Sunday, May 25, 2008
Indians largest group to get British citizenship in 2007
LONDON: Indians have turned out to be the largest group of immigrants, who have been granted British citizenship during 2007, according to the official figures released this week.
Last year, a record numbers of foreign nationals, 164,635 people, were granted citizenship, a seven per cent rise in 12 months. It was the highest since the Home Office began keeping comparable records in 1997, the figures reveal.
The biggest group was from India, who made up nine per cent of the total with 14,490. Filipinos constituted seven per cent with 10,840, Afghans six per cent with 10,555 and South Africans five per cent with 8,150.
A quarter of citizenships, about 41,000 were given to children, while about 29,000 became British nationals through marriage.
Last year, 160,980 people applied for citizenship while 14,725 applications were rejected.
According to the Home Office the reasons for increase in 2007 were not clear but suggested that speedier decision making had reduced the backlog of applicants.
While record numbers of people took citizenship, separate figures released by the Office of National Statistics showed that a record 400,000 people have left Britain in 2006, of which more than half were British citizens.
Of these, almost one-third went to live in Australia and New Zealand, a quarter to Spain or France and about one in twelve to the US.
An estimated 591,000 people came to Britain, resulting in net immigration in 2006 running at 191,000. Net immigration of New Commonwealth citizens was 115,000. It was the highest of all foreign citizenship groups coming to the country. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans made up 80 per cent of net migrants, with London being their most common destination, where they intended to stay.
Last year, a record numbers of foreign nationals, 164,635 people, were granted citizenship, a seven per cent rise in 12 months. It was the highest since the Home Office began keeping comparable records in 1997, the figures reveal.
The biggest group was from India, who made up nine per cent of the total with 14,490. Filipinos constituted seven per cent with 10,840, Afghans six per cent with 10,555 and South Africans five per cent with 8,150.
A quarter of citizenships, about 41,000 were given to children, while about 29,000 became British nationals through marriage.
Last year, 160,980 people applied for citizenship while 14,725 applications were rejected.
According to the Home Office the reasons for increase in 2007 were not clear but suggested that speedier decision making had reduced the backlog of applicants.
While record numbers of people took citizenship, separate figures released by the Office of National Statistics showed that a record 400,000 people have left Britain in 2006, of which more than half were British citizens.
Of these, almost one-third went to live in Australia and New Zealand, a quarter to Spain or France and about one in twelve to the US.
An estimated 591,000 people came to Britain, resulting in net immigration in 2006 running at 191,000. Net immigration of New Commonwealth citizens was 115,000. It was the highest of all foreign citizenship groups coming to the country. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans made up 80 per cent of net migrants, with London being their most common destination, where they intended to stay.
Voice of India
With about 1.2 billion people of Indian ethnicity — almost a fifth of the world population — embedded on Planet Earth, it's no surprise that at least a few should be making a splash somewhere — as PIOs, immigrants, or home-grown heroes. At what point you transition from being Indian into Indian-hyphenated-someone is a debate for another day, but for now we'll count them all while looking at our expanding intellectual footprint in the world.
Turns out that this week's New York Times bestseller list has a couple of Indian authors in the Top Ten of both fiction and non-fiction categories — probably for the first time. Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth is at No 9 in hardcover fiction; Fareed Zakaria's Post-American World is at No 5 in hardcover non-fiction. There's also Deepak Chopra in paperback fiction with the non-fiction sounding Buddha at No 26; and Dalai Lama, surely an honorary Indian, in paperback non-fiction with his cosmic-sounding The Universe in a Single Atom at No 31.
Quite a crowd, but hold the celebrations till writers still residing in India make the cut. Besides, we are still short of constituting 20% of the list, which would suggest we may be weighing into western-dominated discourse in proportion with our numbers. In our eagerness to celebrate the achievement of overseas Indians, we often forget that India itself is still relatively marginal in the affairs of mankind, despite our one-fifth population.
Writers of Indian origin have been hitting the high spots in fiction for some time now, leading the New Yorker, among other publications, to celebrate Indian writing in English some years back. That trend continues, but lately, you are beginning to see the PIO-NRI imprint more categories — business, management, science, memoir, reportage etc.
Recent titles include Simon Singh's The Big Bang , about the origin of the universe; Madhur Jaffrey's memoir Climbing the Mango Trees ; Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Baghdad reportage titled Imperial Life in the Emerald City , among others. Just for variety, there is also an unusual 2006 book titled Both Sides Now: One Man's Journey Through Womanhood by Dhillon Khosla, about a woman trapped in a man's body. There are several in business and management studies.
