People in cities laud new toilets, garbage collection

BY AANCHAL BANSAL , ET BUREAU | UPDATED: MAY 02, 2017, 02.01 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Indians have given a thumbs up to Modi government’ Swachh Bharat Mission with a majority of people finding access to toilets and improvement in their maintenance. 

Swachh Survekshan 2017, an annual exercise conducted by Quality Council of India for urban development ministry to gauge the impact of Swachh Bharat Mission, has found that the sanitation condition of cities and access of toilets has improved in Indian cities. There is a positive perception about Swachh Bharat Mission, has found that the sanitation condition of cities and access of toilets has improved in Indian cities. There is a positive perception about Swachh Bharat Mission in the cities with a majority of the people feeling that urban sanitation conditions had vastly improved. 

ET has reviewed the initial survey reports prepared by QCI. Out of the 18 lakh people surveyed across 500 cities, 80% of the people were satisfied with the doorto-door garbage collection – a major component of Swachh Bharat Mission’s Solid Waste Management head. Almost the same number of people felt that availability of public toilets in urban spaces had gone up. 

The flagship cleanliness initiative has generated a buzz in the urban centres, the survey report says. About 75% of the people surveyed expressed satisfaction with the maintenance of the public toilets. The annual survey was started last year by the ministry to foster a healthy competition between cities for improving cleanliness standards. Last year, 73 cities with 10 lakh population across the country were ranked in Swachh Survekshan. The exercise was expanded this year to cover about 500 cities.

Sources indicated that cities with very poor cleanliness rankings last year have tried to introduce major initiatives to improve their all-India rank. The top 10 rankings have remained almost the same. Last year, Mysuru was the cleanest city. 

Cities were ranked on the basis of whether they were open defecation free, how they had brought about behaviour change, systems adopted for sweeping and door-to-door collection of waste, efficiency in processing of waste and construction of public and individual household toilets. 

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ABILITY TO PUT ANY SATELLITE INTO ORBIT-ISRO IS GEARING UP FOR BIGGEST CHALLENGE-_GSLV Mark III launch: Why ISRO's biggest challenge will be at the end of this month

BY HARI PULAKKAT et may 2 2017

Every engineer works under constraints. For those designing the third generation geostationary launch vehicle (GSLV), the main constraints were the launch facilities at Sriharikota and the capabilities of Indian industry. They could design a big rocket, but the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) would have had to build an expensive place to launch them. They would have also had to find companies to make the vehicle components, as making big rocket components was beyond industry capabilities. 

When Isro started developing this rocket a decade and a half ago, it was far from being a thoroughbred organisation. It was not of great repute, its technical skills not cutting edge and its commercial potential, negligible. The first generation GSLV had just been test-flown, but its satellite had not reached its desired orbit. The GSLV Mark III was a complex vehicle and some of its critical technologies had to be developed from scratch. Isro’s cryogenic engine development had hit hurdles and got delayed beyond reasonable measure. 

However, by the turn of the century, Isro had shown glimpses of its current prowess. It had learned the art of making satellites. Its polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) had begun to put remote-sensing satellites into low earth orbit with precision, and this vehicle was slowly acquiring a reputation for reliability. The PSLV was relatively easier game. 

The GSLV was a different matter altogether, requiring powerful solid motors and liquid engines in the early stages and a cryogenic engine on top. GSLV Mark III was conceived as a heavy lifter, by Indian standards, capable of putting communication satellites into a geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the earth. A powerful cryogenic engine needed to be developed quickly. 

Isro is now readying the vehicle for its first full flight at the end of this month, roughly three weeks after another flight of the current generation GSLV on May 5. Isro has used new ideas in its design, necessitating new methods in manufacturing. Some of these ideas will be tested for the first time in a flight from Sriharikota. It would be the first flight of GSLV III using India’s fully-indigenous cryogenic engine. If successful, it would also be India’s first launch vehicle qualified for human space flight. “This vehicle is going to be at the frontier for Isro,” says G Ayyappan, Mark III project director. “It can be used for human flight as well.” 

All of these combine to make it one of the most critical flights in Isro’s history. Although the space technology frontier has moved on, promising to keep Isro engineers busy for a long time, GSLV Mark III is the culmination of all that Isro initially set out to do when first set up in the 1960s. When fully ready, it would give Isro self-reliance and the ability to put any satellite into any orbit. 

