24 Season 2: How far from 24 Day 2

If I remember, it was onset of July, 2016, when trailer of 24 Season 2, (not the Hollywood one, rather Anil Kapoor starer sequel of Indian remake of 24 with same title) hit the headlines and social media. I, being a fan of 24 (the original series starring Kiefer Suttherland in lead role), could not resist myself from watching it, as I had some expectation of it to be based on the story similar to the Season 2 of the original 24, which is called 24 Day 2. 

But I was shocked to see that the Indian sequel is largely based on 24 Day 3 as its prequel revolved around the

plot of discovering a rogue nuclear bomb, which was about to to off within 24 hours in USA. Day 3 was based on saving a city of USA from outbreak of a deadly virus.

Though I don't expect much from the Indian sequel as it is nothing much different than 24 Day 3, I was further surprised that the Indian sequel is a combo of both Day 2 and Day 3.

Its quite premature to say what would be the end of Indian season. But I must say that I am much impressed with the role of Sikander Kher, playing the character of Arun Srijan. His tone is truly that of a typical Eastern Indian person. He fits his character, and in my opinion, his performance so far has been even better than Anil Kapoor in the season.

BABY: the Daddy of many espionage flicks.

Being a fan of espionage movies like Mission: Impossible and Bourne series, I always wished if India could also produce such movies. Though it was quite late for Bollywood, the movies like Madras Cafe and D-Day were the movies that we hoped for.

This year's beginning was with another movie that doesn't lag behind in the quality of espionage genre. Yes I am talking about Baby.Baby is a 2015 Indian espionage action thriller film directed by Neeraj Pandey. The film stars Akshay Kumar in the lead role, along with Danny Denzongpa, Anupam Kher, Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon, Madhurima Tuli and Rasheed Naz in supporting roles. This movie was bound to be a high quality espionage thriller as it has the big guns of not only Indian cinema industry (such as  KK Menon, Anupam Kher, Danny etc.) but also the veteran actors outside our industry. 

I loved the dialogue of Menon (acting as Bilaal):

"Suna hai kasaab ko AC waala kamra diya tha. Kasaab se toh jyaada hi kiya humne".

Talking about the performance of Akshay Kumar, through his acting, he has shown that he is not the extinct specie in the Bollywood. 

And, obviously, the direction of Neeraj Pandey is above all of these factors, which makes it a great work.

Language issue in India: A historical overview (1937-1940).

The Anti-Hindi agitations began in pre-Independence era in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras State and part of Madras Presidency), which stretched to post-Independence periods. The agitations hugely criticised, through mass protests, riots, student and political movements the imposition of the official status of Hindi in the state and in the Indian Republic.

English was the official language during the British Raj. To make Hindustani as a common language to unite various linguistic groups against the British Government, in 1918, Mahatma Gandhi established the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (Institution for the Propagation of Hindi in South India). 

In 1925, the Indian National Congress adopted Hindustani for conducting its proceedings. It was supported by Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Also Congress wanted to propagate the learning of Hindustani in non-Hindi speaking Provinces of India. But this was opposed by Periyar, who viewed it as an attempt to make Tamils subordinate to North Indians.

1937 Election in Madras Presidency: the Beginning.

After the 1937 elections in Madras Presidency, the Indian National Congress formed the government and C. Rajgopalachari (Rajaji) became the Chief Minister. He was a supporter of propagating Hindi in South India. Even before the elections, he had expressed support for Hindi in a newspaper article (Sudesamithran, 6 May 1937): 

"Government employment is limited. All cannot get it. Therefore one has to search for other jobs. For that and for business, knowledge of Hindi is necessary. Only if we learn Hindi, the south Indian can gain respect among the others."

Within a month of coming to power, he started his move of promoting Hindi by issuing a policy statements, introducing teaching in secondary schools and lobbying by pro-Hindi organisations like Hindustani Seva Dal and Hindustani Hitashi Sabha. This was opposed by Periyar and the opposition Justice Party led by A. T. Panneerselvam. With same objective, an Anti-Hindi conference was organised in October 1937 to protest the announcement. 

Meanwhile, in 1938, Rajaji passed a government order (G.O) making the teaching of Hindi compulsory in 125 Secondary schools in the Presidency. This move was viewed by Hindi's opponents as an attempt to destroy Tamil and promote Hindi. Thus, it led to wide protests against Rajaji and Hindi, which involved protest marches, anti-Hindi conferences, observing an anti-Hindi day (1st July and 3rd December 1938), fasts against government policies, black flag demonstrations and picketing of government offices and institutions.

The agitation lasted till the order was withdrawn in February 1940. 

