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British citizens enjoy the widest range of visa-free travel in the world, being able to visit 173 countries with just a passport, while Indians get visa-free or visa-on-arrival access in 52 countries. The UK citizens are at par with those from Finland and Sweden for visa-free access, according to Henley & Partners Visa Restriction Index. Nine out of the top ten in the index are European Union countries, with the tenth being the United States. India figures 74th on the list while Afghanistan comes at the bottom of the table, with only 28 countries available for entry without visa. Iraqi passport holders can go to 31 countries while Pakistan and Somalia are tied at the third from the bottom with 32. According to passport information from the International Air Transport Association ( IATA), 52 countries and territories provide visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to holders of Indian passports. Twenty-eight countries and territories are accessible visa-free. Where visa-free access is permitted, such access is not necessarily a right, and admission may technically be at the discretion of border enforcement officers. Visitors engaging in activities other than tourism, including unpaid work, may require a visa or work permit. Indian citizens do not need a visa to travel and work in Nepal or Bhutan. The country of residence is a factor in determining the visa requirements for Indian passport holders when visiting some countries. For example, an Indian citizen residing in the US holding a permanent resident permit (Green Card) does not need a visa to travel to Canada, Mexico and many countries and territories in the Caribbean. Indian citizens resident in Japan with valid Alien Registration Cards can travel to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) for tourism and short business trips. (PTI)
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State-run Indian explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) aims to commence commercial drilling for shale gas next year, its chairman said."We hope to take up at least 10 wells for parameters this year and to start commercial drilling next year," Sudhir Vasudeva told reporters.India approved a policy to allow state-owned companies to start exploration for shale oil and gas last month, as the world's fourth-biggest energy consumer moves slowly to seek alternatives to expensive oil imports.Of about 356 blocks held by ONGC and Oil India, India's upstream regulator has said 176 could hold shale resources.India could be sitting on as much as 96 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable shale gas reserves, equivalent to about 26 years of its gas demand, according to the US Energy Information Administration.(Reuters)
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Indian employers tend to agree. Many say graduates from homegrown universities are often unemployable because job seekers do not have the skills they want, one reason why New Delhi is trying to fast-track legislation to allow foreign colleges, until now largely shut out of India, to open their own campuses in the country.On the cusp of a boom in its working-age population, India is racing against time to raise the quality of its education to prevent a demographic dividend turning into a demographic curse."It is absolutely urgent," said Tobias Linden, the World Bank's lead education specialist in India. "The people who will make up the youth bulge have already been born. This is not a hypothetical situation. They might just be one, or two, or three years old now, but taking action to help them when they become 18 - those moves have to start now."Over the next two decades, Asia's third-largest economy will add up to 300 million people - the equivalent of almost the entire population of the US - to its workforce.That prospect offers hope that India, struggling now with its weakest economic growth in a decade, can finally follow in the footsteps of the likes of China and the Asian Tigers.A generation ago these countries made good use of their growing workforces, training young people and putting them to work in export-orientated manufacturing, to generate economic growth that was the envy of the world.Best ChanceIndia's working-age population will not peak until 2035, in contrast to China, where the working-age population topped out this year, brokerage Espirito Santo Securities says. Labour forces in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore will peak in the next five years.Such demographic factors offer India "the most compelling conditions for economic growth the country will, we argue, ever have", the brokerage said in a report. "Yet demographics are not destiny."Attracting foreign colleges to open campuses in India is one solution for a university system that India's planning commission says is "plagued by a shortage of well trained faculty, poor infrastructure and outdated and irrelevant curricula."Despite a surplus of workers, employers across sectors say local universities do a poor job of preparing graduates for working life. None of India's universities feature in the world's top 200, the 2013-14 rankings by the London-based education group Quacquarelli Symonds show, versus seven from China.Many homegrown universities rely on rote-learning and fail to teach the "soft skills" that are increasingly important in India, where the services sector has driven the economic growth of the last two decades, recruiters and students say."We don't learn here - we are just taught to mug up, so it's hard for us when we go out to find jobs," said Singh, an undergraduate at one of the country's largest private colleges, Amity University, referring to the teaching style across India."I'm worried