impact on the crocodiles as well.

Ample space for 580 crocs

The parched area under Manjeera river resembled a playground.

The course of the river, spread over 32 kilometres from Singoor reservoir to Manjeera dam, provides ample space for about 580 crocodiles in addition to three big and 32 small crocodiles at the crocodile park at Manjeera dam.

Alternative habitats

The Narinja vagu located near Zaheerabad had already dried up, forcing crocodiles to look for alternative habitats.

There are about nine islands between Manjeera and Singoor where large sized water bodies (‘madugu’) exist and officials are pinning their hopes on these water bodies.

“Though it is a fact that the crocodiles reached human habitations from the river in search of water, we hope that the situation may not go out of control as a large number of water bodies are available within the river course. All precautions will be taken to keep the crocodiles in these water bodies till the rainy season,” said Mr. Satteaiah, Beat Officer, Forest Department.

Most young people unaware of climate change, says study

A survey conducted in four countries has revealed that most young people lack awareness about the challenges posed by climate change. It added that those who knew about it showed a degree of scepticism about a solution.

The report titled ‘Climate Action: Youth Voices’, which was released on Thursday, collates the views of about 1,000 people from 18 to 30 years of age in India, Vietnam, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Released by Professor Matthew Hibberd of Scotland’s Stirling University and Alka Tomar of the Centre for Environment Communication, the report finds that young people are “hopeful” of a legally binding agreement coming out of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

Ms. Tomar said that of the about 500 people surveyed in India, “around 75 per cent” lacked awareness about climate change.

Prof Hibberd, head of Communications, Media and Culture at Stirling, added that with social media the level of awareness among the youth should have been greater.

“But, there is still a lack of awareness. Among those who were informed, there was a level of hope but also a degree of scepticism over whether any agreement in Paris will be ratified and implemented,” he said.

Prof. Hibberd was referring to the previous Kyoto Protocol, where the United States took the lead in, but failed to ratify it.

“Young people see Paris as important for the Obama legacy,” he said, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama, who will be demitting office in 2016.

As per the focus groups the researchers interacted with, the failure to come up with a legally binding agreement in Paris would have a “disastrous impact”.

Delhi airport set to get busier

With a flight taking off or landing from one of its three runways every 55 seconds during peak hours, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is the busiest and buzziest in the country.

This month, the airport has witnessed an average daily flight movement of 1,035, with the peak reached on November 6, with a record breaking 1,082 air traffic movement.

This, however, could only be the beginning for the airport to find itself in the august company of one of the world’s busiest airports such as London’s Heathrow.

“Delhi went past the Mumbai airport some while ago by handling many more passengers and flight movements and the gulf has only widened. By next year, we might even overtake London Heathrow airport (average daily movement of 1,400),” said a senior air traffic control official who didn't wish to be named.

Unlike the airport of the country’s financial capital, space is not a constraint at IGIA, which is spread over 5,100 acres.

The Delhi airport already has three runways, which can operate simultaneously. A fourth runway is just a few years away if you believe the plans of the private airport operator, Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL).

Two years ago, Delhi airport reached the record of 75 flight movements in an hour.

At present, that figure is almost a daily occurrence during peak hours with the highest recorded movement being 78 in an hour.

According to sources at the airport, IGIA already has the capability of handling 80 to 85 flight movements an hour.

According to highly placed sources, one of the major changes in recent time has been minimising the voice contact between pilots and air traffic control officials, which used to take a lot of time.

At present, most of the information and clearances are shared online and reaches aircraft cockpit directly and most international and many domestic airlines are using the system.

“Despite the huge increase in number of flights in the last two years and more expected in the coming time, air traffic management has become much more smooth and faster thanks to the new systems and procedures in place,” said a senior air traffic control official.

