On World Water Day, worst water crisis in a decade

Water levels at 91 major reservoirs nationwide are the lowest in a decade–no more than 29%, according to the latest weekly bulletin of the Central Water Commission(CWC).
As World Water Day is marked today, water levels at Indian reservoirs are 71% of last year, or 74% of average storage over the last decade, the CWC data reveal.
The 91 major reservoirs contain 157.8 billion cubic metre (BCM) of water; the capacity of these reservoirs is 250 BCM. Another 400 BCM water is available for irrigation in India through groundwater, according to this answer given by the government in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) in July 2015.
With more than three months for the monsoon, which breaks in the first week of July, 2016 is on course to witness the worst water scarcity in a decade.
Source: Weekly bulletins of Central Water Commission, March 2016 and April 2015.
Reports of widespread scarcity are already evident, as is conflict over water use for agriculture, domestic use and manufacturing.
Thousands of villages in Maharashtra’s Marathwada–facing record-breaking drought–depend solely on water from state-supplied tankers, with the city of Latur supplying water to its people once in three weeks. Last week, the Latur district administration, fearing violence over water, imposed restrictions on assembly.
Fodder camps in parched rural Maharashtra shelter not just cattle but hundreds of families. The government is now recommending that towns and cities stop water supply to swimming pools.
Madhya Pradesh (MP) is bracing for drought and the government is preparing to send tankers to villagers. In Bundelkhand–spread across MP and Uttar Pradesh–there hasn’t been water to sow the winter crop, agricultural productivity has halved and people find it hard to buy salt. In Odisha, farmers have broken embankments of public lakes to save crops.
Farmers demanding water recently blockaded Bangalore. And the water crisis in Karnataka is witnessing a fallout in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Tamil Nadu. AP, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu likely to be India’s most water-scarce states this summer.

#LoveTwitter: The big hits and misses of 10 years of Twitter

Micro-blogging site Twitter turns 10 on Monday.

With the hashtag "#LoveTwitter" trending and inviting people to celebrate Twitter's first decade, Twitter's official handle thanked all its users for "10 incredible years".

The site's official blog kicked off the celebration on Monday afternoon and said: "On March 21, ten years ago, it began with a single Tweet. Since then, every moment of every day, people connect about the things they care about most — all over the world."

The Tweet in question, posted by founder Jack Dorsey, said "just setting up my twttr" on March 21, 2006. 

Of course, since then, Twitter has come a long way. From amassing 300 million users to going public.

User growth:

According to online statistics portal Statista, as of the fourth quarter of 2015, the micro-blogging service averaged at 305 million monthly active users.

In the beginning of 2015, India alone had 22.2 million users on Twitter. According to a 2015 report by the Huffingtonpost, Twitter clocked double digit growth in India  with the site accounting for 17% of the total social network users in one of the world's largest Internet market. The article cited a report by market research firm eMarketer and said that India was only second to Japan (26 million) in terms of the size of its Twitter population.

However, according to a New York Times report, in February this year, after many quarters of slowing user growth, Twitter said its monthly visitors in the fourth quarter totalled 320 million. The figure had not budged from the one the company reported in the previous quarter.

Over the years the social networking site took its simple theory - express yourself in 140 characters or fewer - and took the cyber, and real, world by storm.

The Left's dilemma on Kanhaiya, and his dilemma with the Left

Kanhaiya Kumar will not campaign for the Left parties in the forthcoming assembly Elections in Kerala and West Bengal. After announcing that he might, top leaders of the Left parties have had second thoughts in sending him to two states where their principle enemy isn’t the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to top leaders of the Left parties, Kanhaiya, the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union will continue to lead protest marches or address students in colleges and universities across the country, including in Kerala and Bengal.

A Left leader told this website that Kanhaiya’s speeches would focus more on “the dangers that face India’s pluralism and its secular democracy from the current government”. It is apparent from posters and hoardings featuring Kanhaiya put up by the Congress party in Guwahati that he isn’t an icon just for the Left parties.