The most interesting development though is the emergence of political and geo-strategic thinkers and writers of Indian origin in the US. Best known among their works is Zakaria's Post-American World , but in the same sphere, there is also Parag Khanna's The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order and Tarun Khanna's Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures — and Yours .
How important are these books — and their voices? India's intellectual heft is still modest, but it's interesting that writers of Indian origin are setting the tone for American political and strategic discourse. All three books have the same broad theme — American domination in a unipolar world is drawing to a close. Zakaria, who is Mumbai-born but now a US citizen, is often spoken as a future secretary of state. Kanpur-born Parag Khanna is part of Obama's think-tank.
Like Obama — who was recently seen with Zakaria's book in his hand — their multicultural background offers a perspective many Americans have never heard before. Of course, that isn't enough. But moseying around Washington DC's Politics and Prose bookshop last week while Zakaria spoke to a standing-room only audience, one was also delighted to find on their shelves recent books by Jaswant Singh ( In Service of Emergent India ) and Kamal Nath ( India's Century ). It's another sign that the dominant American narrative of world affairs is being challenged with a more globalist account — at least some of it truly Indian.
Turns out that this week's New York Times bestseller list has a couple of Indian authors in the Top Ten of both fiction and non-fiction categories — probably for the first time. Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth is at No 9 in hardcover fiction; Fareed Zakaria's Post-American World is at No 5 in hardcover non-fiction. There's also Deepak Chopra in paperback fiction with the non-fiction sounding Buddha at No 26; and Dalai Lama, surely an honorary Indian, in paperback non-fiction with his cosmic-sounding The Universe in a Single Atom at No 31.
Quite a crowd, but hold the celebrations till writers still residing in India make the cut. Besides, we are still short of constituting 20% of the list, which would suggest we may be weighing into western-dominated discourse in proportion with our numbers. In our eagerness to celebrate the achievement of overseas Indians, we often forget that India itself is still relatively marginal in the affairs of mankind, despite our one-fifth population.
Writers of Indian origin have been hitting the high spots in fiction for some time now, leading the New Yorker, among other publications, to celebrate Indian writing in English some years back. That trend continues, but lately, you are beginning to see the PIO-NRI imprint more categories — business, management, science, memoir, reportage etc.
Recent titles include Simon Singh's The Big Bang , about the origin of the universe; Madhur Jaffrey's memoir Climbing the Mango Trees ; Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Baghdad reportage titled Imperial Life in the Emerald City , among others. Just for variety, there is also an unusual 2006 book titled Both Sides Now: One Man's Journey Through Womanhood by Dhillon Khosla, about a woman trapped in a man's body. There are several in business and management studies.
The most interesting development though is the emergence of political and geo-strategic thinkers and writers of Indian origin in the US. Best known among their works is Zakaria's Post-American World , but in the same sphere, there is also Parag Khanna's The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order and Tarun Khanna's Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures — and Yours .
How important are these books — and their voices? India's intellectual heft is still modest, but it's interesting that writers of Indian origin are setting the tone for American political and strategic discourse. All three books have the same broad theme — American domination in a unipolar world is drawing to a close. Zakaria, who is Mumbai-born but now a US citizen, is often spoken as a future secretary of state. Kanpur-born Parag Khanna is part of Obama's think-tank.
Like Obama — who was recently seen with Zakaria's book in his hand — their multicultural background offers a perspective many Americans have never heard before. Of course, that isn't enough. But moseying around Washington DC's Politics and Prose bookshop last week while Zakaria spoke to a standing-room only audience, one was also delighted to find on their shelves recent books by Jaswant Singh ( In Service of Emergent India ) and Kamal Nath ( India's Century ). It's another sign that the dominant American narrative of world affairs is being challenged with a more globalist account — at least some of it truly Indian.
Entry no bar: Foreign players can participate in 3G auction
NEW DELHI: Comuunications minister A Raja on Friday contradicted Trai chairman N Misra by favouring the entry of new global players in 3G auction. He said the guidelines relating to 3G spectrum will be released by June-end along with those for WiMax.
Trai is opposed to an open, transparent global auction for 3G, preferring to restrict 3G spectrum auctions to existing universal access service licence (UASL) holders alone. This has been resisted by the DoT (department of telecom) twice over before this.