“The ‘routings’ are now standardised and air traffic officials don't have to explain the entire route to each pilot anymore. For example, instead of directing the pilot on which taxiways to take and then take which route to reach their allotted parking bay, they simply tell them to take route 1 or 2 or so on. This has helped in reducing a lot time, which helps in handling more flights in the same given time,” he said.

“The coming days are only going to get busier and flights keep increasing, thanks to the push given to regional connectivity, we might be even counted amongst the busiest airports in the world,” he said.

AIIMS, French Embassy join hands

The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will hold its first public health and medical innovation conclave on Friday in association with the French Embassy and the France-based FAM-Medical Academy Foundation.

AIIMS spokesperson Dr. Amit Gupta said the collaboration will facilitate co-operation between specialists in medical science in accordance with the laws, rules and regulations of the two nations and within the limits of financial resources of each party.

Under this partnership, the organisers will also hold joint seminars and workshops in either country on domains of mutual interest and increasing opportunities of co-operation amongst stakeholders by way of sharing knowledge.

Civil society forms a Fasivad Virodhi Manch

It will work to counter the onslaught of the fascist forces

Highlighting the “disturbing” trend of increasing attacks on secularism, constitutional values, rationality, democracy and freedom of expression, members of civil society came together on one platform on Wednesday to form a “Fasivad Virodhi Manch” (FVM). The Manch will work to build resistance against attacks on the rich and diverse nature of the Indian nation.”

Speaking during a press conference Shabnam Hashmi from ANHAD said, “FVM is one of many efforts to counter the onslaught of the fascist forces. The manch will compliment and work in collaboration with other platforms and initiatives that have been recently formed.”

Human rights activist John Dayal said that there was “a seamless integration and adoption of the policies of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh by the NDA government entirely dominated by the Bharatiya Janata party which has led to almost total impunity, seen in the failure to act in cases of speeches by Sangh leaders to incite violence against Muslims and Christians.”

Apoorvanand, a prominent academician and a public intellectual, on this occasion argued that, “the welfare network is rapidly being demolished, many policies changed at the behest of the corporate sector.”

Meet to focus on global warming

Issues concerning global warming and climate change will be discussed at a seminar being organised here by the state government on Saturday as a prelude to the 2016 Simhastha Kumbh fair.

“The seminar will be inaugurated by Sri Sri Ravishankar; External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to grace the concluding function on November 22,” Chairman of Organising Committee Anil Madhav Dave, MP, told reporters on Thursday.

He said a draft paper for preparing the Simhastha Declaration will be issued during the two-day event.

“The Simhastha Declaration will be issued during the month-long religious fair in 2016 in Ujjain. It will not only highlight the problem but also offer solutions to the vexed issue of global warming and climate change,” Mr Dave said, adding that the final declaration will have solutions based on age-old Indian traditions which are being recognised even by the West.

Fifteen sessions will be held during the seminar which will be attended by national and international experts on environment, besides those working at the ground level.

Pay panel moots 23.5% hike, to cost govt. Rs.1.02 lakh cr.

Significantly, the report has recommended a one-rank one-scheme for all government employees, including military personnel.

In its report submitted to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday, the Seventh Central Pay Commission has recommended an overall increase of 23.55 per cent in pay, allowances, and pension for government employees. Within this, the Commission’s report recommends a 16 per cent increase in basic pay, a 63 per cent increase in allowances and a 24 per cent hike in pension. The recommendations are to come into force on January 1, 2016.

“This will impact 47 lakh employees and 52 lakh pensioners. The total monetary impact on the central government would be Rs 1.02 lakh crore. Around Rs 74,000 crore would be the impact on the Union Budget and Rs 28,000 crore on the Railway Budget,” Mr Jaitley said at his residence after he received the report from Justice A.K. Mathur, Chairperson of the Commission. Mr Jaitley said the impact of the recommendations amounts to 0.6 per cent of GDP, adding that while the government would review the report soon, the State governments would take their own view on it.

The report also recommends an annual increment of 3 per cent in basic pay.