By campaigning actively for a particularly party in Kerala Assembly Elections 2016 and Bengal, Kanhaiya runs the risk of losing the support he has received not just from the Congress, large sections of the intelligentsia and also those who are vehemently opposed to the Left ideology. Thanks to Kanhaiya, the Left has has managed to occupy the mainstream discourse after decades and has also come across as a strong bulwark against Hindutva politics. The Left leaders now say that Kanhaiya has emerged as a youth symbol against all that is ostensibly wrong with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, and they are unlikely to expend him for their immediate electoral gains.

The statement that Kanhaiya might campaign in Kerala and Bengal for the Left parties – the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M), Communist Party of India (CPI) and their other allies – was attributed to CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. But there’s been a rethink since. “Kanhaiya’s message will go to Kerala and Bengal, just as its spreading across the country,” a top Left leader said, adding that Yechury’s statement was taken out of context. “The battle that the country faces currently is much bigger than winning an assembly election or two,” said a Left leader.

This realisation among Left leaders has come after Kanhaiya himself made it amply clear and conveyed as much to the Left leadership that his focus at the current juncture was on completing his doctoral dissertation and serving out the remainder of his term as the JNU students’ union president. According to sources, Kanhaiya’s professors have also advised him against jumping headlong into electoral politics.

There is also hard political analysis behind Kanhaiya’s decision to turn down the offer by Left parties to campaign for them in Kerala Elections 2016 and Bengal. Kanhaiya is with All India Students Federation (AISF), which is affiliated to the CPI. The CPI is non-existent in large parts of the country, including in Kanhaiya’s home state of Bihar. It is a marginal player even in Kerala and Bengal, surviving in the shadow of big brother CPI(M).

Kanhaiya is product of a Left movement that is in steep decline. The situation is different from when student leaders of the 1970s, like Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat, were propelled to the heights of Indian politics on the strength of a vibrant Left movement in several parts of the country.

Kanhaiya can either joining politics now and run the risk of becoming yet another student leader who might fall into political oblivion in the years to come, or he can focus on academics, start teaching and continue with his political commitments.

West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016

The Narada News sting operation — showing ministers, members of Parliament (MPs) and members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) allegedly taking cash for favours — kept the party and the Opposition busy in West Bengal on Tuesday.

While most of the alleged people in the video footage refrained from making comments on the sting, TMC chief and West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chose to respond to the allegations at a rally in North Bengal's Kurseong, where she has been campaigning for the past few days. "Let the Opposition hatch as many conspiracies as they want. We are not afraid. We work for the people. We do not believe in fear tactics," Banerjee said without mentioning the sting operation.

"We are ready to give a fitting reply to the Opposition politically. People will bowl them out in elections," she said, apparently keeping her faith in the electorate.

Sources close to the development said the ruling party was in a dilemma. The party's parliamentary committee was believed to have met on Tuesday to discuss its strategy to counter the sting. Some of them said the party should have been proactive in investigating the issue. Some felt the party should move court to obtain a stay on airing the footage till its veracity was proved but others were sceptical of the outcome.

The release of the footage came at a time when the ruling party was worried about an alliance between the Left Front and the Congress. The Left Front and Congress, in fact, held joint rallies on Tuesday to raise issues, including the sting operation against the TMC.

Left Front-affiliated students' organisations, including the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held protest marches in Kolkata against the TMC.

West Bengal Elections 2016, The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also took to the streets. Party workers blocked roads and a delegation marched to Raj Bhavan demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter and dismissal of the TMC government.

"We met the Governor and said that the TMC government, whose ministers, MPs and other leaders were seen taking bribes, had no right to govern the state. We demand immediate dismissal of the government. Free and fair elections is not possible with the TMC at the helm of affairs in the state," BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said. Assembly polls in the state would be conducted in April-May, over six phases.

In Parliament West Bengal Elections, MPs from the BJP, Left Front and Congress demanded an investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, the full bench of the Election Commission, which was visiting the state to review poll preparedness, said in response to questions that it had received complaints from the Opposition on the sting and appropriate authorities had been informed.

This is the second time that allegations of corruption have surfaced against the TTMC, the first time being when the Saradha chit fund scam came to light. The CBI had questioned many of the Trinamool leaders in connection with the scam. Then transport minister Madan Mitra was forced to resign and is still in custody.