Despite DoT's public stance on the issue, Misra was quoted opposing new firms bidding for 3G in a media interview on Friday. Within hours, Raja snubbed Misra by announcing that foreign operators will be allowed to participate in 3G auctions "whether common or open". "There should be no bar on foreign players," he emphasized to the press at the sidelines of an industry meet.
Trai has been criticized for restricting new entrants in 3G auctions, as its recommendations receal several contradictions. In 2006, Trai had determined that 3G is not a continuation of 2G. However, it still recommended limiting auctions in 3G to existing UASL (primarily 2G) operators only.
In April 2008, nineteen months later and after seven new operators entered the UASL space, Trai still insists new entrants be kept out of the 3G race. This is despite the fact that only four or five of the 12 2G operators can now access 3G spectrum. The other contradiction stems from the fact that Trai opposed auctions in the 1800, 1900 MHz 2G bands but supports a "limited auction" for 3G. Interestingly, there is no example anywhere in the world where new entrants are barred from participating in 3G auctions.
An easy explaination is because, contrary to Trai's position of "auctions raising tariffs", it is incumbents who have consistently outbid new entrants in 3G auctions across US, Europe and Asia since 2001. Existing 2G incumbents have an infrastructure, cost and brand advantage that allows them to bid more and yet keep prices low due to competitive pressures. This becomes a win-win for both governments and consumers.
Raja is pushing his case. He intends to draw the PM into the discussions soon, while the modalities of working out spectrum auctions for 3G have already been referred to the law ministry.
Raja's decision to open the 3G space to foreign players, is consistent with all previous spectrum/license auctions in India, including 1995 and 2002, as also the new FDI guidelines of April 2007, which increased the FDI limit in telecom to 74%.
Trai is opposed to an open, transparent global auction for 3G, preferring to restrict 3G spectrum auctions to existing universal access service licence (UASL) holders alone. This has been resisted by the DoT (department of telecom) twice over before this.
Despite DoT's public stance on the issue, Misra was quoted opposing new firms bidding for 3G in a media interview on Friday. Within hours, Raja snubbed Misra by announcing that foreign operators will be allowed to participate in 3G auctions "whether common or open". "There should be no bar on foreign players," he emphasized to the press at the sidelines of an industry meet.
Trai has been criticized for restricting new entrants in 3G auctions, as its recommendations receal several contradictions. In 2006, Trai had determined that 3G is not a continuation of 2G. However, it still recommended limiting auctions in 3G to existing UASL (primarily 2G) operators only.
In April 2008, nineteen months later and after seven new operators entered the UASL space, Trai still insists new entrants be kept out of the 3G race. This is despite the fact that only four or five of the 12 2G operators can now access 3G spectrum. The other contradiction stems from the fact that Trai opposed auctions in the 1800, 1900 MHz 2G bands but supports a "limited auction" for 3G. Interestingly, there is no example anywhere in the world where new entrants are barred from participating in 3G auctions.
An easy explaination is because, contrary to Trai's position of "auctions raising tariffs", it is incumbents who have consistently outbid new entrants in 3G auctions across US, Europe and Asia since 2001. Existing 2G incumbents have an infrastructure, cost and brand advantage that allows them to bid more and yet keep prices low due to competitive pressures. This becomes a win-win for both governments and consumers.
Raja is pushing his case. He intends to draw the PM into the discussions soon, while the modalities of working out spectrum auctions for 3G have already been referred to the law ministry.
Raja's decision to open the 3G space to foreign players, is consistent with all previous spectrum/license auctions in India, including 1995 and 2002, as also the new FDI guidelines of April 2007, which increased the FDI limit in telecom to 74%.
Inflation will not have adverse impact on UPA: FM
NEW DELHI: Putting a brave face on inflation numbers, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said rising prices will not have much of an adverse impact on the UPA government.
"We are doing everything to control the situation, but I don't think it (price rise) will have too adverse an impact on our government," he said in an interview with a magazine.
Chidambaram said while the average inflation in the 70s and 80s was well over eight per cent, the tolerance level of price rise has come down drastically. "Since the turn of this century, I think tolerance level of inflation is only four to five per cent," he said, adding "the moment the figure goes beyond five per cent, there is resentment.
"Naturally political parties seize the opportunity to feed this resentment," Chidambaram said.
Despite a slew of administrative and fiscal measures like ban on export of cement, wheat and non-Basmati rice and scrapping of customs duty on a host of edible items, inflation has crossed eight per cent, giving a handle to the opposition parties in an election year. The boiling crude oil prices around 135 dollars a barrel has added to the problem.