IB Report: Developed world's intentions exposed.

An Intelligence Bureau report has accused "foreign-funded" NGOs such as Greenpeace, Cordaid, Amnesty and ActionAid of "serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments" by sponsoring agitations against nuclear and coal-fired power plants across the country. 

The NGOs, said to be working through a network of local organizations such as PUCL and Narmada Bachao Andolan, have negatively impacted GDP growth by 2-3%, claims the IB report sent to the PMO and other government agencies. 

Environmental activists joined Greenpeace in rubbishing the IB report. Greenpeace said it was a conscious attempt by the country's premier intelligence agency to crush and stifle opposing voices in civil society. The organization also wrote to the home minister, requesting him to share a copy of the report "to know and understand impacts of this labeling". 

"It is disturbing to know that information of the IB report has been leaked to a media house and not been shared with the party concerned," said executive director of the Greenpeace India, Samit Aich, in his letter to the home minister. 

Must Watch: Apaharan

If any one can focus on social issues surrounding the Indian common people, specially hailing from the BIMARU states like UP and Bihar, it is none other than Prakash Jha. Here I present before you my review about the year 2005 movie Apaharan, starring Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Yashpal Sharma and Chetan Pandit. 

After the much hype of social issue- based movies after the success of his Gangajal (2003), Mr. Jha has successfully delivered this movie on the theme of corruption that compels an innocent person to get involved in the whole systematic network of kidnapping mafia, prevailing in Bihar.

If talk about the performances of the actors, this time, unlike in Gangajal, the majority share for the success of this movie has to be credited to Nana Patekar. Apart from it, Ajay Devgan has given his best in presenting the youth who gets trapped in the whole network of kidnapping mafia, which is headed by Gaya Singh (Yashpal) and nurtured by Tabrez Aalam (Nana).

Also, I will not lag behind in appreciating the performance of Mukesh Tiwari, who has played the role of an honest IPS officer.

Journey to our Constitution: Charter Act 1853

This was the last Charter Act. It brought about significant changes in the Governor General's Council. It marked the expansion of the Council of the Governor General for legislative purposes. The council for legislative purposes which had 6 members now was expanded to 12 members. The additional 6 members were called Legislative Councellors These 12 members were : 

1. The Governor General (1)
2. The commander in Chief (1) 
3. Members of the Governor General's Council (4) 
4. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (Calcutta) (1) 
5. A regular judge of the Supreme court Calcutta (1) 
6. Representative members drawn from the company's servants with 10 years minimum tenure and appointed by the local governments of Bengal, Madras, Bombay and North Western provinces (4)

The fourth member (Lord Macaulay) was placed at an equal status with other members. He was also made entitled to sit and vote in the meetings of the Executive Council of the Governor General.

Other changes.

Birth of Indian Civil Services (ICS) Examination.

The previous charter act of 1833 had laid down that the Court of Directors should nominate annually 4 times as many candidates as there were vacancies, from whom one should be selected by competitive examination. The charter act of 1833 also provided the Haileybury college of London should make quota to admit the future civil servants. However, this system of an open competition was never effectively operated. 

A The Committee under the chairmanship of Lord Macaulay had prepared the regulations in this context. 

1. The report said that Haileybury should cease to be maintained as higher education college for the ICS.
2. There should be a broad general education rather than specialized education for the ICS recruits.
3. The recruitment should be based upon an open competitive examination to bring out the best candidates and not through mere superficial knowledge.
4. The appointments should be subject to a period of probation. 
5. Charter Act of 1853 deprived the Court of Directors of its right of Patronage to Indian appointments and now it was to be exercised under the regulations. 

This was the Birth of Civil Services which was thrown in 1854 for open competition.

Separate Governor for Presidency of Bengal.

The Charter act of 1853 provided for appointment of a separate Governor for the Presidency of Bengal, distinct from the Governor General. However, the court of Directors and the Board of Control were authorized to appoint a lieutenant governor, till the appointment of a Governor was made. 

However, the Lieutenant governor was appointed in 1854, but no Governor was appointed for Bengal till 1912.

NEXT: Indian Councils Act 1861

Journey to our Constitution: Charter Act 1833

Impact on trade.

The Charter Act of 1833 was the 20 years renewal of the charter in 1813. As per this Charter, the company was asked to close its commercial business. 

• Thus, this time the charter was renewed on the condition that Company should abandon its trade entirely, alike with India and China, and permit Europeans to settle freely in India. 
• The company lost its monopoly in China and also the trade of tea, granted by Charter act of 1813.

Legislative journey of India.

