Arnie Hails Modi for Sustainable Development

Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would be a “terminator” for climate change and asked state governments to follow Narendra Modi’s “actions” as Gujarat Chief Minister to achieve sustainable development goals.

The film star, who is also the chair of R20 Regions of Climate Action – a non-profit organization – was addressing the 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) organized by the Energy Resource Institute (TERI).

The former California governor, who has earned a reputation as a climate change activist, thanked and lauded Prime Minister Modi for his work, including as Chief Minister of Gujarat, to push for sustainable development and clean energy.

He said “Gujarat is California of India” and Modi had certainly created “good action”.

Appreciating the progress made by Gujarat on climate change front, he said this showed that the state governments have tremendous power with them and they need not wait for the Central government for any action.

 “This is a challenge of our time and that is why I am on a crusade for a sustainable future and terminate climate change once and for all,” Schwarzenegger said.

The film-star turned American politician expressed hope that India, under Modi’s leadership, would play a key role in the UN climate negotiations in Paris in December this year.

“I know that India would be a big player in negotiations and I trust that the Prime Minister would do everything that he can,” he said.

The United Nations is pushing for an international climate agreement in Paris later this year that will limit global warming to two degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

Schwarzenegger also praised India’s recent objective of achieving 100 GW solar energy target in five years.

Global Debt Now Stands At $199 Trillion

Global debt has grown by $57 trillion or 17 percentage points of GDP or worldwide income since 2007, to stand at $199 trillion, equivalent to 286% of GDP, said McKinsey Global Institute.

After the explosion of borrowing in the boom years that led to the great crash and recession of 2007-08, most governments - especially those of rich developed countries - said they would embark on policies that would lead to greater saving, debt reduction and what's known as deleveraging, said the influential consultancy.

They implied they would encourage prudence, so that the sum of household, business and government debt would fall.

The single biggest contributor to the rise and rise of global indebtedness is that government debts have increased by $25tn over these seven years, said MGI.

What is striking is that of 47 big economies, only five - Israel, Egypt, Romania, Saudi Arabia and Argentina - have actually succeeded in reducing their debts.

But a further five have seen massive increments in their indebtedness: the debts of China have risen by 83 percentage points, Portugal's by 100 percentage points, Greece's by 103 percentage points, Singapore's by 129 percentage points and Ireland's by 172 percentage points.

McKinsey argues that China's central government does have the financial capacity to cope with a fully fledged financial crisis. It calculates that even if half of property related loans defaulted and lost four-fifths of their value, any financial rescue would see government debt rising to around 79% of GDP - which would be roughly equivalent to the UK's current public-sector indebtedness.

India’s Business Confidence Index up 4.1% in Q3

Economic think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said India's business confidence index (BCI) moved up by 4.1 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal.

In a release, NCAER said, India’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) increased by 4.1 per cent over the previous quarter, from 142.5 in October 2014 to 148.4 in December.

The BCI index rose during the quarter on factors including expectation of improved economic conditions, positive investment climate and rise in capacity utilization.

However, companies' view about their financial position improving in next six months showed negative change.

"The BCI rose for all five sectors of the economy (consumer durables, consumer non-durables, intermediate goods, capital goods and services) over the previous quarter, with the services sector showing the largest growth of 12.5 per cent."

Services sector also showed the highest BCI. The BCIs of capital goods and consumer non durables sector grew handsomely, by 8.8 and 8 per cent, respectively, said NCAER.

Sentiment on production, domestic sales, exports and pre-tax profits were mixed. Shares of firms expecting increases in these variables rose, while shares of those expecting expansion of more than 10 per cent declined, it said.

On polity, NCAER's Political Confidence Index (PCI) continued to rise and increased by 1.4 per cent during the quarter, it said.

"Service sector units showed the maximum growth of 23 per cent in PCI. Intermediate goods and capital goods units showed a decline in PCI. Regionally, the north grew by the most whereas the west declined by the most," it added.

UN Conference Discusses Overlap between Tourism, Culture

The First World Conference on Tourism and Culture, which began on Cambodia from Feb 4, started discussions aimed to address the overlap between culture and tourism, tackling the question of how to harness the power of tourism and culture to alleviate poverty, create jobs, protect natural and cultural heritage and promote international understanding.

The conference, organized jointly by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also aimed at bringing together Tourism and Culture to identify key opportunities and challenges for stronger cooperation between the fields.

“Today, cultural tourism – the world’s mosaic of art forms, heritage sites, festivals, traditions, and pilgrimages – is growing at an unprecedented rate,” said Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General. “Humanity’s curiosity about cultural heritage is the element that truly differentiates one destination from another.”

