28 OCT 2015

1)India moves up in ‘ease of doing business’ ranking :-

• It took four months in 2005 to start a business in India, but it takes only 29 days now
• Last year’s report ranked India at 140, but this year’s report features the recalculated 2015 rankings, in which India comes at 134.

Ease of Doing Business Index

• The ease of doing business index is an index created by the World Bank Group
• A nation’s ranking on the index is based on the average of 10 subindices:-
  1.Starting a business – Procedures, time, cost and minimum capital to open a new business
  2.Dealing with construction permits – Procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse
  3.Getting electricity – procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse
  4.Registering property – Procedures, time and cost to register commercial real estate
  5.Getting credit – Strength of legal rights index, depth of credit information index
  6.Protecting investors – Indices on the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits
  7.Paying taxes – Number of taxes paid, hours per year spent preparing tax returns and total tax payable as share of gross profit
  8.Trading across borders – Number of documents, cost and time necessary to export and import
  9.Enforcing contracts – Procedures, time and cost to enforce a debt contract
  10.Resolving insolvency – The time, cost and recovery rate (%) under bankruptcy proceeding
• The Doing Business project also offers information on following datasets:Distance to frontier – Shows the distance of each economy to the “frontier,” which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business
  Entrepreneurship – Measures entrepreneurial activity. The data is collected directly from 130 company registrars on the number of newly registered firms over the past seven years
  Good practices – Provide insights into how governments have improved the regulatory environment in the past in the areas measured by Doing Business
  Transparency in business regulation – Data on the accessibility of regulatory information measures how easy it is to access fee schedules for 4 regulatory processes in the largest business city of an economy

Criticism of Ease of Doing Business Index :-

• The Doing Business methodology regarding labor regulations was criticized by the International Trade Union Confederation because it favored flexible employment regulations.In early reports, the easier it was to dismiss a worker for economic reasons in a country, the more its rankings improved.
• In June 2013, an independent panel appointed by the President of the World Bank and headed by Trevor Manuel of South Africa, issued a review expressing concern about the potential for the report and index to be misinterpreted, the narrowness of the indicators and information base, the data collection methodology, and the lack of peer review. It recommended that the report be retained, but that the aggregate rankings be removed and that a peer-review process be implemented (among other things).

ASI – Ancient temples in Mandya district unearthed :-

• Five temple complexes defining Jaina identity at Chikkabetta of Artipura in Mandya district, which is now believed to be the oldest known archaeological find belonging to the Western Ganga dynasty.

Western Ganga dynasty

• Western Ganga was an important ruling dynasty of ancient Karnataka in India which lasted from about 350 to 1000 AD. They are known as ‘Western Gangas’ to distinguish them from the Eastern Gangas who in later centuries ruled over Kalinga (modern Odisha)
• Though territorially a small kingdom, the Western Ganga contribution to polity, culture and literature of the modern south Karnataka region is considered important. The Western Ganga kings showed benevolent tolerance to all faiths but are most famous for their patronage toward Jainism resulting in the construction of monuments in places such as Shravanabelagola and Kambadahalli.
• The kings of this dynasty encouraged the fine arts due to which literature in Kannada and Sanskrit flourished. Chavundaraya’s writing, Chavundaraya Purana of 978 AD, is an important work in Kannada prose. Many classics were written on various subjects ranging from religion to elephant management
• Inscriptions have revealed several important administrative designations such as prime minister (sarvadhikari), treasurer (shribhandari), foreign minister (sandhivirgrahi) and chief minister (mahapradhana). All of these positions came with an additional title of commander (dandanayaka). Other designations were royal steward (manevergade), master of robes (mahapasayita), commander of elephant corps (gajasahani), commander of cavalry (thuragasahani) etc.In the royal house, Niyogis oversaw palace administration, royal clothing and jewellery etc. and the Padiyara were responsible for court ceremonies including door keeping and protocol.
•  The praje gavundas mentioned in the Ganga records held responsibilities similar to those of the village elders (gramavriddhas) mentioned by Kautilya.

Sardar Patel:- 

• “Sardar of Bardoli” (Bardoli Satyagraha) , a title given to him by Mahatma Gandhi for successfully championing the cause of the peasants in Gujarat against anti-farmers policies of the British Raj
• 31 October,  a grateful nation is commemorating Sardar Patel’s 140^th birth anniversary as the Rashtriya Ekta Divas (National Unity Day)
• India will forever be indebted to Sardar Patel for his tireless efforts to unite the Nation, merging the British India and 565 Princly state, without a blood shed, save Hyderabad , displayed his diplomatic skills.
• He was a rare combination of idealism and realism, of strength and generosity which made him a leader and a statesman who had no equal.
• Patel is also affectionately remembered as the “Patron saint of India’s civil servants“ for having established the modern unified Indian Administrative Service and other all India services
• Upon his demise, In a departure from the British service rules,  member of the I.C.S and the I.A.S assembled in the capital and passed a condolence resolution paying glowing and affectionate tributes to the man who launched the unified All India Services.