that when I get to my first internship, I won't know how to do anything."Foreign universities have been largely shut out of India, allowed only to open research centres, teach non-academic courses or offer degree courses with a local partner.Now, the government wants to offer them the more lucrative option of opening their own campuses.Catch-UpIndia's ministry of human resources and development is trying to issue what is in effect an executive order, which would leapfrog a bill stuck in parliament since 2010, one casualty of a legislative logjam that has paralysed Indian policymaking over the last two years.Despite scepticism from many institutions that India will be able to change its game with elections looming by next May, some foreign universities are keen to push ahead with campuses."A campus in India has always been our vision and that is our plan," said Guru Ghosh, the vice-president for outreach and international affairs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, known as Virginia Tech.It is due to launch a research centre near Chennai in spring 2014 and hopes to set up a campus within 3-5 years if the rules change, Ghosh said.Under the proposed rules, non-profit foreign universities in the top 400 worldwide would be able to open campuses. The rules need a final sign-off from the law ministry, which will take up to three months, according to R.P. Sisodia, joint secretary for higher education at the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.While India has dithered, other Asian countries have moved ahead, with foreign universities in Malaysia and Singapore attracting Indian students.Spokespeople for Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Duke University and the U.K.'s University of Northampton told Reuters they had no plans for a campus in India, even though they all have or plan to have research centres or offer courses on a local campus."The environment has not been a welcoming one thus far and people have looked elsewhere," said Vincenzo Raimo, the director of the international office at Britain's University of Nottingham, which has campuses in China and Malaysia. "Anyone who's going to open there (India) needs to be brave."Foreign colleges would only meet a tiny portion of India's demand for places, but their presence would put pressure on domestic counterparts to improve, higher education experts say.To be sure, India's planning commission has set a target of creating 10 million more university places in the next few years and boosting funds for the top domestic universities to try to elevate them to the ranks of the world's top 200 by 2017.If India fails to harness its population boom over the next two decades, its demographics could be "a disaster - not a dividend", Espirito Santo said."A major shortage of jobs in the economy, or a skills mismatch, would create a young, angry and frustrated population," its report said.(Reuters)
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Remittances to developing countries should swell 6.3 per cent this year to $414 billion, flowing from workers abroad to their home countries and helping to offset volatile capital outflows, according to World Bank forecasts released on Wednesday, 2 October.India and China are the two top destinations for flows, making up a third of the total amount. For India, $71 billion in remittances is nearly triple what it received from foreign direct investment last year."These latest estimates show the power of remittances," said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank's chief economist.Remittances have grown steadily for the past three decades as migration increased, with only a slight dip during the financial crisis. Including transfers to high-income countries, remittances should be $550 billion this year.These funds are particularly important as the US Federal Reserve considers whether to pull back its massive bond-buying programme. Even the possibility of a slower pace of purchases prompted destabilizing capital outflows from many emerging markets as investors bet on higher rates in advanced economies.Remittances can help balance the impact of the Fed's taper, Basu said. They also rise when a nation's currency weakens, acting as automatic stabilisers, he said.For Tajikistan, such funds from abroad make up nearly half of its gross domestic product. And they are a third of the economy in Kyrgyzstan, also a landlocked country in Central Asia. In Egypt, an expected $20 billion in remittances this year dwarfs revenue from the Suez Canal.Remittances can also help promote development, and are often the biggest source of foreign finance for developing economies. This year, such global transfers are expected to be almost three times larger than official development assistance from governments, and also top private debt and equity flows.Transfers are growing to all major regions this year, though growth in remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean has slowed, largely because of Mexico.The World Bank still expects Mexico to receive $22 billion in remittances, the fourth largest destination after India, China and the Philippines. But that is down 2.8 per cent from last year, as Mexico has been hit by an economic slowdown in its northern neighbour the US.The World Bank said it remains concerned about the cost of sending remittances, which hurts some of the world's poorest people. The falling cost of technology should have made transfers cheaper, the bank said.But places like sub-Saharan Africa still have high transaction costs, little competition, and few payout locations.The Group of 20 leading economies pledged to reduce the cost of remittances to around 5 per cent by 2014, but that deadline is unlikely to be met as the global average cost is still stuck at around 9 per cent of the amount being sent, the World Bank said.Some banks have also shut down money transfer services because of concerns about money laundering and terrorism finance, as countries like the United States have pressed financial institutions to better monitor cash transfers.Earlier this year, the issue became particularly acute for Somalia, where annual remittances of about $1.2 billion are the biggest source of foreign currency.Barclays said in June it would stop offering banking services to some Somali transfer firms due to fears funds might end up in the hands of "terrorists." Some other banks have taken similar steps.(Reuters)
