National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)

Objective:-

• Maximize economic impact mainly through Infrastructure Development in commercially viable projects, both greenfield and brownfield, including stalled projects.

Structure:- 

• NIIF will be established as one or more Alternate Investment Funds (AIF) under the SEBI regulations. 
• For Category I and II AIF, NIIF will be eligible for a pass through under the Income Tax Act. 
• In case of Category III AIF, all NIIF income shall be taxable at its level and any distribution made to its unit holders (investors) would be tax exempt.
• The initial authorized corpus of the fund would be Rs. 20,000/- Cr. which may be enhanced from time to time by the Govt. (with govt. share in each AIF would be 49% at all times)
• Will be established as a trust or any other legal entity with a governing council with experts from Govt., private sector, infrastrcure experts etc. 
• NIIF will be supported by a CEO with a small investment team.

Functions:- 

1. Fund Raising, and servicing of the investors of the fund
2. Investing, in projects, institutions, or companies
• Equity/quasi equity support to NBFCs/FIs engaged in the infrastructure financing.
• In funds engaged in the infrastructure sector and managed by AMCs for equity and quasi equity.
• Equity/quasi equity/debt support to commercially viable infrastructure projects both in greenfield and brownfield including stalled projects.
3. Preparing a shelf of infrastructure projects, and providing advisory services

―Alternative Investment Fund means any fund established or incorporated in India in the form of a trust or a company or a limited liability partnership or a body corporate which,- 

(i) is a privately pooled investment vehicle which collects funds from investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors; and 

(ii) is not covered under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 1999 or any other regulations of the Board to regulate fund management activities

Provided that the following shall not be considered as Alternative Investment Fund for the purpose of these regulations,- 

(i) family trusts set up for the benefit of ‗relatives‘ as defined under Companies Act, 1956; 

(ii) ESOP Trusts set up under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Employee Stock Option Scheme and Employee Stock Purchase Scheme), Guidelines, 1999 or as permitted under Companies Act, 1956; 

(iii) employee welfare trusts or gratuity trusts set up for the benefit of employees; (iv) ‗holding companies‘ within the meaning of Section 4 of the Companies Act, 1956; 

(v) other special purpose vehicles not established by fund managers, including securitization trusts, regulated under a specific regulatory framework; 

(vi) funds managed by securitisation company or reconstruction company which is registered with the Reserve Bank of India under Section 3 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; and 

(vii) any such pool of funds which is directly regulated by any other regulator in India;

The Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have been categorised into three classes:

• Category I: These funds receive incentives from the government, SEBI or other regulating agencies. These include social venture funds, infrastructure funds, venture capital funds and SME funds.

• Category II: These funds are allowed to investment anywhere in any combination, but are not take debts, except for day-to-day operation purposes. These include private equity funds and debt funds.

• Category III: Funds that make short-term investments and then sell, like hedge funds, come under this.

Report of the Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion chaired by DeepaK Mohanty

RBI released the Report of the Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion chaired by DeepaK Mohanty. 