• This act made the Governor General of Bengal the Governor General of British India and all financial and administrative powers were centralized in the hands of Governor General-in-Council. Thus with Charter Act of 1833, Lord William Bentinck became the “First Governor General of British India”. 

• The number of the members of the Governor General's council was again fixed to 4, which had been reduced by the Pitt's India act. However, certain limits were imposed on the functioning of the 4th member. The 4th member was NOT entitled to act as a member of the council except for legislative purposes. 

• First fourth person to be appointed as the member of the Council was Lord Macaulay.

• It deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor-General was given exclusive legislative powers for the whole of British India.

Enhanced power of Governor-General of India.

He could repeal, amend or alter any laws or regulations including all persons (whether British or native or foreigners), all places and things in every part of British territory in India, for all servants of the company, and articles of war. 
However, the Court of Directors acting under the Board of control could veto any laws made by the Governor-General-in-Council.

Governor-General's Government was referred to as the Government of India for the first time.

Codification of laws.

The charter act of 1833 is considered to be an attempt to codify all the Indian Laws.

• The British parliament as a supreme body, retained the right to legislate for the British territories in India and repeal the acts. 

• The act of 1833 provided that all laws made in India were to be laid before the parliament and were to be known as Acts. 

• In a step towards codifying the laws, the Governor-General-in-Council was directed under the Charter act of 1833, to set up an Indian law Commission.

First Indian Law Commission. 

The first law commission was set up by the Charter act of 1833 and Lord Macaulay was its most important member and Chairman. 

• The other members of this commission were English barrister Cameron, Macleod of Madras service, William Anderson of Bombay Service and Sir William McNaughton of the Calcutta Service. Sir William McNaughton did not accept the appointment. 
• The objectives of the law commission was to inquire into the Jurisdiction, powers and rules of the courts of justice police establishments, existing forms of judicial procedure, nature and operation of all kinds of laws. 
• It was directed that the law Commission shall submit its report to the Governor General-in-council and this report was to be placed in the British parliament.

Indians in the Government service.

The Charter act of 1833 was the first act which provisioned to freely admit the natives of India to share an administration in the country. 

Mitigation of Slavery.

This act also directed the Governor General-in-Council to adopt measures to mitigate the state of slavery, persisting in India since sultanate Era. The Governor General-in-Council was also directed to pay attention to laws of marriage, rights and authorities of the heads of the families, while drafting any laws.

More Bishops.

The number of British residents was increasing in India. The charter act of 1833 laid down regulation of establishment of Christian establishments in India and the number of Bishops was made 3. (Bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight).

NEXT: Charter Act 1853.

Must Watch: Children of War

Even if the Indian audience loves the movies of heroes with six-pack abs or hot divas and thumbs down the real and intense historical movies like Madras Cafe, I admire the courage of the director Mritunjay Devrat for throwing focus on the genocide during Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. One should admire the effort of the director to present the intense violent scenes depicting rape of many Bangladeshi women. 

Also, the performance of Pawan Malhotra in negative role of a Pakistani Amy personnel, deserves applauds. Apart from him the late Farooq Shekh has also left his impact on cinema industry by his humble role in the movie.

In a nutshell, if you courage to swallow the reality behind the liberation movement of 1971, the movie Children of War will make you cry and compel you to applause the efforts of Mr. Devrat.

Election Commission: powers and functions

The Election Commission of India (ECI) was established on January 25, 1950 as a constitutional body (under article 324 of the Constitution) responsible for administering elections in India according to the provisions of the Indian Constitution. It controls the process for elections conducted at various levels: parliament, state legislatures, and the offices of the president and vice president of India.

Role of Election Commission of India.

Among all its roles, the most crucial one is to implement norms and the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) to ensure free and fair elections in the country. In the present democratic scenario, wherein, the democratic elections are not free from sabotage, the independence of ECI is need of the hour. 

Technological advancements.

In order to bring improvements in the election procedure, the ECI has taken numerous steps. Some of them are as follows:

1. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were introduced to improve reliability and efficiency. It was thought that EVMs would reduce malpractices and improve efficiency. It was first tried out on an experimental basis in the state of Kerala for the 1982 Legislative Assembly Elections. After successful testing and legal inquires, the Commission took the decision to begin the use of EVMs.
2. The website of the ECI was launched on February 28, 1998 to provide accurate information and instant results of the elections. In 1998, Election Commission decided on a programme for the 'computerisation' of the electoral rolls.
3. Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) were issued in 1993 to prevent electoral fraud. From the 2004 elections, these were made mandatory.