Significantly, the report has recommended a one-rank one-scheme for all government employees, including military personnel. “The Commission recommends a revised pension formulation for civil employees including CAPF personnel as well as for Defence personnel, who have retired before January 1, 2016. This formulation will bring about parity between past pensioners and current retirees for the same length of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement,” Justice Mathur explained.

Past pensioners will first be placed in the proposed pay matrix on the basis of where they stood in the existing pay band and pay grade structure when they retired. This amount is to be raised to arrive at the notional pay of retirees, taking into account the number of increments they earned in that level while in service at the rate of 3 per cent. Defence forces personnel will also receive Military Service Pay as admissible.

Fifty per cent of the total amount arrived at in this manner will be the new pension, the report said.

Grade pay abolished

“Considering the issues raised regarding the Grade Pay structure and with a view to bring in greater transparency, the present system of pay bands and grade pay has been dispensed with and a new pay matrix has been designed. Grade Pay has been subsumed in the pay matrix. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the pay matrix,” the report says.

Towards this end, the report recommends that a fitment factor of 2.57 to be applied uniformly for all employees. That is, employees will see their pay increase by 2.57 times in a one-time increase to bring uniformity to the new pay matrix, Justice A. K. Mathur, Chairman of the Commission said.

“Based on the Aykroyd formula, the minimum pay in government is recommended to be set at Rs. 18,000 per month and Rs. 2,25,000 per month for Apex Scale and Rs. 2,50,000 per month for Cabinet Secretary and others presently at the same pay level,” the report said.

The report has abolished 52 allowances altogether and another 36 allowances have been subsumed either in an existing allowance or in newly proposed allowances.

There were some controversial issues that the Commission could not reach a consensus on. The most significant has to do with the perceived financial ‘edge’ granted to IAS and IFS officers at three promotion stages. Justice Mathur recommended that this be extended to the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service as well.

While one member of the Commission recommended that status quo be maintained, another was of the view that the financial edge accorded to the IAS and IFS be removed.

Supreme Court banks on collegium to fill judicial vacancies

Appointments through the present system of Collegium will not be put on hold until the Constitution Bench decides on reforms, said Justice Khehar.

With the judicial vacancies in High Courts mounting and transparency yet to kick in over judicial appointments, the Supreme Court on Thursday chose to bank on the very Collegium process it wants to reform to appoint judges, at least for the time being.

Finally addressing growing anxieties about judicial vacancies touching 40 percent in High Courts, the Constitution Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar said judges will continue to be appointed under the prevailing and much-criticised Collegium system, which was restored when the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) laws were struck down as “unconstitutional”.

Reserving its orders on proposals to reform the Collegium, Justice Khehar said that it was "needless to say the process of appointment of judges by the Collegium process as in vogue may continue”.

“It (judicial appointments) shall not be put on hold. It will continue," Justice J.S. Khehar observed.

Fresh judicial appointments have been on hold ever since the battle over the constitutionality of NJAC and the subsequent hearing to reform the Collegium system began to wage in the Supreme Court.

The five-judge Bench had sat for whole days on November 18 and 19, debating proposed reforms and pouring over 15,000 pages of suggestions to improve the Collegium system.

But Wednesday saw Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi draw the Bench's attention to the rising judicial vacancies in the High Courts and how it has delayed disposal of cases.

The High Courts have over 400 judicial vacancies to a sanctioned strength of 1,050 judges. The number of vacancies in the Supreme Court itself will increase from three to five with the retirement of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Vikramjit Sen in December 2015.

Earlier this morning, Mr. Rohatgi sparked a new stand-off between the highest judiciary and the government when he informed the Supreme Court that the Centre will not prepare a draft Memorandum of Procedure for judicial appointments and present it for judicial vetting.

Instead, Mr. Rohatgi suggested that either the Bench prepare one itself or leave it entirely to the Centre to do the job in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.