Salient recommendations of the Committee are as under:-

• Banks have to make special efforts to step up account opening for females, and the Government may consider a deposit scheme for the girl child – Sukanya Shiksha - as a welfare measure.
• Given the predominance of individual account holdings (94 per cent of total credit accounts), a unique biometric identifier such as Aadhaar should be linked to each individual credit account and the information shared with credit information companies to enhance the stability of the credit system and improve access.
• To improve ‘last mile’ service delivery and to translate financial access into enhanced convenience and usage, a low-cost solution should be developed by utilisation of the mobile banking facility for maximum possible G2P payments.
• In order to increase formal credit supply to all agrarian segments, digitisation of land records is the way forward. This should be backed by an Aadhaar-linked mechanism for Credit Eligibility Certificates to facilitate credit flow to actual cultivators.
• To phase out the agricultural interest subvention scheme which has distorted the agricultural credit system and ploughing the subsidy amount into an affordable technology aided universal crop insurance scheme for marginal and small farmers for all crops with a monetary ceiling of Rs.200,000 at a nominal premium to end agrarian distress.
• A scheme of ‘Gold KCC’ (kisan credit card) with higher flexibility for borrowers with prompt repayment records, which could be dovetailed with a government-sponsored personal insurance, and digitization of KCC to track expenditure pattern.
• Encourage multiple guarantee agencies to provide credit guarantees in niche areas for micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and explore possibilities for counter guarantee and re-insurance.
• Introduction of a system of unique identification for all MSME borrowers and sharing of such information with credit bureaus.
• Establishing a system of professional credit intermediaries/advisors for MSMEs to help both the sector banks in credit assessment.
• To further step up financing of the MSE Sector a framework for movable collateral registry may be introduced.
• Commercial banks may be enabled to open specialised interest-free windows with simple products like demand deposits, agency and participation certificates on the liability side and cost-plus financing and deferred payment, deferred delivery contracts on the asset side.
• An eco-system comprising multiple models should be encouraged with will foster partnerships amongst national full-service banks, regional banks of various types, NBFCs, semi-formal financial institutions, as well as the newly-licensed payments banks and small finance banks.
• Banks’ business model to integrate Business Correspondents (BCs) with appropriate monitoring by designated link branches and greater mix of fixed location BC outlets to win the confidence of the common person.
• Introduction of a system of online registration of BCs, their training and monitoring their activity including delinquency, and entrusting more complex financial products such as credit to trained BCs with good track record.
• A geographical information system (GIS) to map all banking access points.
• To step up the self help group (SHG)-bank linkage programme (SBLP) initiated by NABARD with the help of concerned stakeholders including government agencies as a livelihood model.
• Corporates should be encouraged to nurture SHGs as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
• Provision of credit history of all SHG members by linking with individual Aadhaar numbers to check over-indebtedness
• To restore tax-exempt status for securitisation vehicles for efficient risk transfer.
• More ATMs in rural and semi-urban centres, interoperability of micro ATMs and use of application-based mobiles as point- of- sale (PoS) for creating more touch points for customers.
• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to develop a multi-lingual mobile application for customers who use non-smart phones, especially for users of national unified USSD platform (NUUP).
• Permit a small-value cash-out with adequate KYC along for non-bank prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) to incentivise usage.
• To allow PPI interoperability for non-banks.
• Levying a surcharge on credit card transactions by merchant establishments should not be allowed.
• Banks to complete the task of linking of deposit accounts with Aadhaar in a time bound manner so as to create the necessary eco-system for social cash transfer.
• Financial Literacy Centre (FLC) network to be strengthened to deliver basic financial literacy at the ground level. Banks to identify lead literacy officers to be trained by the Reserve Bank in its College of Agricultural Banking (CAB) who in turn could train the people manning the FLCs.
• The Reserve Bank to commission periodic dipstick surveys across states to ascertain the extent of financial literacy.
• All regulated entities should be required to put in place a technology-based platform for SMS acknowledgement and disposal of customer complaints.
• To strengthen the Information Monitoring System for District Consultative Committees (DCC) and State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) deliberations.
• The responsibility of the SLBC/lead bank scheme to be rotated among to instil a spirit of competition.
• SLBCs to focus more on inter-institutional issues, livelihood models, social cash transfer, gender inclusion, Aadhaar seeding, universal account opening, and less on credit deposit ratio which is a by-product.
• As a part of second generation reforms, the government can replace the current agricultural input subsidies on fertilisers, power and irrigation by a direct income transfer scheme.

Kelkar Committee on PPP in Infrastructure

In the Union Budget 2015-16, Finance Minister announced that the PPP mode of infrastructure development has to be revisited, and revitalized.  

• The Economic Survey 2014-15 had said that at the end of December 2014, the value of all projects, mostly in the infrastructure sector, that have been stalled, stood at Rs 8.8 lakh crore (7 per cent of GDP).

In pursuance of this announcement, a Committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Vijay Kelkar named as "Committee on Revisiting & Revitalizing the PPP model of Infrastructure Development".

The Terms of Reference of the Committee were as follows:

(i)      Review of the experience of PPP Policy, including the variations in contents of contracts and difficulties experienced with particular variations/conditions, if any,

(ii)    Analysis of risks involved in PPP projects in different sectors and existing framework of sharing of such risks between the project developer and the Government, thereby suggesting optimal risk sharing mechanism,

(iii)   Propose design modifications to the contractual arrangements of the PPP based on the above, and international best practices and our institutional context, and

(iv)  Measure to improve capacity building in Government for effective implementation of the PPP projects.

