Friday, October 23, 2015

ICC partnership with UNICEF

NEW YORK, 21 October 2015 – The International Cricket Council (ICC) and UNICEF today announced a five-year partnership to advocate on behalf of the world’s most disadvantaged children.
Every year 5.9 million children die before their fifth birthday from mostly preventable causes; over half a billion children live in extreme poverty; and 59 million primary school-aged children do not go to school. The partnership aims to raise awareness of these challenges and encourage cricket fans to speak out for the children whose lives are these statistics.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was the most watched event in the history of Indian television, drawing over 635 million viewers. The partnership will use the ICC’s platform to advocate for children in India and other countries where cricket is a popular sport.
An initial focus will be to improve sanitation in India, which has the largest number of people still defecating in the open: more than 595 million. Poor sanitation can cause diarrhoea, which accounts for 9 per cent of the 1.2 million under-five deaths each year in India. The partnership will also engage with children and young people to inspire them to take up sport.
ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson said “Investing in initiatives that will improve the health, education, nutrition, protection and sanitation of children is so important to the lives of us all and we are proud to work with UNICEF in bringing these projects to life. ICC and UNICEF together will engage the broader cricketing community in work to empower children and adolescents and will, in particular, during the many ICC Events over the next five years, develop and implement various community outreach programs and initiatives in collaboration with coaches, cricketers and cricketing personalities.”
“Our new partnership will brighten a spotlight on the challenges children face, like hunger, poor sanitation and lack of education, and help transform awareness into action,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We are harnessing the power and reach of one of the world’s most popular sports behind the most important cause of all: the lives and futures of children.”

Urban Planning and the Production of Violence on the Urban Periphery:

Dear All,
As part of our Urban Workshop Series, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi, are delighted to invite you to a Workshop on Urban Planning and the Production of Violence on the Urban Periphery: The Case of Bombay Hotel, Ahmedabad byRenu Desai, urban researcher and Coordinator at the Centre for Urban Equity, CEPT University.

Date:               Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Time:               3.45 p.m.
Venue:             Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110 021

Racist masked man’s knife attack at Swedish school in Trollhättan

OCTOBER 23, 2015 |EDIT
Police cordon an area after a masked man attacked people with a sword at a school in Trollhattan, western Sweden October 22, 2015. © Stig Hedstrom / TT News Agency
An adult male teacher died at the scene. The second person died while undergoing surgery at 2:30 p.m. local time, DN newspaper cited police as saying.“A single man went into the school building…and he injured four persons – two male adults and two boys,” police media officer Stefan Gustafsson told RT
Police Chief Niclas Hallgren told Swedish public service radio said that the man who killed two people at a school in Trollhättan “was driven by racist motives.”
“We are convinced that the assailant was driven by racist motives when he carried out the act,”he said. “We have reached this conclusion based on what we found when we searched his apartment and his behavior during the act, and also on the basis of how he selected his victims.”.
The press secretary of NAL hospital, Niklas Claesson, told RT by phone that “two kids (11 and 16 years of age), one teacher and the suspect” were brought in for medical help.
The attacker was shot and injured by police and later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, Aftonbladet newspaper reported.RT news
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17 EU states sign agreement

OCTOBER 23, 2015 |EDIT

17 EU states sign agreement to counter foreign terrorist fighters

Seventeen EU members, including Britain, France and Germany, signed an agreement to counter “foreign terrorist fighters” on Thursday. The document makes it an international crime to travel abroad – or to plan a trip – to join militant groups, AFP reported. The amended Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism makes it a criminal offense to plan or raise money for a trip abroad, if the person intends to participate in any “terrorist offense, or the providing or receiving of training for terrorism,” according to the legislation. The agreement must now be ratified by national parliaments.
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5.6-magnitude quake hits Pakistan

OCTOBER 23, 2015 |EDIT

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan’s second largest province, Punjab, on early Friday morning, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake hit at 5:27 am local time and could be felt in neighboring provinces. The closest cities to the quake were Dajal and Jampur. There have been no reports of casualties or damage resulting from the incident. The depth of the earthquake was registered at about 29.4 kilometers (18.3 miles). Locals said the tremors woke them up.
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“Myanmar Elections: Why Do They Matter?”

OCTOBER 23, 2015 |EDIT
​
AC Logo without formerly 27-10-14
presents
Session on
“Myanmar Elections: Why Do They Matter?”