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The rupee rises to a near one-week high, tracking global dollar weakness. The pair is at 62.13/15, 62.05 intraday low, versus Tuesday's close of 62.46/47."The market is looking at the overall behaviour of the USD and the developments in the US," says a senior dealer with a private bank. Indian markets were closed on Wednesday for a national holiday. A dealer tips dollar in a 61.80-62.60 band for the session with upticks to be sold into.The dollar languished at eight-month lows early in Asia on Thursday, 3 October, as the US government shutdown dragged on, while positive developments in Italian politics and a watchful but patient European Central Bank helped lift the euro.(Reuters)
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India's military is fighting the biggest group of infiltrators in Kashmir to cross from Pakistan in years, a top general said on Wednesday.Some 30 to 40 heavily-armed fighters have crossed the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between the rival nations in the Keran sector and are holed up for the past nine days in thick forests in the area, Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh told a news conference.India says rebel incursions have been rising in Kashmir over the past year, feeding an armed revolt there, but these groups were usually made up of five or six people."The army is fighting the largest group of infiltrators including some special troops on the Line of Control with Pakistan in Indian territory. It's one of the longest operations in Kashmir," said Singh, who leads the Indian army's 15 corps that is responsible for operations in the Kashmir Valley.The army has killed 10 to 12 of them, he said. On Tuesday night, another group of 10 men had tried to cross over to join the militants holed up some 200 to 300 metres on India's side of Kashmir.There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. Islamabad denies it is helping militants cross the largely fenced border with India and has urged India to hold talks to tackle the decades old dispute over the region.The latest fighting was taking place as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif pledged in New York last weekend to work towards strengthening a 10-year-old ceasefire that has frayed in recent months.But they failed to announce any concrete measures to advance peace talks that have been slow to recover since 2008 when Pakistan-based militants attacked India's financial centre Mumbai for three days and killed 166 people.Singh denied Indian media reports that the insurgents had taken over a village in the Keran sector and said the military was fully in control of the situation."The operation is being carried out in a calibrated manner ... We are not rushing through as rushing through will mean the risk of (our) own casualties."In 1999 Pakistan-backed irregular troops crossed into the Kargil sector in northern Kashmir and occupied bunkers along a vast swath of the Line of Control, prompting a massive Indian air and ground offensive to repel them.(PTI)
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Inching towards withdrawal of the controversial Ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi today (2 October) grappled to work out a face saver in the wake of a huge political storm over Rahul Gandhi's public outburst against the measure.All pros and cons were discussed and a decision was left to the Union Cabinet which is meeting in the evening (2 October), highly placed party sources said after the hour-long Congress Core Group meeting headed by Sonia Gandhi.The sources said that the government is mulling whether to withdraw the ordinance - which was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee after the Cabinet had cleared it- or ask the President to take a call on it.Soon after the Core Group meeting, which was also attended by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Gandhi's political aide Ahmed Patel, the Prime Minister met President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.Mukherjee is said to have reservations over the Ordinance to provide immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification overriding a Supreme Court judgement on the issue.The day of hectic activities in the Congress began on the issue with Rahul Gandhi calling on the Prime Minister in the morning and holding one to one interaction during which the Congress Vice President explained to Singh the context in which he denounced the Ordinance.Though Singh said he does not get "upset easily", he had indicated his unease yesterday when he told reporters that he would try to find out the reason why Rahul made a public statement and "why it had to be done that way"."I am not the master of what people say. It has happened and as I said when I go back I will try to find the reason why it happened that way and how do we handle it," he had said.He was asked about Rahul's remarks that the Ordinance was "complete nonsense" that needs to be "torn up and thrown away".Meanwhile, a senior party leader speaking on the condition of anonymity said that it is not necessary that a decision is taken immediately after the Cabinet meeting today as it could give an impression of the Prime Minister's authority being eroded.The matter may also be deferred for a view by the UPA Coordination Committee after the Cabinet makes up its mind, the leader said. There is a also a view in the party that the "Ordinance is now history" after Gandhi's carping criticism of it.(PTI)