Some of the recommendations of the Committee are :-

• Review of the model concession agreements (MCAs)
• Allowing fund raising through zero coupon bonds
• Setting up of independent sectoral regulators in different infrastructure sectors like ports, railways, roads etc.
• Setting up of an Infrastructure PPP Project Review Committee (IPRC) to deal with the problems being faced by infra projects.The mandate of the IPRC would be to evaluate and send its recommendations in a time-bound manner upon a reference being made of "actionable stress" in any infrastructure project developed in PPP mode beyond a notified threshold value.
• The committee also proposed to set up an Infrastructure PPP Adjudication Tribunal (IPAT) chaired by a judicial member (former SC Judge or HC Chief Justice) with a technical and financial member.
• The report said there should be a better identification and allocations of risks between the stakeholders and contracts for the PPP projects should focus more on service delivery instead of fiscal benefits.
• It also suggested there should be a provision for monetisation of viable projects that have stable revenue flows after engineering, procurement and construction delivery.
• The other suggestions include restrictions on number of banks in a consortium, building up of risk assessment and appraisal capabilities by banks and specific RBI guidelines to lenders for encashment of bank guarantees.
• As regards airports, it said the government should encourage PPP model in greenfield as well as brownfield projects. 
• It suggested an independent tariff regulatory authority for railways to help it tap PPP opportunities.
• The Kelkar committee said regulators of domestic pension, insurance and long-term funds may be encouraged to allow investment in PPP SPVs with a lower than 'AA' rating if developers access credit guarantee instruments.
• Active investment in take-out financing vehicles, including infrastructure debt funds (IDFs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), which de-risk returns, may also be encouraged.
• A centre of excellence 3-P institute in PPPs, enabling research, activities to build capacity, more nuanced and sophisticated contracting models and developing a quick dispute redressal mechanism is overdue.

Tattwabodhinī Sabhā & Akshay Kumar Datta

The Tattwabodhinī Sabhā ("Truth Propagating/Searching Society") was a group started in Calcutta on 6 October 1839 as a splinter group of the Brahmo Samaj. 

The founding member was Debendranath Tagore, previously of the Brahmo Samaj, eldest son of influential entrepreneur Dwarkanath Tagore, and father to the renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore. 

• In 1859, the Tattwabodhinī Sabhā were dissolved back into the Brāhmo Samāj by Debendranath Tagore.

Among its first members were the "two giants of Hindu reformation and Bengal Renaissance, Akshay Kumar Datta "who in 1839 emerged from the life of an anonymous squalor-beset individual" and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar the "indigenous modernizer".

• The main objective of the Sabhā was to promote a more rational and humanist form of Hinduism based on the Vedānta, the Upanishads that form the last part of the Vedās.

Akshay Kumar Datta:-

Akshay Kumar Datta (5 July 1820 – 18 May 1886) was born in Chupi in Bardhaman. He was one of the initiators of the Bengal Renaissance.

In 1839, he joined the Tattwabodhini Sabha and soon became its assistant secretary. He was appointed a teacher of the Tattwabodhini Pathsala the next year and in 1843, Tattwabodhini Patrika was published as mouthpiece of both the Tattwabodhini Sabha and Brahmo Samaj. 

• Tattwabodhini Patrika came out at the time when Christian Missionaries were trying to sow the seed of their belief in the minds of the people in Bengal.The patrika was brought out to rewind the Hindu society and religion and the spirit of young Bengal. Through this monthly magazine, Akshay Kumar Dutta first aroused the sense of patriotism in the minds of the people. He edited the paper from 1843 to 1855. 
• He said "we are living under foreign domination, getting education in foreign language, tolerating foreign oppression". 
• He further said, referring to the activities of the Christian Missionary, that "the foreign religion might one day become the religion of this country".
• When the Missionary-Hindu controversy subsided, the Patrika began to take a greater interest on other issues. It began to show a deep concern for the miserable economic condition of the people of the province. Patrika pointed out that while an Indian employee was offered Rs. 100 to Rs. 150, a European in the same position got more than Rs. 1000. Thus, the patrika remarked "The Indians are selling their liberty at a low price".

He was the first editor of the journal and contributed substantially towards the development of prose writing in Bengali. 

He was the first Bengali writer to seriously work for the propagation of a modern scientific outlook, writing books on Physics and Geography in Bengali. He also wrote profusely on astronomy, mathematics and geology. 