A few more initiatives taken recently by the ECI are:

1. New guidelines for broadcasting on state-owned electronic media.
2. Inspection of instances of criminalization in politics.
3. Simplification of account maintenance and filing.
4. Measures for better enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.

Functions and Powers.

• Holding periodic free & fair elections are essentials of democratic system. The Supreme Cort held in T. N. Sheshan V/s Union of India (AIR 1995 SC 852) that

"The Preamble of our Constitution proclaims that we are a Democratic Republic. Democracy being the basic feature of our constitutional set up, there can be no two opinion that free and fair elections to our legislative bodies alone would guarantee the growth of a healthy democracy in the country. In order to ensure the purity of the election process it was thought by our Constitution-makers that the responsibility to hold free and fair elections in the country should be entrusted to an independent body which would be insulated from political and/or executive interference. It is inherent in a democratic set up that the agency which is entrusted the task of holding elections to the legislatures should be fully insulated so that it can function as an independent agency free from external pressures from the party in power or executive of the day. This objective is achieved by the setting up of an Election Commission, a permanent body, under Article 324(1) of the Constitution." 

• Model Code of Conduct (MCC). In every election, it issues a Model code of Conduct for political parties and candidates to conduct elections in free and fair manner. The Commission issued the code for the first time in 1971 (5th Election) and revised it from time to time. It lay down guidelines for conduct of political parties & candidates during elections. However, there are instances of violation of code by the political parties and complaints are received for misuse of official machinery by the candidates. In I.D. Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. v/s. Chief Election Commissioner (AIR 2006 Ker 229) the Kerala High Court held that the object of model code of conduct is not to stop all governmental activities but only those actions which may directly influence a section of electors need to be prevented.

The need for such code is in the interest of free and fair elections. However, the code does not have any specific statutory basis. It has only a persuasive effect. It contains what, known as "rules of electoral morality". But this lack of statutory backing does not prevent the Commission from enforcing it.
The Election Commission has warned that any breach will be dealt with sternly. The Commission has the power to disqualify a candidate if s/he refuses to follow the Model Code of Conduct.
Punishment for violation of MCC. The violations are punishable in a court of law. In cases of, inter-alia, violation of Model Code of Conduct by a political party, the Commission can, after giving reasonable opportunity of showing cause, subject to such terms as the Commission may deem appropriate, either suspend or withdraw the recognition of a party as a National or State Party, as the case may be. In case of individual candidates or leaders of political parties, the Commission may take action, if deemed appropriate, under the residuary powers available to it under Article 324 of the Constitution which includes censure against person who is guilty of violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

• Registration of political parties. After the amendment in the year 1989 in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which inserted section 29A, all the political parties contesting general elections in India are required to be registered under it. It helps to avoid confusion and headache of the administrative machinery as well as confusion of the electorate. It ensures that political parties can practice democracy only by their registration.

Benefits of registration are:

1. The candidates set up by a political party registered with the Election Commission of India are given preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols vis-à-vis purely independent candidates. 
2. Registered political parties, in course of time, can get recognition as `State Party’ or National Party’ subject to the fulfillment of the conditions prescribed by the Commission in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, as amended from time to time. If a party is recognised as a State Party’, it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it in the State or States in which it is so recognised, and if a party is recognised as a `National Party’ it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it throughout India. Recognised `State’ and `National’ parties need only one proposer for filing the nomination and are also entitled for two sets of electoral rolls free of cost and broadcast/telecast facilities over Akashvani/Doordarshan during general elections.

• Limits on Poll Expenses.The Election Commission has fixed the legal limits on the amount of money which a candidate can spend during election campaigns, which have been revised from time to time. The Election Commission by appointing observers keeps an eye on the individual account of election expenditure. There are tight legal limits on the amount of money a candidate can spend during the election campaign. 

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections the poll expenditure have been increased from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh for each Lok Sabha constituency in bigger states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka. It has been increased from the present Rs 22 lakh in smaller states like Goa to Rs 54 lakh on par with other hilly and north eastern states.

It will also go up to Rs 54 lakh in north eastern states where the limits were varying between Rs 35 lakh to Rs 27 lakh for parliamentary seats earlier.

Among the union territories, the limit will go up from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh in Delhi while it will be uniform at Rs 54 lakh for all other UTs.

In Common Cause v/s. Union of India, it was pointed out that, in India elections are fought on the basis of money. The Court ruled that, purity of election is fundamental to the democracy and Commission can ask the candidates about the expenditure incurred by them and political party for this purpose.

The campaign period was reduced by the Election Commission from 21 to 14 days for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections; it is for to trim down election expenditure. The Election Commission’s this attempt to impose these measures has been a move in the right direction. Moreover, Election Commission takes details of the candidate's asset on affidavit at the time of submitting nomination paper.