The current flight of GSLV III is a developmental flight. Isro is planning another developmental flight a year later. It takes at least two flawless developmental fights for the vehicle to be ready for commercial use. This year, India will put two communication satellites in orbit using the French Arianne launcher. One of these satellites will weigh 5.6 tonnes. It is beyond the capabilities of even the current GSLV III, which is now being developed to put four-tonne satellites into geostationary orbit. Later versions of the GSLV will be able to put satellites weighing up to seven to eight tonnes into geostationary orbit. 

Isro had gone through a difficult period a few years ago, when a launch of its GSLV Mark II failed. This failure had its impact on GSLV Mark III as well. “Because we had problems with Mark II,” says Isro chairman Kiran Kumar, “we had to rework some facilities of Mark III for Mark II. So Mark III got slightly delayed.” The successful flight of GSLV Mark II in 2014 was thus a major milestone for Isro. It also qualified India’s cryogenic engine, which was a reengineered version of the Russian cryogenic engines. 

The cryogenic engine in Mark III is entirely designed in India, and is twice as powerful as the Mark II cryogenic engines. Isro has used a different technology for this engine called the gasgenerator cycle, primarily because it gave the engineers the freedom to test each component separately. The earlier engine used a method called staged combustion, where the entire engine had to be tested as one entity. “We have now made about 200 tests on the engine and its components separately,” says Kiran Kumar. 

For the cryogenic engine, Isro had to create new high altitude test facilities at Mahendragiri near Thiruvananthapuram. Isro tested the full engine in April 2015 for 635 seconds, and again in June  2015 for 800 seconds, well beyond the duration of its burning during a real flight. It had two more tests subsequently, one early in 2016 and another in December 2016. The performance of the new cryogenic engine would be the most crucial aspect of the flight later this month, as it is being tested for the first time in a flight. Although there are other new features in the vehicle, some of these have already been tested in a partial flight two years ago. “We had doubts about the configuration,”  says K Radhakrishnan, former chairman of Isro. “So we decided to have an atmospheric test f light with a passive cryogenic engine.” 

This flight was on December 18, 2014, when Isro tested the recovery of a crew module. Isro had doubts about the configuration because it had two boosters on either side of the liquid core stage, with the core stage not firing with the boosters. GSLV Mark II had four strap-on motors surrounding the core stage. “The aerodynamics of Mark III special because the strap-ons are in one plane,” says S Somanath, former project director of GSLV Mark III and now the director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre near Thiruvananthapuram. The absence of strap-ons in the other plane makes the pitching and yawing manoeuvres slightly different. 

At 3.2 meter in diameter, the strap-on motors are the third largest in the world. Apart from their size, the use of two strap-on motors provided another challenge for Isro. The two motors had to match their performance precisely. If not, one would tilt the vehicle to the other side during flight. To avoid this imbalance, Isro made the boosters from one casting, by splitting it into two. It was Isro’s first attempt at pair casting. It was to ensure uniformity of material and uniform degradation and it needed the development of new infrastructure. 

GSLV Mark III has a core liquid stage with twin engines, another – smaller – novelty in design. The liquid engines would switch on only a 100 seconds after lift-off, but well before the strap-on motors cease firing. The launch vehicle has redundant control electronics, a requirement for any vehicle used for human flight. Isro engineers have provided Mark III with other requirements for human flight vehicle, in terms of acceleration, noise and other safety margins. Isro has already designed and test-flown a crew module. 

In the end, the decision for a human flight rests with the politicians. Whether the country embarks on a human flight or not, it is necessary for Isro to design vehicles that can carry heavier and heavier payloads. Not just for communication satellites, but for future inter-planetary missions as well. The GSLV Mark III will fly this month with a 3.2-tonne satellite, the GSAT-19. The vehicle is designed to take a payload of four tonnes, but it would still not be enough for some of Isro’s future requirements. 

“Satellites are getting heavier and heavier,” says K Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram. “So we have to increase the capacity of the vehicle.” GSLV Mark III can be tweaked to later to carry more than six tonnes of payload into a geostationary orbit, by replacing the core liquid stage with a semi-cryogenic engine. This engine is under development, and might take three to four years. After its development, India would be able to put six to seven tonne-class of satellites into a geostationary orbit, and stop using expensive overseas facilities for launching its communication satellites. 

