Morning Brief: PM Clears Disinvestment Proposals; Kar Asked To Give 6k Cusecs; Boycott Saarc In Pak

Cauvery Issue

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Karnataka government to release an additional 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu every day until 27 September. A technical Supervisory Committee appointed by the court had recommended the release of 3,000 cusecs for 10 days.

After the verdict, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters that the apex court’s order was unimplementable as the state simply doesn’t have the water to give to Tamil Nadu. He has called for a cabinet and an all-party meeting to chalk out the next step.

In its order, the SC noted that that pro-tem measures by the court in issues of such seriousness are not desirable. In order to find a permanent solution to the river water dispute, the court asked the Centre to constitute a Cauvery Management Board within four weeks.

Disinvestment

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has accepted two major suggestions of Niti Aayog regarding the disinvestment of loss-making public sector units (PSUs).

Niti Aayog had suggested shutting down 17 sick PSUs and recommended reducing government ownership to below 51 percent in about 22 state-run companies. Both proposals have been accepted by the PMO.

The Centre will offer voluntary retirement to the employees of the companies that are shutting down. The Finance Ministry will approach the Cabinet for its approval separately for each of the strategic sales.

Dump Pakistan

Afghanistan envoy to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali has suggested that countries in the region should come together to boycott the SAARC summit in Islamabad for its role in destabilising the neighbourhood. Abdali said that this is not an issue of non-state actors anymore but that of state-sponsored terrorism and all countries in the region should unite to stamp out terror.

“We should single out a country that spoils our unity and spoils regional stability and peace and that stops integration and connectivity,” Abdali added.

Rail Budget Merger

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday is likely to give its nod to merge the railway and general budgets. The Finance Ministry’s proposals to advance the budget session by a month and end the plan-non-plan distinction will also be on the table for discussion and both are likely to be approved by the Cabinet.

Advancing the budget to 1 February will allow the process to be completed before the new financial year begins on 1 April. As the era of five-year plans comes to an end (12th plan lapses in 2017), it also makes sense to end the plan-non plan distinction.

Strategic Oil Reserves

India is building emergency storage in vast underground caverns to hold a total of 36.87 million barrels of crude, enough to cover almost two weeks of demand. For this purpose, it will buy six million barrels of Iranian crude. The decision to strike a deal with Iran came after negotiations didn’t go through with the United Arab Emirates’s national oil company.

Crude from Iran will fill half the Mangalore storage facility in Karnataka. The Vizag storage facility with a capacity of 9.75 million barrel is being filled with Iraqi Basra oil.

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