29 JUNE 2016

Ø  After facing a massive budget cut last year, the future of the Panchayati Raj Ministry continues to look bleak. After the BJP government shuttered two of its key programmes — the Backward Regions Grants Fund (BRGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA) — several officials at the Ministry feel it would soon be closed down and turned into a department under the Ministry of Rural Development. A senior official at the Ministry told The Hindu that Panchayati Raj Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh wasn’t making any efforts to rescue the Ministry from dissolution because he also heads the Rural Development Ministry.  “The government is turning this Ministry irrelevant so that no one questions it when they shut it down,” the senior official said. Last year’s budget cut, from Rs. 7,000 crores to Rs. 96 crores, left such an impact on the Ministry that it lost confidence in empowering panchayats nationwide. “Our role has been reduced. We are more like an advisory or advocacy group,” said another official at the Ministry, wishing not to be named.

Ø  Senior civil servants at the Centre are upset over a government decision to zero in on ‘incompetent’ officials for compulsory retirement.

Ø  As Prime Minister Narendra Modi sets out on a four-nation African tour next month, the government has decided to share India’s expertise in securing VIPs and vital security installations with these countries. Mr. Modi will embark on a five-day trip to the African countries from July 11-17. Apart from planning training modules for police and security forces in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa, India is expected to sign memorandums of understanding (MoU) during Mr. Modi’s visit, a senior government official said. India also intends to share its combat training programme and experience in busting narcotics cartels. “Since India has also been a victim of terror attacks, our experience would come in handy for the African countries as they also suffer from the same set of problems. After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, several measures were taken to secure our hotels and malls. These measures would be shared with them [African countries],” the official said. India’s elite commando force, the National Security Guards, not only performs combat operations during terrorist attacks but also gives proximity security cover to several VIPs, the official said.

Ø  New Census data released by the government on Monday shows that the median age at the time of marriage has increased across categories of people and genders, a trend that experts say will continue due to the socio-economic changes taking place in the country. The data, released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, show that the median age for men increased to 23.5 at the time of the 2011 Census, from 22.6 as per the 2001 figures. These numbers were 19.2 years and 18.2 years for women in the respective years.

Ø  Gross bad loans at commercial banks could increase to 8.5 per cent of total advances by March 2017, from 7.6 per cent in March 2016, according to a baseline scenario projection by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Financial Stability Report released on Tuesday. “The macro stress test suggests that under the baseline scenario, the gross NPA may rise to 8.5 per cent by March 2017,” the RBI noted in the report. “If the macro situation deteriorates in the future, the gross NPA ratio may increase further to 9.3 per cent by March 2017.” The central bank has been pushing lenders to review the classification of loans given by them as part of an Asset Quality Review (AQR). The resultant sharp surge in provisions for bad debts has eroded profitability, especially at state-owned banks, in recent quarters. The gross bad loans of public sector banks increased to 9.6 per cent as of March 2016, from about 6 per cent a year earlier.

Ø  NASA on Tuesday performed its second and last test-fire of a rocket booster for the Space Launch System (SLS), a powerful engine that may one day launch astronauts to Mars, the U.S. space agency said.