Daily News Compilation (HINDU) June 11

Bankers pitch for dilution of govt ownership

Bankers asked the Finance Minister to consider:

• Setting up National Asset Management Company to deal with the problem of rising NPAs.
• Recapitalisation of banks as all the public sector banks need capital.
• Reducing government stake in PSUs to 51%.
• Implementation of recommendations of the Naik committee report.
• Revision of the definition of priority sector lending.
• Continuation of interest subvention scheme for investment lending in the agriculture sector.
• Interest subsidy for solar power projects.
• Long-term instrument to finance infrastructure, and the issue of tax-free bonds for development of the sector
• Changes to Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme to encourage a shift from gold and real estate to the equity market. 
• Insurance awareness to be made part of corporate social responsibility.
• To increase savings, Banks and insurance companies wanted tax benefits for their products. 

Listing of LIC

The government should seriously consider listing of LIC. The kind of money the government can raise by listing LIC is significant. It can fund the needs of public sector banks as well as the fiscal deficit.

Modi dissolves 4 Cabinet panels

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi dissolved four Standing Committees of the Cabinet.

Cabinet Secretary will handle functions of Committee on Management of Natural Calamities.

Issues pertaining to following committees will come under Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.


• Cabinet Committee on Prices
• 
Cabinet Committee on World Trade Organisation Matters

• Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI)

The Prime Minister will be re-constituting the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Security.

Nitin Gadkari opposes plan to impose anti-dumping duty on solar gear

The government plans to slap anti-dumping duty on solar panels. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) had recommended slapping the restrictive duty on imported solar panels from the U.S., Malaysia, China and Chinese Taipei to protect domestic manufacturers.

The Commerce Ministry had suggested restrictive duty in the range of $0.11-0.81 per watt. The levy would be applicable on solar modules and cells assembled partially or fully, originating or exported from the countries mentioned above.

Why Anti Dumping Duty?

The indigenous solar cell industry, which is in nascent state, needs protection and nurturing. They are unable to compete with the imported panels and are loosing out.

Opposition:

From Domestic solar energy industry as they will have to buy solar modules at a higher cost. The cost of solar power is already high as compared to coal and other conventional sources. Since, the capacity generated under national solar mission has domestic sourcing norms, most of the upcoming projects are being planned under State schemes to bypass this norm.

U.S. has already dragged India to the WTO with respect to domestic sourcing norms for the national solar mission. India is of the view that its solar mission which aims to have 20,000 MW solar capacity by 2022 is compliant with WTO rules.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has also opposed the recommendation to slap ADD on imports, saying ‘it is not the right time’.

Transport Minister Gadkari suggested that indigenous manufacturers could be compensated with appropriate subsidy.

GST rollout will have to wait for statute amendment

An early rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) seems unlikely as the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers will start work on its design and form only after Parliament passes a Constitutional Amendment for introducing the new tax regime and the States ratify it.

Work on the Model GST Law for the States will start only after the amendment.

The empowered committee has written to Mr. Jaitley asking for the government’s views on the issues pertaining to the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Issues

• The committee maintains that alcohol and petroleum, major sources of revenue for States, should be excluded from the GST. 
• The panel is unwilling to give to the Centre powers to notify “declared goods” and fix GST rates on them without consulting the States.
• The States want a mechanism to compensate them for revenue losses due to the GST, to be made part of the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Rebels seize Iraq's second-largest city

Rebels seized Iraq's second-largest city on Tuesday as Iraqi Soldiers threw away their uniforms and abandoned their posts. Predominantly Sunni muslim city Mosul, 350 kilometres north of Baghdad, has long been a militant stronghold and one of the most dangerous areas in the country.
It is the Capital of Nineveh province and the second city after Fallujah, that the Iraqi government has lost this year.
Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority. Officials blame external factors for the rising bloodshed, particularly the civil war in neighbouring Syria. But analysts say widespread Sunni Arab anger with the Shiite-led government has also been a major factor.
Militants have launched major operations in Nineveh, Anbar, Diyala, Salaheddin and Baghdad provinces since Thursday, killing scores of people and highlighting both their long reach and the weakness of Iraq's security forces.

Relentless heat wave sizzles North

A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. A heat wave is measured relative to the usual weather in the area and relative to normal temperatures for the season. 

The definition recommended by the WMO is when the daily maximum temperature of more than five consecutive days exceeds the average maximum temperature by 5 °C.

Effects

Severe heat wave can cause catastrophic crop failures, deaths from hyperthermia, and widespread power outages due to increased use of air conditioning.

How they Occur?

Heat waves form when high pressure in upper atmosphere (3,000–7,600 metres)) strengthens and remains over a region for several days up to several weeks. This is common in summer (in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres) as the jet stream 'follows the sun'. On the equator side of the jet stream, in the middle layers of the atmosphere, is the high pressure area.

Under high pressure, the air subsides (sinks) toward the surface. This sinking air acts as a dome capping the atmosphere. This cap helps to trap heat instead of allowing it to lift. Without the lift there is little or no convection and therefore little or no convective clouds (cumulus clouds) with minimal chances for rain. The end result is a continual build-up of heat at the surface that we experience as a heat wave.