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CAN COST YOU YOUR JOB?

By Hiral Thanawala, ET Bureau| May 01, 2017, 06.30 AM IST

Mumbai resident Nupur Kothari was addicted to social media. She had to share everything. From pictures of herself with stray puppies and kittens to politically incorrect musings on social issues, it was all there on her wall. While she loved what she did and her friends “liked” her random posts, a prospective employer did not quite feel the same way. 

After clearing the final interview for a job with a wellknown pizza chain, Kothari was denied the appointment letter as the company took a dim view of her casual attitude online. Kothari’s misfortune is hardly unique. Background checks of prospective employees involves a close look at the candidate’s profile and behaviour on social media. Even current employers keep an eye on existing employees that way. What started as keeping tabs on job sites by current and prospective employers, today involves every platform available. 

Professional platforms are routinely used by recruiters to find linkages to candidates. Posts on non-professional networking sites provides valuable insight into the person the company is looking at. Says Thammaiah B.N., Managing Director of recruitment consultancy firm Kelly Services India, “Current employers analyse quality of updates, followers, posts or comments, participation in professional and voluntary forums and communities to keep a watch on an employee. Prospective employers will keenly watch for comments by the candidate on their existing employer. Most will not appreciate open feedback and statements that appear to tarnish the image of the company.” 

Not everyone is a friend 

Anyone trying to tarnish your image online can also wreak havoc on your career. In 2011, 32-year-old Mumbai resident Niraj Kumar accepted a Facebook friend request from one Mansi Shah. Soon the two became good friends and chatted online regularly. However, the two never met. In 2013, Kumar stopped communicating with Shah and got engaged to another girl. 

In no time, multiple fake profiles of Kumar that Shah had created popped up online. She had added his friends and posted morphed pictures of her and Kumar, which gave the impression that the two were married. Adult content and abuses soon followed on the profiles. Kumar’s engagement was called off by his fiancee’s family and he lost his job as his employer felt he was an embarrassment for the company. For one year, Kumar could not land a job as prospective employers found his online profiles unacceptable.

Be responsible 

Irresponsible use of social media can jeopardise even stable careers. Pune-based couple Shilpa Apte, 26, and Sahunak Manjrekar, 27, worked for the same IT firm but in different branches. Apte would regularly post pictures of herself with male colleagues, and would often be tagged by them too. Furious with what he regarded as his wife’s inappropriate behaviour, Manjrekar one day stormed into Apte’s office and a very public showdown followed. Not surprisingly  both were fired by the company. Ashish Shah CEO and Founder of social analytics and online advertising firm, Vertoz advises, “Don’t tag or allow anyone to tag you in posts or pictures. When you tag someone, you increase your post’s reach. Strangers can also view your post and know more about you.” 

Social media is a sophisticated tool that lays open a person’s lifestyle or even his or her income and spending patterns. Banks and other lending institutions and even insurance companies are increasingly leaning towards analysing the digital footprint of clients rather than just looking at traditional data provided by applicants. Ranjit Punja, CEO and Co-Founder of credit facilitating firm Creditmantri explains, “The LinkedIn profile of a customer can be used to gauge his professional stability .. frequency of job changes, depth of his professional network, his or her education background, etc. This helps the lender understand the customer better.” 

Restraint is key 

So whether you are looking for a job or are already working, it helps to be restrained with your posts. N. Shiva Kumar, Business Head-RPO of recruitment consultancy firm Team-Lease Services says, “What you post on social media is how you are portraying yourself to the world. Always avoid inappropriate content and arguments on social media. Think before you post and be very restrictive. Just post what is essential.” Devashish Chakravarty, Director, Executive Search, Quezx.com, is more specific. “Treat LinkedIn as a professional document like your CV and think of your Facebook posts as something that will appear on the front page of a newspaper the next day. That will give you an idea of what is appropriate and what is not,” he says. 

Also, be cautious about who you befriend. Do not accept friend requests from people you do not know. Tighten your privacy settings so that others cannot post inappropriate comments. Gaurav Mendiratta, Founder & CEO of digital marketing firm, SocioSquares explains, “Keep your profile searchable only through email address or phone number by people in your network and nonsearchable from search engines. Also, search your name on Google and see all possible links which list you, then try to delete your digital presence on as many links as possible.” 

(Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals) 

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THE REAL ESTATE(REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT) ACT,2016 (RERA) SETS THE GROUND RULES TO CLEAN UP REAL ESTATE

By Sunil Dhawan, ECONOMICTIMES.COM|Updated: May 01, 2017, 11.52 AM IST

 .. 

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) becomes effective from May 1, 2017. Each state and UT will have its own Regulatory Authority (RA) which will frame regulations and rules according to the Act. 

RERA has been established for regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and to ensure sale of properties, in an efficient and transparent manner. The objective is to protect the interest of consumers in the real estate sector and to establish a mechanism for speedy dispute redressal. 

Here are 10 important ground rules of the RERA: 

1. Informing the buyer at the time of booking 

The promoter at the time of the booking and issuing the allotment letter shall be responsible to make available to the allottee, the following information 

(a) Sanctioned plans, layout plans, along with specifications, approved by the competent authority. 

(b) The stage wise time schedule of completion of the project, including the provisions for civic infrastructure like water, sanitation and electricity. 

And, booking process itself is tweaked a bit. 

2. Booking amount 

Currently, most builders ask for 10 per cent of the total cost of the property as a booking amount. The 'agreement of sale' is prepared at a later date. Now as per RERA, a promoter cannot accept more than 10 of the cost of the property, as an advance payment or an application fee, without first entering into a registered agreement for sale. 

But, even before reaching out to the buyers through advertisement or otherwise, the promoter has to register the project with the state regulatory authority. To keep the builder under wrap, each tower/phase within a project has to be independently registered. 

3. Getting the project registered 

Before a project gets advertised, a registration number has to be obtained against it. Few important documents that the promoter has to furnish to RA will include: 

(a) Promoter's background details 

(b) A brief detail of the projects launched by the promoter, in the past five years including ones which are already completed or being developed. The current status of the said projects, any delay in its completion,  details of cases pending, details of type of land and payments pending, will also need to be shared. 

(c) An authenticated copy of the approvals and commencement certificate from the competent authority. And, where the project is proposed to be developed in phases, a copy of the approvals and commencement certificate from the competent authority for each of such phases, is also to be furnished. 

(d) The sanctioned plan, layout plan and specifications of the proposed project or the phase and the whole project as sanctioned by the competent authority. 

(e) Proforma of the allotment letter, agreement for sale, and the conveyance deed proposed to be signed with the allottees. 

(f) The number, type and the carpet area of apartments for sale in the project along with the area of the exclusive balcony or verandah areas and the exclusive open terrace areas with the apartment, if any. 

(g) The number and areas of garage for sale in the project. 

(h) The names and addresses of the contractors, architect, structural engineer, if any and other persons concerned with the development of the proposed project. 

(i)  A declaration, supported by an affidavit, which shall be signed by the promoter or any person authorised by the promoter, stating: 

(A) That the promoter has the legal title to the land. 

(B) That the land is free from all encumbrances. 

(C) The time period within which he undertakes to complete the project or the phase. 

(D) That 70 per cent of the amount realised for the real estate project from the allottees, from time to time, shall be deposited in a a separate account to be maintained in a scheduled bank to cover the cost of construction and the land cost and shall be used only for that purpose. 

4. Ongoing projects 

RERA will not only cover the new launches but also the on-going the projects. Promoters have been given three months to get their ongoing projects registered with RERA i.e. till 31st July, 2017. 

For this now that they will have to make public the original sanctioned plans with specifications and changes made later, total amount collected from allottees, money used, original timeline for completion and the time period within which the developer undertakes to complete the project, duly certified by an Engineer/Architect/practicing Chartered Accountant. 

5. Registration of projects 

Make sure a property that you buy any time after May 1, 2017, is in a project which is registered with the RA. Once the state has its RA established, builders will be required to register their projects with it by furnishing all the information including, financial statements, copy of legal title deed and other documents. The builders will get a registration number project-wise i.e. tower wise. 

6. Online information

After registration with RA, the builder will be given a login-id and password to create a page on RA's website to upload the project related information on authority's website. It will show quarterly up-to-date the list of number and types of apartments or plots, as the case may be, booked; quarterly up-to-date status of the project; and amongst others. 

