Business and Economy

• Despite allocations of money, award of contracts, and public claim of success, the North-South and East-West road corridor project, connecting the corners of India remains a distant team. Meant to be a larger dream than the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project that connected the four metros, this project is dogged by administrative; land acquisition, legal, and political delays. Only 232 kilometers have seen a four-lane completion in the last two years but Rs. 34 billion has been spent making it one of the most expensive roads at Rs. 147 million a kilometer. A district level road costs Rs. 400,000 per kilometer. While the GQ project needed 8,362 hectares, this project requires more than double this area.  For a project that is supposed to be completed by 2008, only 14.9% is done. In Andhra Pradesh, where the largest chunk, 2,641 hectares, is required, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has acquired only .2%. Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu boasts that 132 contracts for 5,565 kilometers have been awarded in 588 days versus the previous Government's 122 contracts for 5,053 kilometers in 1257 days. These events raise questions on how projects are being measured by the Government--should they be measured by the number of issued contracts or by the percentage of completion. 

• An Assocham (IT association) study estimates that leading foreign exchange (forex) income generator, the Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sectors, will become a net forex spender by 2010. It said that the industry needed USD 77 billion hardware by 2010 against income projections of USD 60 billion. Additionally, the study predicts that the increased domestic demand for electronics will rise from the current USD 11.2 billion to USD 159 billion by 2015. However, the current punitive taxation policies are suffocating local production making it more expensive than imports. Sales tax, value added tax, and inverted excise duty foreclose the creation of an estimated 7 million direct and 14 million indirect jobs. Current electronics production, valued at USD 11.2 billion, is about 1.7% of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Democracy, Politics and Judiciary

• An important Constitutional debate on the judiciaries right to question, investigate, or pass judgment Parliamentary decisions on its members went a step further. The Supreme Court transferred all cases before High Courts on the "cash-for-query" cases to itself to consider this important Constitutional question. Several Members of Parliament were caught in a sting operation accepting cash to raise questions in the Parliament. When the video aired, the Speaker of the Parliament initiated a resolution, backed my other Parliamentarians, to expel those who have been caught on tape. The expelled MPs filed cases with many courts seeking justice to the violation of their rights to a fair hearing. The SC issued notices to the Speaker who refused to acknowledge it saying that the judiciary is over-stepping its authority. The Speaker claims that since there is no specific law to govern Parliamentary expulsion, the British law enacted over 100 years ago will apply. He also points to a previous case where the SC had refused to interfere with a Speaker ruling. The important questions in this issue are whether the expelled MPs have rights to appeal, relief during the appeal process, and who the appellate authority will be. The SC has declined to stop the Election Commission from releasing vacancy notices for the constituencies occupied by these MPs. They also deferred stopping the Parliament administrator from evicting these MPs from their official residences. The next hearing is towards the end of the month.

Environment, Health and Education

• The Supreme Court extended the ban of entry for Le Clemenceau into India and asked for a new monitoring committee to investigate pending issues. It has also asked the importer of the ship to file a Bill of Entry with the customs but not enter the exclusive economic zone. Taking umbrage to protests and opinion articles that appear in the media both for and against the entry of the ship, it issued a gag order restraining any form of publishing opinions on the issue. The judges fear that a media trial was happening when the public interest litigation was being considered. The bench also criticized some members of the monitoring committee who discussed the issue and debates within the committee with the press.

• Editorial: Regulate Ship Breaking Business

Terrorism, Defense, Security

• The Jammu & Kashmir police have created solid legal cases against Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammed ideologues and leaders to obtain Interpol arrest warrants. The warrants will limit their movement to West Asia, especially Saudi Arabia for Haj, where they gain financial support or within Pakistan where they get military and personnel support. Once they crossed a border, they could be arrested and expatriated to India for trial. Notorious gangster Abu Salem was captured with this strategy.  

• The Army Chief General J.J. Singh reacted angrily to a controversial Government survey that seeks to sample Muslims in the defense forces, Indian Administrative Services, police, and medical services. There are reports that the survey would include public sector companies too. He said "our system of enrollment looks at merit" saying that the army picks the best person for the job irrespective of places or origin, language, caste, or religion. While, the Center's objective is not known, the survey sparks fear that politicians are bringing in vote-bank politics to secular and functioning bodies of the Government. The opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has accused the Government of pursuing divisive politics. The Government says that this data could be used to ensure proper disbursement of funds for minority welfare.