News Wrap
AGD
No chit fund has been
operating in West Bengal under the definition of the Chit Funds Act, 1982. An Act was passed in the state in 2003, during Left Front Rule, for controlling deposit collection companies. There was no response from the Union Government till 2009, after which it was revised and sent back to the central authorities. In the lawless interlude, chit funds grew explosively, and there was no effort by the present Trinamul Congress to get the Bill approved. Almost all the Saradha Group Companies, viz Saradha Construction, Saradha Reality, Saradha Tours and Travels and Saradha Exports operating in West Bengal, Assam and Orissa, were used to mobilise deposits in rural or semi-urban areas, by promising very high returns. The group, which largely focused on land booking and tour booking schemes, has for the last couple of months defaulted on repayments, and wound up its media business recently. Publications and media channels run by the Saradha Group, presented pro-Trinamul coverage. Trinamul Congress had associated with the group’s events, and MPs/MLAs held important functional appointments in the Group. The Saradha Group faces an immediate payment demand of around Rs 1200 crore. There have been protests and suicides all across West Bengal. The Supreme Court recently asked Saradha to refund over Rs 24000 crore raised from over 3 crore investors without SEBI approval.
Police Prastuti Committee
The Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC) of Jharkhand state was created by the special branch of Jharkhand Police in 2002, and works alongside government forces. Fed by intelligence by its cadre, the TSPC swopped in on a group of Maoists in Chatra district’s Lawalong Tola on 27-28 March 2013 night, killing ten, including Lalesh Yadav, secretary of the Bihar-Jharkhand-North Chattisgarh Special Area Committee, and his closest aides. The non-CPI (Maoist) groups, including the TSPC, accounted for 56% of Jharkhand’s left-wing extremist violence in 2012. In the same year, the state witnessed 479 Maoist incidents, and 162 deaths, the highest in the country. The TSPC has remained overground in Chatra’s Lawalong block, won panchayat elections unopposed, established itself as a parallel power centre, and driven the Maoists out. It has now an estimated strength of 450-750 cadres, and has been supplied money and rifles by the police. Close to the administration and state police, the TSPC has spread to neighbouring Palamu and Latehar districts. Police officially claim that the TSPC are a splinter group of CPI (Maoist), involved in internecine clashes. But the reality is otherwise. It is a civilian cover of police.
Saudi Labour Laws
Presently about 2.5 million Indians, the majority from Kerala, are employed in Saudi Arabia. About 50,000 Indian workers were deported from Saudi Arabia in 2007. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is now enforcing ‘Nitaqat’ labour laws, under which one of the ten employees in every business establishment has to be a Saudi National. Saudis are unwilling to take up hard labour jobs in construction and other areas. Hence, 70% Indian workers will not be affected by the ‘Nitaqat’ law because they are bule collar workers, engaged as unskilled labourers. The fear of exodus of Indian workers is misplaced, as it could take at least four decades to train locals, for creating an all-Saudi employment pool. Since there are not enough Saudis with the requisite skills and qualifications, the professionals and their family members who constitute 20% of the Indian population, face no danger of being sent back. Clerks, who constitute less than 10% of the Indian workforce, are under threat of losing their jobs. Expats from Kerala and Tamil Nadu are prepared to work as clerks for 1000 Riyals a month, and even less. The Saudis are finding it difficult to fill clerical jobs with locals, as the Saudi government has stipulated a minimum wage of 3000 Riyals. Besides a few thousand illegal immigrants, only about 3500 Indian workers face immediate repatriation. The Arab Spring has inspired the idea of job reservation for locals. Full employment of Saudi Youth is a preventive against Al Qaida influence. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries are in favour of localisation of employment opportunities. The Saudi ‘Nitaqat’ law is equally applicable to workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries like Yemen and Nigeria. Indians who have changed jobs without endorsement on their visas may be forced to return. Deportation would imply a ban on entry into other Gulf countries.
Development in Peru
Peru is described as the Empire of Hidden Treasures. Even after a radical agrarian reform in the 1970s, abolition of big estates, large concentrations of poor people found shelter in the highlands of Peru. Geographical isolation of the high Andes, along with the ‘‘idleness’’ of the Amerindian and the failure of the highland peasant farmers to compete against cheap imports, contributed towards poverty. Over the past 80 years, millions of Andean farmers have migrated to Peru’s Pacific coast. There are signs of dynamism such as new markets; huge traffic of motor cycles, motor-taxis and vans; and modern farming techniques, including drip irrigation and farm machinery. Many of the locals are involved in farming, and also working in the local town, possessing houses in both places. Between 2001-2011 in Peru, the daily rate for farm labourers increased by an average of 73% in real terms, the price of a hectare of land by 88%, and the price of a house in the local town by 166%. An expansion in road building and highways improvement since the 1990s, had reduced journey time to the nearest city, for almost nine hours to less than four and a half. Mobile technology has raised Telephone ownership from 2% (2004) to 54% (2011). Since 1994, rural income has risen at an annual average rate of 7.2% (real terms), compared to 2.8% for urban income, per person.
Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 46, May 26-June 1, 2013
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