7. Home buying advertisement 

No promoter shall advertise, market, book, sell or offer for sale, or invite persons to purchase in any manner any plot, apartment or building, as the case may be, in any real estate project or part of it, in any planning area, without registering the real estate project with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority established under this Act. Each advertisement has to carry the RERA registration number. 

8. Interest on default 

The state RA has to specify the rate of interest on a default by either the developer or the buyer. Such a rate could be the interest rate of SBI's highest Marginal Cost of Lending Rate plus 2%. Odisha state RA has already mentioned about this in its rules. Such payment has to be made within 45 days of it becoming due. 

9. Quality of construction 

The quality of the construction has also been a matter of concern with several builders. The RERA rules provides for protection against this up to 5 years after possession. In case any structural defect or any other defect in workmanship, quality or provision of services or any other obligations of the promoter as per the agreement for sale is brought to the notice of the promoter within a period of five years, it shall be the duty of the promoter to rectify such defects without further charge, within 30 days. 

10. Delayed delivery - compensation 

Delayed possession has been the norm all these years. If the promoter fails to complete or is unable to give possession of the property within the agreed timed-period, he has to return the total amount with interest at such rate as mentioned in the agreement to sale. And, in case the buyer does not intend to withdraw from the project, he shall be paid,  by the promoter, interest for every month of delay, till the handing over of the possession. 

Conclusion 

Delayed delivery of projects, bad construction quality, not sticking to sanctioned plans, were some of the common problems marring the industry. Till now, there wasn't any regulator and neither were the rules of the game in place. In the absence of a regulator, the homebuyer was literally at the mercy of the builder. 

RERA is a huge step forward and lot of expectation will be there for the state RA to frame the rules according to the Act and not dilute them in builder's favour. How far RERA is able to bring back buyer's confidence, however, remains to be seen. 

To start with buyers will look forward to at least three things from RERA - One, promoters falling in line and sharing all information as required by authority. Second- transparency by making the information available online and finally, a robust feedback mechanism between the authority, promoter and the buyer. Let not the buyer suffer from delays, of any nature, from now on. 

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Under pressure from South Korea, Modi government ends 8-year bonhomie with North Korea

BY MANU PUBBY & DIPANJAN ROY CHAUDHURY, ET  .. 

NEW DELHI: The Modi government’s recent gazette notification — following a UN resolution — prohibiting any training to North Korean military personnel in India reflects the position of the current regime which stopped training officers from the Far East Asian country since 2016. 

The NDA government, following requests by South Korea at the highest level of government, stopped training of North Korean soldiers in India’s language training school in Madhya Pradesh that has been ongoing  since 2008 under the UPA rule. 

India has been training North Korean armed forces officers in Indian military schools. The training was concentrated as per Indian official stance only on language skills. It is known that several officers were trained annually at the Army Centre of Education, Pachmari, Madhya Pradesh. 

South Korea first raised the issue of Indian Army training of North Korean officers in 2015-16. Official communication on the matter was taken up by the South Korean embassy with both the defence and external affairs ministry officials. 

The Modi government stopped the training of North Korean officers in 2016 after South Korean requests, officials said, adding, the gazette notification reflects India’s position on the matter under NDA. 

India, in a significant move adhering to the UN Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang, through a gazette issued on April 21, decided to halt supply of any items to North Korea that would add to its military’s operational capabilities with the exception of food or medicine. 

The gazette announcement is titled “Implementation of Security Council Resolution on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Order, 2017”. It prohibits hosting of trainers, advisors, or other officials for the purpose of military, paramilitary or police-related training. Besides, the government, through the gazette, has prevented any Indian citizen or firm from supplying to North Korea any type of arms, nuclear-related material or technology that would enhance it’s ballistic capabilities. 

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H-1B visa restrictions: India, Russia look for cooperation in IT sector

BY 

DIPANJAN ROY CHAUDHURY

, ET BUREAU | UPDATED: MAY 01, 2017, 12.12 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The proposed US H-1B visa restrictions may open a door for India’s IT industry in Russia with the two sides exploring cooperation in both software and hardware sectors during the visit of a Russian minister here last week. 

Rashid Ismailov, deputy minister of telecom and mass communication, who led a team of IT experts from Russia, not only explored cooperation with the Indian IT ministry but also held dialogue with members of NASSCOM, India’s apex software body on joint cooperation in software sector. 

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