Rifai described the growth of international tourism since the 1950s and the socio-economic contribution made by tourism, accounting for one out of every 11 jobs worldwide, as well as contributing nine per cent to global gross domestic product (GDP) and 30 per cent contribution to total global exports.

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General her goal was to create a positive mutually reinforcing dynamic between the two, working to build sustainability and to benefit local communities.

She underlined the need to safeguard cultural heritage while moving ahead with sustainable tourism and said she believed that was the Conference’s core message, citing that vision as the route to promoting culture as a driver and enabler of sustainable development.

India Likely to Set FY-16 Disinvestment Target at Rs 43,000 Cr

Stepping up disinvestment policy of the government, India is likely to set Rs 43,000 crore as disinvestment target for fiscal 2015-16, according to sources.

Sources said, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget for 2015-16, is likely to target around Rs 43,000 crore from disinvestment proceeds, almost the same level that the government expects to realise from stake sale in PSUs this financial year.

"The disinvestment target to be outlined in Budget should be in line with this financial year's target. There are only a handful of big companies which have to comply with the minimum public holding norm," a source said.

Jaitley would present the Budget for 2015-16 on February 28. The government looks at disinvestment proceeds as a major source of revenue, after tax collection, to finance the fiscal deficit.

The government last week sold 10 per cent stake in CIL for Rs 22,558 crore. It has to sell another 5 per cent in the company to achieve the minimum 25 per cent public shareholding norm as prescribed by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

In the current financial year, the government has raised about Rs 24,400 crore through stake sale in the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and CIL. With less than two months remaining for the financial year to end, it is racing against time to meet the budgeted target of Rs 43,425 crore.

The government has lined up a host of companies for a possible disinvestment, including IOC, NMDC, BHEL, Nalco, Dredging Corporation, PFC and REC.

The major PSUs where government holding currently stands at more than 75 per cent include Coal India, NHPC, NMDC and SJVN.

Moreover, there are at least seven companies where the government's stake is 90 per cent and these include MMTC, Hindustan Copper, HMT, National Fertlisers, Neyveli Lignite Corp, State Trading Corp and State Bank of Mysore.

States to Get More Power in ‘Power’ Sector

The Mines ministry has decided to notify 31 additional minerals, presently under the list of major minerals, as minor minerals in an attempt to devolve more power to the States.

According  Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Steel and Mines, a notification in this regard will be issued soon. He said in order to strengthen the mineral inventory database of India; the government is planning to notify PSUs to carry out prospecting work.

He further added that the Geological Survey of India (GSI), which was hitherto involved in G3 and G4 level of prospecting, has plans to scale up prospecting operations to G1 and G2 levels.

As opposed to major minerals, the regulatory and administrative jurisdiction of minor minerals falls under the purview of State governments. These include the powers to frame rules, prescribe rates of royalty, contribution to District Mineral Foundation, the procedure for grant of mineral concessions etc.

These 31 minerals account for over 55% of the total number of leases and nearly 60% of total leased area. Considering the extensive local outreach of States, this decision empowers States to customize regulatory framework to suit local conditions.

This move is considered an important step in the fulfilment of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ motto of the current government. 

AP to Promote Tirupati as Spiritual Tourism Hub

Andhra Pradesh plans to transform its temple capital Tirupati as hub for ‘Spiritual Tourism’ after its decision to accord top priority to tourism.

The state tourism department has also decided to upgrade Tirupati as an emerging destination for 'mythological’ education and entertainment and inherent strengths of the various other districts in the state to give a boost to travel and hospitality sectors.

With 75,000 visitors a day on an average, mostly on pilgrimage to the abode of Lord Venkateswara, the readymade ‘spiritual market’ is up for grabs. As a number of visitors prefer an ethereal aura and blissfully-spiritual environs themed on Indian mythology, the hospitality industry is preparing itself to offer the best. The business model here is to offer entertainment with right dose of religion interspersed to rake in the moolah.

Sri Haridham, first-of-its-kind mythological and spiritual theme park, is coming up at the foot of Tirumala hills northwest of Tirupati, which is set to make a mark. Coming up close to SV Zoo Park, the park is designed to provide day-long ‘edutainment’ to the visitors by combining the spiritual elements along with the concepts and precepts of Hindu religion. The project hosts ‘108 great temples of India’, mythological rides, water parks, hotels, mall cum multiplex and much more, encompassing the central theme of spirituality and religion.

The project is being developed by Vaishnovi under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode along with the State government’s Department of Youth Advancement, Tourism and Culture.