• Akshay Kumar Datta was the first person in the Brahmo Samaj to boldly proclaim that the Vedas were not infallible. 
• He succeeded in convincing Debendranath Tagore in this respect and ultimately Brahmo Samaj adopted the thinking that while it respected all religious scriptures it did not consider any as infallible. 
• It was in this perspective that Debendranath Tagore wrote Brahmo Dharma.

His magnum opus was the two-part Bharatbarshiya Upasak Sampraday. The brilliant introductions to the two volumes of this book evince his profound philosophical, linguistic and scientific learning and depth. Among others, Max Muller, Monier-Williams and Rajendralal Mitra were greatly impressed by his profound scholarship.

Bio-Toilet

A toilet in which biological degradation of human waste by inoculates takes place is known as Bio-Toilet. 

Inoculums digests the human waste converting it into water & gases in the process.  

• The name of the bio-toilet bacteria type is Anaerobic Bacteria.

Steps  in anaerobic digestion:-

1. Large polymers are converted into simpler monomers called hydrolysis 
2. Simple monomers are converted into volatile fatty acids called acidogenesis 
3. Volatile fatty acids are converted into acetic acid CO2 & H2 called acetogenesis 
4. Acetate & H2 are converted into CH4 & CO2 called methanogenesis

Indian Railways is using the bio-toilet concept of the DRDO in which the bio-digester tank in every toilet is filled with inoculums containing four types of bacteria. The water trap system in the toilet prevents air from getting into the tank, the human waste is processed by anaerobic bacteria in seven chambers in the tank and the methane gas is allowed to escape into the air.

Fuel Cell

A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction of positively charged hydrogen ions with oxygen or another oxidizing agent.

• Hydrogen is the basic fuel, but fuel cells also require oxygen. One great appeal of fuel cells is that they generate electricity with very little pollution–much of the hydrogen and oxygen used in generating electricity ultimately combine to form a harmless byproduct, namely water.

The purpose of a fuel cell is to produce an electrical current that can be directed outside the cell to do work, such as powering an electric motor or illuminating a light bulb or a city. Because of the way electricity behaves, this current returns to the fuel cell, completing an electrical circuit.

• A single fuel cell generates a tiny amount of direct current (DC) electricity.

Difference between Fuel Cell and Batteries:-

Fuel cells are different from batteries in that they require a continuous source of fuel and oxygen or air to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemicals present in the battery react with each other to generate an electromotive force (emf). 

• Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as these inputs are supplied.

Different types of fuel cells:-

Alkali fuel cells operate on compressed hydrogen and oxygen. They generally use a solution of potassium hydroxide (chemically, KOH) in water as their electrolyte. Efficiency is about 70 percent, and operating temperature is 150 to 200 degrees C, (about 300 to 400 degrees F). Cell output ranges from 300 watts (W) to 5 kilowatts (kW). 

• Alkali cells were used in Apollo spacecraft to provide both electricity and drinking water. They require pure hydrogen fuel, however, and their platinum electrode catalysts are expensive. And like any container filled with liquid, they can leak.

Molten Carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) use high-temperature compounds of salt (like sodium or magnesium) carbonates (chemically, CO₃) as the electrolyte. Efficiency ranges from 60 to 80 percent, and operating temperature is about 650 degrees C (1,200 degrees F). Units with output up to 2 megawatts (MW) have been constructed, and designs exist for units up to 100 MW. The high temperature limits damage from carbon monoxide "poisoning" of the cell and waste heat can be recycled to make additional electricity. Their nickel electrode-catalysts are inexpensive compared to the platinum used in other cells. But the high temperature also limits the materials and safe uses of MCFCs–they would probably be too hot for home use. Also, carbonate ions from the electrolyte are used up in the reactions, making it necessary to inject carbon dioxide to compensate.

Phosphoric Acid fuel cells (PAFC) use phosphoric acid as the electrolyte. Efficiency ranges from 40 to 80 percent, and operating temperature is between 150 to 200 degrees C (about 300 to 400 degrees F). Existing phosphoric acid cells have outputs up to 200 kW, and 11 MW units have been tested. PAFCs tolerate a carbon monoxide concentration of about 1.5 percent, which broadens the choice of fuels they can use. If gasoline is used, the sulfur must be removed. Platinum electrode-catalysts are needed, and internal parts must be able to withstand the corrosive acid.

Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells work with a polymer electrolyte in the form of a thin, permeable sheet. Efficiency is about 40 to 50 percent, and operating temperature is about 80 degrees C (about 175 degrees F). Cell outputs generally range from 50 to 250 kW. The solid, flexible electrolyte will not leak or crack, and these cells operate at a low enough temperature to make them suitable for homes and cars. But their fuels must be purified, and a platinum catalyst is used on both sides of the membrane, raising costs.

Solid Oxide fuel cells (SOFC) use a hard, ceramic compound of metal (like calcium or zirconium) oxides (chemically, O₂) as electrolyte. Efficiency is about 60 percent, and operating temperatures are about 1,000 degrees C (about 1,800 degrees F). Cells output is up to 100 kW. At such high temperatures a reformer is not required to extract hydrogen from the fuel, and waste heat can be recycled to make additional electricity. However, the high temperature limits applications of SOFC units and they tend to be rather large. While solid electrolytes cannot leak, they can crack.

Source:-

1. http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

Kalamkari Painting

Kalamkari or Qalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India. The word is derived from the Persian words ghalam (pen) and kari (craftmanship), meaning drawing with a pen (Ghalamkar).

• The Machilipatnam Kalamkari craft made at Pedana near by Machilipatnam in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, evolved with patronage of the Mughals and the Golconda sultanate.

There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in India - 

1. one, the Srikalahasti style and the other, 
2. the Machilipatnam style of art. 

Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari

The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, wherein the "kalam" or pen is used for free hand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely hand worked. 

This style flowered around temples and their patronage and so had an almost religious identity - scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like, depicted deities and scenes taken from the great Hindu epics - Ramayana, Mahabarata, Puranas and the mythological classics. 

This style owes its present status to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay who popularized the art as the first Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari and it involves seventeen painstaking steps.

Masulipatnam Kalamkari:-

Owing to Muslim rule in Golconda, the Masulipatnam Kalamkari was influenced by Persian motifs & designs, widely adapted to suit their taste. 

The outlines and main features are done using hand carved blocks. The finer details are later done using the pen. 

Under the British rule the designs as well as the end use of the fabric differed - for garments as well as furnishings. During this period floral designs were popular. The artisans were made to create even portraits of English men. 

GI tag

The Government of India, under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, has issued GI tag to the Kalamkari industry in 2012 but it has failed to keep vigil on maintaining the process and production standards claimed by the production units in the registry.

Pen:-

The artists use a bamboo or date palm stick pointed at one end with a bundle of fine hair attached to this pointed end to serve as the brush or pen.

Colour:-

The dyes are obtained by extracting colors form parts of plants - roots, leaves along with mineral salts of iron, tin, copper, alum, etc., which are used as mordants. 

Karrupur style of Kalamkari:-

Karrupur is a style of Kalamkari that developed in the Thanjavur region during the Maratha rule. The Kalamkari work was a further embellishment to the gold brocade work in the woven fabric, which was used as sarees & dhotis by the royal family during the period of Raja Sarfoji and later Raja Shivaji.

• After independence of India, the Handicrafts Development Board took up the task of reviving this art, which had dwindled due to lack of buyers. 

Geographical Indication (GI)

As per World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO):

A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. 

• In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. 
• In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. 
• Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production.

• Under Articles 1 (2) and 10 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, geographical indications (GI) are covered as an element of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) . 
• They are also covered under Articles 22 to 24 of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)  Agreement, which was part of the Agreements concluding the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.
• India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection)Act, 1999 has come into force with effect from 15th September 2003.

Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection)Act, 1999:-

• The Act would be administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks- who is the Registrar of Geographical Indications. 
• The Geographical Indications Registry would be located at Chennai.
• The registration of a geographical indication is valid for a period of 10 years.It can be renewed from time to time for further period of 10 years each.

How a geographical indication is different from a trade mark?

Ø      A trade mark is a sign which is used in the course of trade and it distinguishes goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises.

Ø      Whereas a geographical indication is an indication used to identify goods having special characteristics originating from a definite geographical territory.

Global Economic Prospects

Global Economic Prospects is a report published by World Bank. 

Special Safeguard Mechanism

Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM)

It has been defined by World Trade Organisation (WTO) as "A tool that will allow developing countries to raise tariffs temporarily to deal with import surges or price falls".

Need for it:

“Developed countries are giving 70-80% subsidies to their farmers, which only they can afford to give. We don’t have the wherewithal to pay these kinds of subsidies. It distorts prices and make our farmers vulnerable when the products hit our markets. It is against those kinds of aberrations that we need protection. That’s what SSM will do."