• Advisory Jurisdiction & Quasi-Judicial Functions. Under the Constitution. The Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures. Further, the cases of persons found guilty of corrupt practices at elections which come before the Supreme Court and High Courts are also referred to the Commission for its opinion on the question as to whether such person shall be disqualified and, if so, for what period. The opinion of the Commission in all such matters is binding on the President or, as the case may be, the Governor to whom such opinion is tendered. 

The Commission has the power to disqualify a candidate who has failed to lodge an account of his election expenses within the time and in the manner prescribed by law. The Commission has also the power for removing or reducing the period of such disqualification as also other disqualification under the law.

Judicial Review of Decisions.

The decisions of the Commission can be challenged in the High Court and the Supreme Court of the India by appropriate petitions. By long standing convention and several judicial pronouncements, once the actual process of elections has started, the judiciary does not intervene in the actual conduct of the polls. Once the polls are completed and result declared, the Commission cannot review any result on its own. This can only be reviewed through the process of an election petition, which can be filed before the High Court, in respect of elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures. In respect of elections for the offices of the President and Vice President, such petitions can only be filed before the Supreme Court.

This is why we should support AAP.

You just Google the list of scams and you will be tired of getting the list of the scams. Even if we have the RTI, we dont have whistle-blower's protection law in our country. This video campaigns about our contribution in reshaping our democracy. 

The reasons told in this video suffice to convince me to support AAP. Do you support AAP? In other words, do you support the need for a new revolution? If no, because you want causes to support such move, you should watch this video.

P5+1: Interim deal and final status

Interim Deal (November 2013).

On 24th November, 2013, Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States), known as the P5+1were successful in removing the stagnation in course of negotiations over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program when the parties reached a first-phase agreement on a six-month deal that will halt Iran’s most sensitive nuclear activities and increase international monitoring of its nuclear program in exchange for some relief from sanctions that affected adversely Iran’s economy.

The deal was signed in Geneva, wherein the right to enrichment of “right to enrichment,” of Iran was recognized. This deal could serve as a basis for further negotiations. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton led the negotiating team for the P5+1. 

The agreement makes the following stipulations on the Iranian nuclear program:

• All uranium enriched beyond 5% will either be diluted or converted to uranium oxide. No new uranium at the 3.5% enrichment level will be added to Iran's current stock.

• No new centrifuges will be installed or prepared for installation.

• 50% of the centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility and 75% at the Fordow enrichment facility will be left inoperable. Iran will not use its advanced IR-2 centrifuges for enrichment.

• Iran will not develop any new uranium enrichment or nuclear reprocessing facilities.

• No fuel will be produced, tested, or transferred to the Arak nuclear power plant. In addition, Iran will share design details of the reactor.

• The IAEA will be granted daily access to Natanz and Fordow, with certain sites monitored by 24-hour cameras. The IAEA will also have access to Iran's uranium mines and centrifuge production facilities.

• Iran will address IAEA questions related to possible military dimensions of the nuclear program and provide data expected as part of an Additional Protocol.

Additional Protocol. In 1993 a program was initiated to strengthen and extend the classical safeguards system under IAEA and a model protocol was agreed by the IAEA Board of Governors 1997. The measures boosted the IAEA's ability to detect undeclared nuclear activities, including those with no connection to the civil fuel cycle. Its key elements were: 

• The IAEA is to be given considerably more information on nuclear and nuclear-related activities, including R & D, production of uranium and thorium (regardless of whether it is traded), and nuclear-related imports and exports.

• IAEA inspectors will have greater rights of access. This will include any suspect location, it can be at short notice (e.g., two hours), and the IAEA can deploy environmental sampling and remote monitoring techniques to detect illicit activities.

• States must streamline administrative procedures so that IAEA inspectors get automatic visa renewal and can communicate more readily with IAEA headquarters.

• Further evolution of safeguards is towards evaluation of each state, taking account of its particular situation and the kind of nuclear materials it has. This will involve greater judgement on the part of IAEA and the development of effective methodologies which reassure NPT States.

Right to Enrichment.

Iran maintains that it has the right to uranium enrichment under Article IV of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which guarantees states-parties access to nuclear technology as long as they adhere to their treaty obligations. Article IV does not specifically mention uranium enrichment. U.S. policy does not interpret access to enrichment technology as a right under Article IV.

The first-phase agreement allows Iran to continue enriching uranium to a level suitable for use in a power reactor.

Current Status.