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Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who had made strong comments against the ordinance on convicted lawmakers, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday (2 October). Sources said Rahul met Singh at his residence here and the meeting between the two lasted 30 minutes. The controversial ordinance was understood to be on the agenda and the two leaders discussed the way ahead on the issue, the sources said. Rahul had earlier this week said at a press conference that the ordinance is "nonsense" and should be "torn up and thrown away". Many saw this as an embarrassment for the Prime Minister and the Opposition vociferously demanded that Singh, who was on a visit to the US at the time, should step down after his return. However, Singh on his return last night ruled out any such possibility. The sources said the government is mulling whether to withdraw the ordinance- which was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee after the Cabinet had cleared it- or ask the President to exercise his pocket veto and sit over it. The Prime Minister will today preside over the Cabinet after meeting the President who is said to have reservations over the move to provide immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification overriding a Supreme Court judgement on the issue. The Cabinet meet will be preceded by a meeting of the Congress core group that includes party chief Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister and top ministers. Law Minister Kapil Sibal may be called to the meeting. The Cabinet note for today's meeting talks of two options -- await the promulgation of the ordinance by the President or withdraw it. However, all indications from government and party sources are that the Cabinet may have no option but to withdraw it in the wake of strong attack on it by Gandhi. The note to the Cabinet, before which the ordinance is the only agenda for tomorrow as of now, also speaks of deferring to the "sentiments of the public at large" on the issue. BJP Hits Out At PMMeanwhile, Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted sharply on 1 October to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ruling out any possibility of his resignation in the wake of the controversy over the ordinance on convicted lawmakers, saying for him "sticking" to the chair is more important than his self-respect. "Now the conscience of a Foreign Secretary is larger than the conscience of the Prime Minister of India. Then Foreign Secretary A P Venkateshwaran chose to resign within an hour after a public snub by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi but the PM of a great country like India chooses to stick to the chair," Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told PTI. He said Singh has chosen to stay on as PM in spite of a public humiliation and snub by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. "What else I can say except that the chair is more important for Prime Minister Singh than self-respect," Prasad said. Rahul had said at an impromptu press appearance that the ordinance on convicted MPs and MLAs is "nonsense" and should be "torn up and thrown out". The Opposition had demanded that after this insult of the Prime Minister, he should step down.(Agencies)
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The unearthing of the allocation scam and the findings of the CAG have brought the coal industry to its knees. The spate of deallocations and the ongoing CBI probe that followed have played havoc with production and hit supply to power producers. A lowdown...Click here to view graphicCompiled by Moyna; Graphic by Prashant Chaudhary(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 21-10-2013)
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The economy will grow at more than 5 per cent in the current financial year ending in March 2014, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said on Tuesday, 1 October. "It will be more than 5 per cent. It cannot be less than 5 per cent," Mayaram told reporters. Mayaram also said as of now, a shutdown of the US government is not likely to have a major impact on the Indian economy. "As of today, I don't see any major impact on the Indian economy on that account." India Will Fully Finance Current Account Deficit India will finance its current account deficit fully in the fiscal year ending March without drawing down on its reserves, and will also contain the fiscal deficit at 4.8 per cent of GDP, said Mayaram. He added the government would not have to go beyond the finance ministry's planned market borrowing for the year, and would be able to meet its budgeted revenue target. Economic growth will pick up in the second half of the fiscal year, he said. India's current account deficit grew less than expected in the June quarter and is tipped to ease in coming months as a pick-up in exports and lower gold imports improve the trade balance, offering relief to the battered rupee. The current account deficit (CAD) for the three months through June was $21.8 billion, or 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product, driven by sluggish exports and high gold imports in April and May before the government hiked tariffs on the metal to a record 10 per cent. (Reuters)
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