“It is not possible for us to submit a draft for judicial discussion. Either we ourselves do it or Your Lordships may pronounce a judgment on each facet, like the formation of a secretariat for Collegiums, etc. We shall then implement it or follow it,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.

Mr. Rohatgi told the Bench that preparation of the memorandum of procedure is anyway an Executive function done in consultation with the Chief Justice of India, and this Bench need not burden itself on the nitty-gritties.

When Justice A.K. Goel on the bench asked Mr. Rohatgi why he had yesterday offered to prepare the draft, the AG said the suggestion had first come from the Bench and he had to obviously get instructions from the government.

On Wednesday, the bench had accepted Mr. Rohatgi's offer in his capacity as Attorney General to prepare a draft memorandum and place it for debate before the bench.

The bench had even given suggestions like an independent secretariat for the restored Collegium system, creation of database and widening the pool of judicial candidates to usher in transparency into the much-smeared Collegium style of functioning.

However, the bench's acceptance of Mr. Rohatgi's offer fell into troubled waters when senior advocates like Gopal Subramanium expressed apprehensions.

Mr. Subramanium had protested that the Bench should have "politely declined" Mr. Rohatgi's offer.

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Here is what you need to know about the row:

What is the NJAC?

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) is a constitutional body proposed to replace the present Collegium system of appointing judges.

What is the Collegium system?

The Collegium system is one where the Chief Justice of India and a forum of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court recommend appointments and transfers of judges. However, it has no place in the Indian Constitution. The system was evolved through Supreme Court judgments in the Three Judges Cases (October 28, 1998)

Why is Collegium system being criticised?

The Central government has criticised it saying it has created an imperium in imperio (empire within an empire) within the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Bar Association has blamed it for creating a “give-and-take” culture, creating a rift between the haves and have-nots. “While politicians and actors get instant relief from courts, the common man struggles for years for justice.”

How and when was the NJAC established?

The NJAC was established by amending the Constitution [Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014] passed by the Lok Sabha on August 13, 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on August 14 2014. Alongside, the Parliament also passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014, to regulate the NJAC’s functions. Both Bills were ratified by 16 of the State legislatures and the President gave his assent on December 31, 2014. The NJAC Act and the Constitutional Amendment Act came into force from April 13, 2015.

Who will be in the NJAC?

It will consist of six people — the Chief Justice of India, the two most senior judges of the Supreme Court, the Law Minister, and two ‘eminent persons’. These eminent persons are to be nominated for a three-year term by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and are not eligible for re-nomination.

If politicians are involved, what about judicial independence?

The judiciary representatives in the NJAC -- the Chief Justice and two senior-most judges – can veto any name proposed for appointment to a judicial post if they do not approve of it. Once a proposal is vetoed, it cannot be revived. At the same time, the judges require the support of other members of the commission to get a name through.

Infy Foundation USA offers grants to expand inclusivity programme

Will support organisations that deliver computer science education and coding education to schools students

Infosys Foundation USA, a non-profit organisation focused on bridging the digital divide in America, announced new strategic partnerships with Girls Who Code, CodeNow and ScriptEd. These organisations impart computer science and coding education to middle and high school students through curricular and extracurricular programs nationwide.

“The grants follow Infosys Foundation USA’s inaugural Crossroads event at Stanford University,” Infosys said in a press release.

Vandana Sikka, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation USA, said, “While the Crossroads event spurred a vigorous debate with multiple perspectives on how best to make computer science education more inclusive, it reaffirmed my belief that computer science is not only for software engineers.”

Girls Who Code provides digital programs to help young women build their coding skills. Funds from Infosys Foundation USA will support 500 clubs nationwide, training instructors and recruiting volunteers for these clubs, which will help extend Girls Who Code clubs program to 6,000 new students.