                                                                                             -  Rita Teaotia (trade secretary)

A world bank paper http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2010/06/06/000158349_20100606235900/Rendered/PDF/WPS5334.pdf says that 

"Agricultural producers in developing countries are vulnerable to shocks both domestically—particularly from weather-related shocks to output—and from shocks to international markets. However, it must be remembered that consumers in developing countries are also particularly vulnerable to shocks to food prices, given that the poorest people spend as much as three quarters of their incomes on food. Policy measures that raise the price of food by imposing an import duty may help farmers whose incomes have fallen due to a harvest shortfall, but will do so at the expense of net buyers of food— including many farmers—as they will be hurt by the increase in the price of food. If farmers are isolated from world markets by poor infrastructure and communications, an even worse possibility emerges in which protection raises the cost of food to poor consumers linked to world markets, while providing little or no benefit to producers in more isolated locations. This highlights the need for careful analysis of the impact of special safeguards taking into account the potential differentiation between imported and domestic goods."

Doha Development Agenda and the origin of the SSM

At the Doha Ministerial Conference, the developing countries were given a concession to adopt a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) besides the existing safeguards (like the Special Agricultural Safeguard or the SSG). 

This SSM constituted an important part of the promises offered to the developing world at Doha (known as Doha Development Agenda) and the Doha MC became known as a development round.

Special Agricultural Safeguard (SSG)

The Special Agricultural Safeguard (SSG) is provision in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. The SSG allows Member countries to impose additional tariffs on agricultural products if their import volume exceeds defined trigger levels, or if prices fall below specified trigger levels. Its purpose is to prevent disruption of domestic markets due to import surges or abnormally low import prices.

Difference between SSM and other safeguards under Agreement on Agriculture

The SSG was available to all countries- both developing and developed whereas the SSM is allowable only to the developing countries.

It is to be mentioned that the SSG was available as it was inducted under the GATT agreement; whereas the SSM was the invention of the Doha MC.

Art. 142 of the Constitution

Fiat justitia, ruat caelum. — Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall.

The Supreme Court on 16.12.2015 exercised its Constitutional authority under the Article 142 of the Constitution and appointed former High Court judge, Justice Virendra Singh, as Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh after the State government failed to comply with its directives.

The Article 142 says the following:

142. Enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court and unless as to discovery, etc

 ( 1 ) The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or orders so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe.

(2) Subject to the provisions of any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Supreme Court shall, as respects the whole of the territory of India, have all and every power to make any order for the purpose of securing the attendance of any person, the discovery or production of any documents, or the investigation or punishment of any contempt of itself.

The main purpose of Article 142 and the endeavor to do complete justice has been explained by SC court in Manohar Lal Sharma v. Principal Secy & Ors. wherein the apex court held that "the Supreme Court has been conferred with very wide powers for proper and effective administration of justice. The Court has inherent power and jurisdiction for dealing with any exceptional situation in larger public interest which builds confidence in the rule of law and strengthens democracy. The Supreme Court as the sentinel on the qui vive, has been invested with the powers which are elastic and flexible and in certain areas the rigidity in exercise of such powers is considered inappropriate."

In Shahid Balwa v. Union of India & Ors., the court said that "Article 136 read with Article 142 of the Constitution of India enables this Court to pass such orders, which are necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it and, any order so made, shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India. The power to do complete justice under Article 142 is in the nature of a corrective measure whereby equity is given preference over law to ensure that no injustice is caused.

source: http://www.nja.nic.in/17%20Complete%20Justice.pdf

Article 136 says the following:

136. Special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court

(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India

(2) Nothing in clause ( 1 ) shall apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces

In M.S. Ahlawat v. State of Haryana & Anr., the court held that under Article 142, the court cannot altogether ignore the substantive provisions of a statute and pass orders concerning an issue which can be settled only through a mechanism prescribed in another statute. 

While reviewing its earlier order, the court corrected its order punishing the petitioner under Section 195 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 holding that the requirements of the provisions cannot be ignored in exercise of powers under Article 142. 

Similarly, in M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath & Ors.26, the court while dealing with the issue whether a punishment could be imposed by the apex court while hearing a Writ Petition for causing pollution when such an act is covered by Prevention of Water Pollution Act and Prevention of Air Pollution Act, held that Article 142 could not be invoked in contravention of statutory provisions.