Implementation of the November 2013 agreement began 20 January 2014 as confirmed by the IAEA interim report confirmed that Iran had begun scaling back major nuclear activities, the first steps to implement the interim deal. The report followed by the partial lifting of sanctions by the United States and the EU. Senior officials of the P5+1 and Iran met February 18–20 in Vienna and agreed on a framework for future negotiations. 

Indian Stake.

After the negotiations, India is the first of Iran’s four main buyers to say it is looking to buy more oil from Iran after the agreement in Geneva. India will investigate purchasing additional oil from Iran over the coming six months covering the Geneva agreement, as well as explore the possibility of joint ventures in Iran’s oil sector. Although the agreement does not allow Iran to increase its oil sales for six months, India has room to boost its imports after they fell roughly 40 percent this year to below even what was permitted by sanctions. As a result, earlier this year Iran slipped to third position behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq as India’s supplier of oil imports. Despite this, India and China have remained the top two destinations for Iran’s oil.

Underwriting New Delhi’s rising interest in Iran’s energy sector, India is now the world’s fourth largest energy consumer after the United States, China, and Russian Federation. The U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration projects that India and China will account for the biggest share of Asian energy demand growth through 2035. Accordingly, the primary focus of India’s energy policy is securing energy sources to meet the needs of its growing economy, as India’s primary energy consumption more than doubled between 1990 and 2011.

What is not in doubt is that Iran is eager to boost its oil sales to India, which pays 45 percent of its oil payments to Iran in rupees, a valuable source of foreign revenue in light of the increasing pressure from sanctions. The sanctions have increasingly hobbled Iran’s economy. Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, ranks among the world’s top four holders of both proven oil and natural gas reserves, but since 2012, Iran saw unprecedented drops in its oil exports as U.S. and European Union sanctions were tightened, targeting Iranian oil export revenues. Preliminary data compiled by the EIA placed Iran in fifth rank in terms of crude oil and condensate exports, which was in contrast to its third position in 2011.

The sanctions have also precluded the substantial development of Iran’s natural gas reserves, the world’s second largest. As the sector is unable under sanctions to raise substantial foreign investment, the country’s natural gas reserves remain largely underdeveloped and output is used mostly to meet domestic demand, with natural gas accounting for about 59 percent of Iran’s total domestic energy consumption in 2010.

It is reported that India would buy up to an average 220,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil for the Iranian calendar year ending  March 31. India would also then be looking to increase imports in the 2014/15 financial year, depending on any further easing of the sanctions, commenting, “Iran is a great source of oil… and once the problems that have been faced by Iran are resolved then we will have more oil available in the market.” Three days later the U.S. State Department extended six-month Iran sanctions waivers to India, China, South Korea and other countries in exchange for their reducing purchases of Iranian crude oil earlier this year.

As a corollary of Indian interest in Iranian oil, New Delhi is also seeking to help Iran develop its Persian Gulf port of Chabahar for oil exports, which for India would have the added benefit of outflanking Pakistan’s Gwadar port, which they are currently developing with Chinese assistance. Chabahar would also benefit the post-Soviet Central Asian states by giving them a port outlet once railways in Iran are expanded and upgraded.

While considerable Western skepticism remains over Iran’s nuclear transparency, there is no doubt that Tehran intends to force open the sanctions door as wide as possible, and that the first foreign customer waiting on the other side is already India.

BIMSTEC: Golden prospects of the proposed FTA.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia. These are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. 

Timeline:  

• 6th June 1997: BIMSTEC was created on and with name BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand Economic Cooperation). 
• 22nd December 1997: Myanmar joined the organization as a full member at a Special Ministerial Meeting held in Bangkok on , upon which the name of the grouping was changed to BIMST-EC. 
• December 1998: By the second Ministerial Meeting in Dhaka Nepal was granted observer status. 
• 2004: The Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) was set up to continue all negotiations on the implementation of FTA.
• February 2004: the framework agreement of BIMSTEC Free Trade Area (FTA) was signed in order to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation among the member countries. Full membership granted to Nepal and Bhutan
• 31st July 2004: name of the association to be known as BIMSTEC or the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

BIMSTEC uses the alphabetical order for the Chairmanship. The Chairmanship of BIMSTEC has been taken in rotation commencing with Bangladesh (1997–1999), India (2000) Myanmar (2001–2002), Sri Lanka (2002–2003), Thailand (2003–2005), Bangladesh (2005–2006). Bhutan asked for the skip. So it's turned to India (2006–2009). Nepal formally took over the new Chairmanship as on 4 March 2014. Sumith Nakandala of Sri Lanka became the first Secretary General of BIMSTEC.