Critical of the delays in sanctioning of the big-time projects which could have resulted in a huge capacity build-up, Chidambaram said people in poor states were being "deceived" to believe that the existing state of life is an ideal state of life.
"Here we talk about steel prices going up, but for three years we have stopped the world's largest steel producer from producing steel in India. This could be categorised as a conspiracy of the socially-driven class to keep poor people poor," he said
"We are doing everything to control the situation, but I don't think it (price rise) will have too adverse an impact on our government," he said in an interview with a magazine.
Chidambaram said while the average inflation in the 70s and 80s was well over eight per cent, the tolerance level of price rise has come down drastically. "Since the turn of this century, I think tolerance level of inflation is only four to five per cent," he said, adding "the moment the figure goes beyond five per cent, there is resentment.
"Naturally political parties seize the opportunity to feed this resentment," Chidambaram said.
Despite a slew of administrative and fiscal measures like ban on export of cement, wheat and non-Basmati rice and scrapping of customs duty on a host of edible items, inflation has crossed eight per cent, giving a handle to the opposition parties in an election year. The boiling crude oil prices around 135 dollars a barrel has added to the problem.
Critical of the delays in sanctioning of the big-time projects which could have resulted in a huge capacity build-up, Chidambaram said people in poor states were being "deceived" to believe that the existing state of life is an ideal state of life.
"Here we talk about steel prices going up, but for three years we have stopped the world's largest steel producer from producing steel in India. This could be categorised as a conspiracy of the socially-driven class to keep poor people poor," he said
If rules permit, cop on probation can be sacked for lapses: SC
NEW DELHI: A policeman can be summarily dismissed from service for misconduct during the probation period if there is a provision for it in the recruitment rules, the Supreme Court has said.
A Bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Dalveer Bhandari said the requirement of conducting a departmental inquiry to probe the misconduct need not be fulfilled in such cases.
The Bench passed the judgment while quashing a Punjab & Haryana High Court order which upheld a civil court's ruling that the dismissal was illegal, since the principles of natural justice in the form of a departmental inquiry were overlooked while removing constable Avtar Singh.
Invoking rule 12.21 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 the government "discharged" (dismissed) Avtar Singh from service as he unauthorisedly abstained from duties for more than a month during his probation period.
According to the rule, "A constable who is found unlikely to prove an efficient police officer may be discharged by the Superintendent at any time within three years of enrolment. There shall be no appeal against an order of discharged under this rule."
A civil court quashed the dismissal and the State's appeal was dismissed by the High Court. The High Court took the view that while absence from duty was definitely a misconduct, Singh should have been discharged from service only after a formal inquiry.
Since no such inquiry was conducted, the dismissal was vitiated, the High Court had ruled, following which the state government appealed in the apex court.
However, disagreeing with the High Court's reasoning the apex court citing its earlier ruling said there was nothing wrong in Singh being dismissed without an inquiry as rule 12.21 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, provided such discretion to the government.
The apex court rejected the argument of Singh's counsel that dismissal from service on charges of misconduct would create a permanent stigma on the aggrieved employee.
A Bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Dalveer Bhandari said the requirement of conducting a departmental inquiry to probe the misconduct need not be fulfilled in such cases.
The Bench passed the judgment while quashing a Punjab & Haryana High Court order which upheld a civil court's ruling that the dismissal was illegal, since the principles of natural justice in the form of a departmental inquiry were overlooked while removing constable Avtar Singh.
Invoking rule 12.21 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 the government "discharged" (dismissed) Avtar Singh from service as he unauthorisedly abstained from duties for more than a month during his probation period.
According to the rule, "A constable who is found unlikely to prove an efficient police officer may be discharged by the Superintendent at any time within three years of enrolment. There shall be no appeal against an order of discharged under this rule."
A civil court quashed the dismissal and the State's appeal was dismissed by the High Court. The High Court took the view that while absence from duty was definitely a misconduct, Singh should have been discharged from service only after a formal inquiry.
Since no such inquiry was conducted, the dismissal was vitiated, the High Court had ruled, following which the state government appealed in the apex court.
However, disagreeing with the High Court's reasoning the apex court citing its earlier ruling said there was nothing wrong in Singh being dismissed without an inquiry as rule 12.21 of the Punjab Police Rules, 1934, provided such discretion to the government.
The apex court rejected the argument of Singh's counsel that dismissal from service on charges of misconduct would create a permanent stigma on the aggrieved employee.
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