However, the Saradha scam failed to have any impact on the TMC electorally in the 2014 general elections. The next month will tell whether Narada will be any different.

Aadhaar cleared through Money Bill route: Why Modi cannot use this option every time

Will the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government now use the Money Bills route to get Parliament — more to the point the Rajya Sabha where it does not have a majority — to clear legislation?
The fact is, getting all Bills to be classified as Money Bills to circumvent the Rajya Sabha could be a stretch.
The law on this is crystal clear.
Read more from our special coverage on "AADHAAR BILL"

• 5 changes RS wanted in Aadhaar Bill, legal challenge next
• Government subsidies should reach the right hands: Jaitley
• Opposition prepares to recommend amendments to Aadhaar Bill
• Aadhaar Bill passage a landmark development: Panagariya
• Lok Sabha passes Aadhaar Bill to empower citizens

Under Article 110(1) of the Constitution, a Bill is deemed to be a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters, namely:
(a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;
(b) the regulation of the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Government of India, or the amendment of the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Government of India;
(c) the custody of the Consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from any such fund;
(d) the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
(e) the declaring of any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure;
(f) the receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a State; or
(g) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (f).
A Bill is not deemed to be Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered, or by reason that it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes.

India Aviation takes off, govt reaches out to industry

The fifth edition of India Aviation 2016 kicked off in Hyderabad on Wednesday with a focus on developing the country as a manufacturing and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) hub, bringing to together airline promoters, chief executives and bureaucrats.

On the occasion, along with Make in India, the government also emphasised its focus on plans for regional connectivity, which received a boost in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget 2016.

The event also attracted three biggest airlines from the Gulf - Emirates from Dubai, United Arab Emirates' Etihad Airways and Doha's Qatar Airways, as these companies marked a presence for the first time in the biennial show.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the first day of the five-day event saw participation from 25 countries, with ministerial-level participation from four countries. "The country's aviation sector has grown by about 35 per cent from the time the show was conducted in 2014, with an unparalleled 20 per cent growth in domestic traffic," said Raju.

The Indian aviation 2016 sector is witnessing its most buoyant period on the back of low fuel prices and passenger growth. According to estimates by International Air Transport Association, India's domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January, compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services.

The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global passenger traffic.

Emirates specially flew in its jumbo Airbus A380 for the show and Qatar Airways is displaying an Airbus A350, the latest in its fleet.

With India clocking the highest growth rate in the aviation sector for almost a year now, the country has become important for the airlines.

Trai may issue fresh paper on WhatsApp, Skype

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is contemplating issuing a fresh consultation paper for regulation of over-the-top (OTT) messaging services like WhatsApp and Skype in accordance with recently announced net neutrality principles.

"The issues have changed over the past year when the consultation paper was first announced. We have to look at the OTT industry together with net neutrality as many aspects are interlinked," a Trai official told Business Standard. No decision has yet been taken on whether there should be a fresh paper on the issue. "It is in the very initial stages," the official said. Mobile users can access OTT services via the Internet but these ride on telecom networks and are not bound by any regulations.

The availability of affordable Smartphones has led to the growth of OTT services, which in turn increases data volumes for telecom companies. But for increased traffic, telecom companies need to invest in upgrading their networks.

The Trai paper was issued in March 2015 and comments were received under the earlier chairman Rahul Khullar. Khullar retired in mid-May and the regulator got a new chairman, RS Sharma, in August 2015. But final recommendations are yet to be announced.

The major contention in the OTT paper is voice calls offered by WhatsApp,Skype and others, which telecom operators allege is eating into their revenue. Voice calls on telecom networks are 12.5 times more expensive than those through OTT services; in the case of messages, the difference is 16 times. A one-minute phone call costs 50 paise, while a one-minute call made through the Internet costs 4 paise, according to Trai.

"Technology can't be stopped. We can't kill innovation but we need to address the regulatory arbitrage between telecom operators and OTT players. One is under a licensing regime, while the other is not. No doubt OTT is driving the data revenue of telecom players, but one has to look at the security aspect as well," another Trai official added.