While CodeNow focuses on helping students from underserved backgrounds access extracurricular coding education. It will receive a grant to teach up to 200 new students. ScriptEd helps under-resourced public schools access innovative computer science education programs and resources. Funds will be used to rollout the program in up to five new schools and 100 new students.

TAKE Solutions to buy Ecron Acunova for Rs.115 crore

BSE-listed TAKE Solutions Ltd, technology solution provider for supply chain and life sciences segments, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bangalore-headquartered Ecron Acunova (EA), a leading clinical research organisation, in a transaction that is valued at Rs.115 crore.

The deal is expected to strengthen TAKE’S position as a fully integrated differentiated Life Sciences services provider to large and small global pharmaceutical companies and thereby broaden the addressable market. 

Ecron, which delivers pharmaceutical research services to global clients across South East Asia, Central & Nordic Europe and North America, will to add expertise in the largely untapped Biosimilars space for TAKE as also other segments such as regenerative medicine and Diagnostic imaging agent’s space, which are reported to be the future growth areas, said a company statement.

Also, the acquisition will help expand the addressable market to $30 billion for TAKE as well as significantly enhance presence in Europe and Nordic countries.

“Globally, there is a growing focus on quality, data, analytics and outcomes in the industry, resulting in increased pharma/biotech R&D spending and funding. This acquisition will enhance our addressable market from $15.9 billion to over $30 billion by 2019, giving us great headroom for growth,” said H.R.Srinivasan, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Take Solutions.

Ecron deal will also augment its pool of subject experts by 30 per cent and life sciences talent by 50 per cent. In addition, the Full Service capability along with expanded infrastructure will allow Take to service the mid-market as well.

Take will also now be able to expand its IPs in Risk Based Monitoring and other solutions aimed at bringing safe, effective, and affordable drugs and devices to market, it added.

Tata Steel commissions Kalinganagar Steel Project

Indian steel major Tata Steel commissioned the first phase (3 million tonnes per annum) of its 6 MTPA capacity Kalinganagar Steel Plant — the largest single-location greenfield steel project in India — in Odisha on Wednesday.

The company plans to expand the plant’s capacity to 16 MTPA by 2025 with the cumulative investment amounting to Rs.1,00,000 crore.

The state-of-the-art plant, which will produce world-class flat and lighter, high-tensile strength steel, was dedicated to the nation by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in the presence of Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry and Tata Steel Managing Director T. V. Narendran. With the commissioning of the plant, Tata Steel’s capacity to produce crude steel in India has touched 13 MTPA.

First phase investment

Built at an investment of over Rs.25,000 crore in the first phase, the Kalinganagar plant boasts of India’s largest blast furnace at 4,330 cubic meter with production capacity of 3.2 MTPA, the company said. The plant will witness the seamless movement of raw material with its twin wagon tippler, the first installation in India having unloading capacity of 20 MTPA. The steel plant claims to have the most advanced carbon hearth technology along with on-site power generation of 202 MW through gases discharged by coke oven and blast furnace. “Tata Steel project will be a milestone in the industrial history of Odisha. Kalinganagar has become the industrial capital of the entire eastern India,” Mr. Patnaik said.

“Tata Steel is planning to expand the capacity of Kalinganagar plant to 16 million tonnes per annum by the year 2025 with cumulative investment of about Rs.1,00,000 crore,

The company will also invest Rs.2,300 crore for scaling up of the capacity of its captive Khandabandh iron ore mine,” Chief Minister said.

Addressing a function marking commissioning of the project, Mr. Mistry said, “Odisha, which has emerged as top investment destination in the county, is poised to grow by 20 per cent by 2020.”

“Tata Steel has commissioned its Kalinganagar Steel Plant. The group will soon have 55,000 tonne per annum capacity Ferrochrome plant at Gopalpur. At the same place, Tata’s multi-product special economic zone is expected attract Rs.10,000 crore investment from the country and outside” said Tata Sons Chairman. Among others State Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra and Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick spoke on the occasion. Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate) was present at the commissioning function.

