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Promising dream house: NDA in tight spot; fails to include job creation in Presidential speech
- Published on 21 June 2014
Image courtesy: phanlop88/freedigitalphotos.net
President Pranab Mukherjee’s address to Parliament, coupled with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s subsequent, allied speech, constitutes a daunting agenda for the new Government.
Bereft of any cost estimates and implementation strategy, the agenda can at best be called a charter of dreams, redeemable promises and redundant resolutions. It is easy to spin a web of dreams. It is, however, extremely difficult to turn dreams into realities because it costs a fortune to implement welfare projects, in addition to carrying the welfare legacy load of the UPA Government. To get the projects off the drawing board, the new Government would require exceptional skill to resolve NGOs-engineered conflicts among various stakeholders of the resource-constrained, heterogeneous society. The agenda does not suggest any holistic conflict resolution mechanism to realize collective dream of providing work, basic amenities, peace and prosperity for all.
The ruling alliance requires political acumen to facilitate efficient legislative work, which is a pre-requisite for fulfillment of certain promises. The agenda has not spelt out priorities and timelines on the law-making front.
To realize the collective dream, the political Executive should have the courage to restrain judiciary from dabbling in formulation of policies and governance of certain segments of economy such as mining. The agenda is silent on this issue.
Agusta Westland chopper scam cast its shadow on Finmeccanica’s JVs in India
- Published on 14 June 2014
Radar Image courtesy: Selex ES
Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD) is creating fresh hurdles in the business plans of Italy’s Finmeccanica group. MOD’s rationale for impediments is that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the alleged kickbacks paid under the VVIP Agusta Westland choppers deal.
MOD was first instrumental in convincing Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to delay a decision on Agusta Westland-Tata joint venture’s (JV’s) plea for amendments to its foreign direct investment (FDI) approval. Agusta Westland is wholly owned by Finmeccanica group.
MOD has now led FIPB into deferring approval to the proposed joint venture between Finmeccanica company named Selex ES Ltd and Indus Teqsite Pvt Ltd (ITPL) for production of strategic electronics systems including the ones required by the aviation sector. In the proposed JV, Selex ES would hold 26% equity stake with the balance 74% to be held by ITPL.
MOD has told FIPB that it is not supporting the Selex-Teqsite JV proposal “at this stage” because of ongoing CBI investigation into VVIP/Defence helicopter contract that was terminated about six months back.
The world needs to redefine ISDS to safeguard foreign investments; MNCs should be willing to pay for investment risk cover
- Published on 14 June 2014
Image courtesy: FAO
The subject of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) has occupied the centre stage in the expropriation discourse due to a spate of recent developments across the globe.
This signals the need for redefinition of all elements of ISDS mechanism as well as broadening the definition of expropriation to factor in recent disputes that turned focus on ambiguities or deficiencies in ISDS system as mentioned in the bilateral or global investment protection agreements.
This should also serve as wake-up call for the companies to mitigate their investment risks in foreign countries through purchase of appropriate investment protection insurance cover.
ISDS has been made part of public consultation process in the ongoing negotiations between the US and the European Union (EU) on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) named the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
EU, which has been negotiating ISDS mechanism on behalf of member States since 2009, explains: “ISDS allows an investor from one country to bring a case directly against the country in which they have invested before an arbitration tribunal.”
The stakes in negotiation of ISDS are high as is evidenced from US Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) perspective on TTIP.
As put by USTR, “Transatlantic investments total $4 trillion, directly supporting seven million American and European jobs, with millions more in indirect jobs. These investments help our manufacturing sector, generating 18 percent of U.S. exports to the world. Furthermore, jobs created by foreign investment tend to pay better than other private sector jobs. That is why we need to build on these achievements and help generate more jobs, growth, and exports through certain, clear, and fair investment rules that encourage even more investment in job- and export-supporting economic activity.”
ISDS has also come under lens during the course of negotiations on Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT)/Bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements (BIPA) or regional FTAs.
In India, ISDS has become the core issue following emergence of about a dozen arbitration cases due to judiciary-induced expropriation and retrospective governance including taxation.
Flying nowhere - the 2g scam, and lack of spectrum policy and regulation have halted the manufacture of drones in india
- Published on 01 June 2014
Published by India Legal Magazine dated 31st May 2014)
By Naresh Minocha
THEY can be as tiny as a bee or as large as a jumbo jet, but their business potential is nothing but huge. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be used in virtually every sphere, from defense and agriculture to courier services, weather forecasts and natural disaster alerts. However, while these remote-controlled aircraft are the focus of research and development in the West, India’s industrial licensing plans for their manufacture have ground to a halt following the scam involving second- generation (2G) spectrum allocation.
India does not have a spectrum policy or a civil avia- tion regulatory framework for drones, thanks to the government’s policy paralysis. Some officials pin the blame on the two main bodies responsible for drafting policy—the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
While the telecom department has dragged its feet on.. .....continue reading.......