This sub-regional group was initiated with the goal to combine India’s look east policy and Thailand’s look west policy. As such it provides a unique link between South Asia and South East Asia. According to the Bangkok declaration on the establishment of BIST-EC, the aims and purpose of this sub-regional cooperation are to create an enabling environment for rapid economic environment, accelerate the economic growth and social progress in the sub-region, promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest, promote assistance in the form of training and research facilities, supporting and complementing national development plans in the member states.

The intra-regional trade among the member countries of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is hovering round 4–4.5 percent per annum. It is believed that compared to SAFTA, the BIMSTEC FTA will be more promising because unlike SAFTA all the BIMSTEC members are purely guided by economic interests rather than by political interests.

The BIMSTEC co-operates in thirteen priority sectors: 

1. trade and investment 
2. technology 
3. energy 
4. transport and communication 
5. tourism 
6. fisheries 
7. agriculture 
8. cultural cooperation 
9. environment and disaster management 
10. public health 
11. people-to-people contract 
12. poverty alleviation and 
13. counter-terrorism and transnational crimes. 

The priority sectors for cooperation have clearly been identified keeping in view the complementarities of the regions and the means to exploit these effectively by establishing road, rail, air and shipping networks. 

Features of the Framework Agreement on BIMSTEC FTA.

Though the framework agreement on BIMSTEC FTA was signed in 2004, still it is not fully operational. Unlike many FTA agreements, the framework agreement on BIMSTEC FTA provides more scope for cooperation, going beyond trade in goods to bring trade in services and promote investment cooperation. It provides clear and well-defined deadlines for various stages of economic integration among the member countries. 

When the framework agreement was signed, a number of issues like modalities of tariff reduction and elimination, size of the negative list, criteria for rules of origin, mechanism of dispute settlement, safeguard measures, customs operations and negotiations on the agreements on service and investment were not dealt with. For the same, the member countries establish the institutional arrangement for conducting negotiations to finalize these issues, as stipulated in the framework agreement. This negotiation happens through Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC). TNC reports to the BIMSTEC Trade/ Economic Ministers through the Senior Trade and Economic Officials Meeting on the progress and outcome of its negotiations. In order to achieve the objective of BIMSTEC FTA, the framework agreement has set the following instruments. 

1. Trade Liberalization Program. According to this article, all products, except those included in the negative list would be subject to tariff reduction or elimination. Tariff reduction was to be undertaken following two product schedules, namely fast track product schedule for the least sensitive products and normal track product schedule for the less sensitive products. For both fast track and normal track product, the agreement provides different time frame for tariff reduction for Non-LDC and LDC member countries. When the framework agreement of BIMSTEC FTA was signed in 2004, the member countries decided to establish a free trade area for transaction of goods from July 2006. But due to political reasons and non-cooperation of some of the member countries, the enforcement of BIMSTES FTA was delayed, hence the time frame was amended.  
2. Rules of Origin. In case of BIMSTEC FTA, the member countries had agreed upon the specific issues of rules of origin such as domestic value addition, regional cumulation and product specific rules at 18th TNC meeting held in June 2009. 
3. Dispute Settlement Procedures. There is a specific agreement on dispute settlement procedures and mechanism of the framework agreement on the BIMSTEC FTA with specific time table. Bilateral consultation shall be held within 30 days upon a request made by any member. If the consultation failed to settle the dispute within the period of 60 days the complaining member may proceed directly to request for the constitution of an arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal shall have three members. The complaining member shall appoint an arbitrator to the arbitral tribunal within 20 days after making the request for constitution of the arbitral tribunal.The arbitral tribunal shall submit its final report within 120 days from the date of its composition.The member concerned shall promptly comply with the findings and recommendation of the arbitral tribunal.
4. Safeguard Measures. BIMSTEC safeguard measures permit member countrieto withdraw the tariff concession to protect domestic industry from serious injury due to increase in import form free trade under BIMSTEC FTA. BIMSTEC safeguard measures are not applicable against any products of LDCs if the import of a product from an LDC does not exceed five percent, provided that LDC members with less than 5 percent import share collectively account for not more than 15 percent of the import share of importing country.
5. Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters. The member countries of BIMSTEC through their customs administrations shall provide each other administrative assistance for the proper application of customs law, for the prevention, investigation, legal proceedings and combating of customs offences and for cooperation and technical assistance.

The most significant feature in the economic development activities of BIMSTEC is the proposed Free Trade Area amongst the member countries which expected to expand it later to involve other countries as well as other Regional Trading Blocs. It was the BIMST-EC Economic Ministerial Meeting held in August 1988 which concluded with certain decisions that BIMST- EC should aim to develop a Free Trade Agreement.