Natural gas prices to fall next fiscal: Goldman Sachs

The Oil Ministry, earlier this week, floated a consultation paper for freeing prices of natural gas produced from fields auctioned in future.

Natural gas prices for existing fields such as KG-D6 of Reliance Industries will dip to $3.6 per unit in next fiscal from $3.82 currently, Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday.

“We believe Indian domestic natural gas prices that are linked to prices in gas surplus economies remain materially below the costs to develop marginal and deep-water fields and hence do not incentivise exploration and production capex,” it said in a report.

This has resulted in Indian producers potentially losing $2 billion annually in value added assuming they can replace imports entirely, it added.

“We believe the current gas price regime is not incentivising domestic capex sufficiently as we expect prices under the current formula to decline to $3.6 per million British thermal unit in 2016-17 while cost for new deep-water discoveries ranges between $6 to $7 per mmBtu,” Goldman said.

The Oil Ministry, earlier this week, floated a consultation paper for freeing prices of natural gas produced from fields auctioned in future. The rates for existing and old fields will remain to be priced at the current formula which uses average price prevailing in gas-surplus economies.

“We note 47 trillion cubic feet of domestic natural gas resources remain untapped and believe linking the gas price to liquid/alternative fuels and letting producers take the commodity risk could create a market conducive to private capex,” Goldman said.

The nomination blocks of ONGC and Oil India with cost ranging from $3.2 to $3.6 per mmBtu would fail to make economic returns at the new rates.

The BJP-led government had in October last year approved a new pricing formula for all domestically produced natural gas.

Google to offer Indian startups free cloud credits

This will help startups in India who are held back by a lack of computing to power, to build, deploy and scale the next big innovation on the web, added the company.

Search giant Google on Wednesday announced two new initiatives for the enterprises in India. For the growing start-up community, Google said it would offer $20,000 each in free credits for ‘Google Cloud Services’ to 1,000 startups in India over the next one year.

The criteria includes that the startup should not have raised funding of more than $5 million, less than $500,000 in annual revenue and not received previous cloud platforms credits.

This will help startups in India who are held back by a lack of computing to power, to build, deploy and scale the next big innovation on the web, added the company.

We are committed to partner next generation companies and enterprises as a trusted provider of affordable, collaborative and easy to use productivity and cloud computing tools to help them succeed,” said Amit Singh, President, Google For Work.

Ola raises $500 million; valuation touches $5 billion

Ola, India's largest cab aggregator by market share, has announced that it has closed $500 million in its Series F funding round. Baillie Gifford, Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global, SoftBank Group, DST Global and Didi Kuaidi participated in this round.

Ola has raised the the series F fund at a valuation of over $5 billion.

Ola will use these funds to further accelerate its growth in the Indian market with a focus on building mobility for a billion people.
The company claimed it has grown by over 30 times in the last one year, now clocking over 1 million booking requests a day.

With over 350,000 vehicles registered on its platform it is operating in 102 cities.
The latest round of funding will be used towards fueling growth across existing categories as well as in innovating mobility solutions for the local market. Ola will also continue to focus on building and nurturing the ecosystem for its driver-entrepreneurs and to enable more drivers to grow as entrepreneurs themselves, in the time to come, the company said in a statement.

With the current round, Ola has closed over $1.3 billion of external funding, of which over $1.2 billion has been raised over the past year. In April 2015, Ola raised $400 million of funding led by DST Global in Series E and prior to that, $210 million led by SoftBank Group as part of its Series D round in October 2014. Ola counts Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Accel Partners US, and Falcon Edge also amongst its existing investors.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co founder and CEO at Ola said, "As we pursue our mission to build mobility for a billion people, we are excited about bringing onboard partners who can help us get there faster. We will continue to build for the local market through innovative solutions like Ola Share, Ola Prime and Ola Money, as we grow the mobile ecosystem in India."