Daily News Compilation (HINDU) June 10

Reviving economy is priority: Pranab

Putting the economy back on track is of paramount importance for the government.

Foreign policy

• building a peaceful, stable and economically inter-linked neighbourhood and strategic and cooperative partnership with neighbours, including China.
• bring “renewed vigour” in India’s engagement with the United States and to operationalise the civil nuclear agreement.

Governance

• The government was "dedicated to the poor" and the “first claim on development belonged to the poor”
• “Poverty has no religion, hunger has no creed” 
• special measures to spread modern and technical education among minority communities.
• a policy of “zero tolerance" towards terrorism, extremism, riots and crime.

By the time the nation completed 75 years of Independence — in 2022 — every family would have a proper house with water connection, toilet facilities, and round-the-clock electricity supply.
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Border resolution must be fair: Wang

The Chinese President’s special envoy, Foreign Minister Wang Yi called India and China “natural partners” and said both countries “feel each other's development is a foreign policy priority”

Speaking to the media before returning to Beijing, Mr. Wang, who met with President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Adviser Ajit Kumar Doval as well as his counterpart Sushma Swaraj, said the two sides had reached agreements on many points and had discussed all bilateral issues.

Developing trade and people-to-people ties was the focus in the conversation between Mr. Modi and Mr. Wang as it was during the bilateral talks. “We have reached an agreement on visa facilitation between India and China,” announced Mr. Wang on Monday. 

He called the joint efforts to maintain peace along the LAC a “hard won achievement”, and expressed the hope that this “question left to us by history” could have a “fair” resolution.

Mr. Modi has decided to make his second bilateral foray after Bhutan and Japan, that has very tense relations with China at present. Later this month, India will also host the India-US-Japan trilateral in Delhi that is seen as a counterpoint to the close engagement with Beijing.

“India and China share strong civilisational contacts and should build on them to enhance understanding of each other.” That civilisational understanding will be tested against “the question of history” with the border negotiations when the special representatives meet next for the 18th round of talks between India and China.

RBI simplifies KYC norms for opening bank account

The bank had received representations/references from various quarters, especially migrant workers and transferred employees, regarding problems faced in submitting a proof of current/permanent address while opening a bank account. This would promote financial inclusion and electronic transfer of remittances.

ICP data validate Tendulkar poverty line

The recently released International Comparison Program (ICP) data have provided an independent, international validation of the poverty line fixed by the Suresh Tendulkar committee, which is being reviewed by the C. Rangarajan committee for a likely revision.

Since the ICP’s purchasing power parities (PPPs) estimate pegs $1 at Rs. 15.1 in 2011, the World Bank poverty line of $2 per capita per day works out to Rs. 30.2 or Rs. 906 per capita per month. The Tendulkar methodology had estimated the national poverty line for 2011-12 at Rs. 902 per capita per month.

The Tendulkar poverty line faced sharp criticism after the Planning Commission, using it as the basis, announced that the number of poor fell from 40.7 crore to 27 crore from 2004-05 to 2011-12. Following the criticism, the UPA government set up Rangarajan Committee to review and if necessary, revise it. The group is expected to submit its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.

“Where the Tendulkar Poverty Line fails is in the political and the emotional quotient.”

The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a worldwide statistical partnership to collect comparative price data and compile detailed expenditure values of countries’ GDP, and to estimate PPPs of the world’s economies. Using PPPs instead of market exchange rates to convert currencies makes it possible to compare the output of economies and the welfare of their inhabitants in real terms (that is, controlling for differences in price levels).

It had ranked India’s GDP behind only that of the U.S. and China. But in terms of per capita GDP, India was ranked 129th.

BrahMos test-fired from warship

The supersonic anti-ship cruise missile BrahMos was test-fired for the first time from a warship built in India, the yet-to-be-commissioned destroyer INS Kolkata, off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka on Monday.

While the Indo-Russian missile, with a 290-km range, is already in service on the Russia-built Rajput-class destroyers and Talwar-class frigates of the Navy, it was the first time that the missile demonstrated its capability from an indigenous warship.

INS Kolkata is the largest indigenous warship and the lead vessel of the class of three ships being constructed under the Navy’s Project 15-A.

The vessel, and the ships of its class, will be fitted with 16 BrahMos missiles each.