At the BIMSTEC Trade, Commerce and Economic Ministerial meeting held on February 8th 2004 in Phuket Thailand, the member countries jointly signed a Framework Agreement to establish a Free Trade Area by 2013 to create a conducive environment for trade for member countries without any barriers. Initially Bangladesh did not sign the agreement due to prevailing domestic issues, but later Bangladesh joined for the Framework Agreement.

The objective of the Agreement is to strengthen and enhance economic , trade and investment cooperation among the members, progressively liberalize and promote trade goods and services and explore new areas. 

Prospects of Free Trade Area for Sri Lanka: 

BIMSTEC is an important trade agreement to member countries including Sri Lanka, as it is has the potential to bridge for long term trade in South Asia and South East Asia. It covers significant areas of Asia. The BIMSTEC region is a region with US$ 2454 Billion GDP containing 1.5 billion population and US$ 1135 Billion total trade. This organization mixes a diverse cultural, social and economic group. Social and Economically Sri Lanka , India and Thailand are defined as non- less developed countries and other four countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal are in the LCD category. It is understood now that Japan is willing to help BIMSTEC to make it’s objectives successful. BIMSTEC, the organized trade bloc in South Asia and South East Asia would be fortunate to share the cooperation extended by Japan as the 5th economic power in the world. Sri Lanka has been trading with Japan who is our ninth largest export market with US$ 226 million ( 2013)exports during a long period of time. The possibility of Japan joining BIMSTEC will make a better platform for Sri Lanka to expand her market share in this leading market.

It is thought today that China too would consider extending its cooperation to BIMSTEC. Since 2003, China has entered nine FTA’s and China is still looking forward to have more FTAs with Asia. Presently a few FTAs are in progress of development according to Chinas preference such as China.

Today, cooperation amongst the trading blocs has increased and important discussions are being held regarding free trade facilities in a global social economic scenario. The ASEAN having a FTA with NEW Zealand and Australia is one such case. Some economists predict that in future the ASEAN will cooperate with BIMSTEC to create a wider free trade area in Asia . Thailand and Myanmar as members of the ASEAN has great potential in making this concept a reality.

The Strategic Plan 2010 – 2015 of Sri Lanka Export Development Board, the National Plan for Export Development indicate that one of the targets under the plan is to increase exports to markets other than EU and USA by over 50% by 2015. The increase of 50% exports of export markets other than EU and USA is not an easy target. EDB Strategic Plan 2010 – 2015 also indicate that China Russia and other Asian countries as emergence of friendly nations of Sri Lanka have potential for Sri Lanka exports.

If EDB needs to diversify Sri Lanka export destination from Europe to Asia and other countries, they should utilize these opportunities to its best. After it takes some time to implement FTA, but Sri Lanka should ready to utilize it. Even the promotional strategies should now build up with new tendencies in BIMSTEC counties for long term benefit.

Sri Lanka’s exports to Myanmar value US$ one million ranking 116 the position in the list of export destination. This reveals that very negligible trade is done with Myanmar. The main reason behind is that Sri Lanka maintain only political, cultural relationship as Buddhist country not much on trade. Today Myanmar displays it willingness to politically change it governing system and moving towards a more liberal path. Sri Lanka Government together with the Chambers should develop a new mechanism on how to enter the Myanmar market strategically. It is a timely need to organize trade missions to Myanmar and strengthen the relations with respective counterparts in Myanmar such as Myanmar Sri Lanka Friendship Associations.  

Discussions at the third BIMSTEC Heads of Government Summit. 

The third BIMSTEC Heads of Government Summit, concluded on the 14th of March 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw , Mynamar where very significant decisions were taken in order to accelerate the economic growth and social progress in the sub-region. The theme of this third BIMSTEC Heads of Government Summit was “Partnership for harmony and Prosperity”.

The hallmark of the BIMSTEC was the initiative of creating free trade area amongst the member countries and expanding it to other countries and regional trade blocs. The declaration of third BIMSTEC Heads of Government emphasizes that the leaders decided to move forward towards finalization of the draft Agreement on Trade in goods with agreed general rules of origin and project specific rules.

Three agreements were signed in the summit. 

1. Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Permanent Secretariat at Dhaka.
2. Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of the BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Commission (BCIC) and BIMSTEC Cultural Industries Observatory (BCIO) in Bhutan.
3. Memorandum of Association among BIMSTEC Member Countries Concerning Establishment of a BIMSTEC Centre for Weather and Climate at NOIDA.