EVENT DETAILS
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DATEMonday, November 2, 2015
TIME4:30 PM  – 6:00 PM (Registration: 4:00 AM)
LOCATIONWWF Auditorium, 172-B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
SPEAKERSAmbassador Rajiv Bhatia, Author, Commentator and Former Ambassador to MyanmarDr Sanjoy Hazarika, Director of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at Jamia Millia IslamiaMs Suhasini Haider, Diplomatic Editor, the Hindu
CHAIRAmbassador S K Lambah,  Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre; and Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister
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ABOUT THE EVENT
The upcoming Parliamentary elections in Myanmar will determine the nation’s future trajectory. Marking a major inflection point in the process of political transformation, the elections will be held five years after the present semi-civilian reformist government came to power. The broader political environment is freer and fairer; giving rise to the hope that this time the process will be credible, inclusive and peaceful. However, major challenges stand in the way- the periphery of the country is affected by armed conflict; rising Burmese nationalism and anti-Muslim sentiment threatens to explode into violence; and minority Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine have been disenfranchised and persecuted. The result of the elections will determine the country’s response to longstanding issues and the pace of further reforms. Its impact would be felt beyond Myanmar’s borders as it would have consequences for the region, including India and its Northeast. For India, Myanmar is a strategically important country that can link it to Southeast Asia and open new vistas in the region.The Session will focus on current challenges and future possibilities the nascent democracy of Myanmar faces, and its implications for India, Myanmar’s other neighbors, and the region.
Please respond by clicking one of the buttons below
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SPEAKERS
Rajiv Bhatia 23-10-15 2Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Author, Commentator and Former Ambassador to Myanmar
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Ambassador Rajiv Kumar Bhatia was Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) during 2012-15. As a career diplomat, he served India with distinction for over thirty-seven years. He was India’s Ambassador/High Commissioner in Kenya, Myanmar, Mexico and South Africa. He served as DCM in the Indian Embassy, Jakarta from 1985-89 and has since followed developments in Indonesia with deep interest. He writes and lectures regularly on ASEAN and East Asian affairs.
Known for his intellectual inclinations, Ambassador Bhatia enjoys writing and speaking on a wide range of foreign policy-related issues. Since his retirement from the Indian Foreign Service in 2009, he has published over 150 articles on international affairs in India’s national dailies, journals and periodicals. He has delivered lectures at the National Defence College, Foreign Service Institute, universities and other institutions in India. He has been interviewed by BBC, Bloomberg News, AP, NDTV, Doordarshan and Lok Sabha TV. Since mid-2012, Ambassador Bhatia led ICWA delegations to Russia, China, Belgium, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar.  He also addressed Track-II conferences in Beijing, Shanghai, Port Louis and Paris, and interacted with leading academics in London, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. His book India-Myanmar Relations: Changing contours has been published recently by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. Highly successful launches of this book were organized in New Delhi, Yangon and Bangkok in September-October 2015. A series of positive reactions to the book were noted.
 Sanjoy Hazarika 23-10-15Dr Sanjoy Hazarika, Director of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at Jamia Millia Islamia
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Dr Sanjoy Hazarika is the director of the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research at Jamia Millia Islamia, the first such centre in a Central University. He founded the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research which works on health interventions through boat clinics in Assam in partnership with NHM, which reaches 3 lakh people with regular health care on islands of the Brahma-tura.
He has been a correspondent for the NYT, columnist, editor and documentary film maker, including 15 films mostly on North East, whose work has been screened in London, Washington, New York, Gottinghein, Dhaka, Vienna and across India. He is currently working on another one. He has travelled through Burma by road from Manipur to Yangon with a film unit for over 2 weeks. Author of several acclaimed books on the North East, including Strangers of the Mist, Rites of Passage and Writing on the Wall, he is now working on a new book on the region. He has been a member of numerous government committees and non-government organisations, including the Jeevan Reddy Committee to Review AFSPA;  NSAB; IIAS; and was the chairman of Down to Earth Governing Board.
 Suhasini Haider 23-10-15Ms Suhasini Haider, Diplomatic Editor, the Hindu
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Suhasini Haidar is the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected national dailies (www.thehindu.com). Prior to this, Suhasini was Foreign Affairs editor and prime time anchor for India’s leading 24-hr English news channel CNN-IBN (2005-2014), where she presented the signature show “WorldView with Suhasini Haidar”, and Correspondent for CNN International’s New Delhi bureau before that. In 2015, she was the recipient of the most prestigious Indian print journalism ‘Prem Bhatia’ award, and has won a series of awards for her work in Television as well.
Over the course of her 20-year reporting career, Suhasini has covered the most challenging stories & conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria.  In India, she has covered the foreign affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include political profiles and in-depth reportage from conflict zones including Kashmir, where she was injured in a bomb blast in 2000. Suhasini Haidar worked with CNN International from 1995-2005, regularly reporting from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. She was part of the CNN team that won the Columbia-Dupont Broadcast Journalism Award in 2005 for coverage of the tsunami in India, and worked for CNN.com in New York for a month during its 9/11 coverage. Suhasini began her career in journalism as an intern at CNN’s United Nation’s bureau in New York in 1994, after which she joined CNN New Delhi bureau as a producer in April 1995. Suhasini earned a Bachelor’s degree at Lady Shriram College in Delhi, and then completed her Masters in Broadcast Journalism at Boston University’s College of Communication, USA. She lives in Delhi with her husband Nadim and her two daughters Ava Mumtaz and Maya Mehr.
CHAIR
 SATINDER K LAMBAH 23-10-15Ambassador S K Lambah,  Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre; and Former Special Envoy of the Prime MinisterSatinder K Lambah was the Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of India from 2005-14 with the rank of Minister of State from 2010 onwards. He was the Co-Chairman of the Task Force on National Security 2011 – 2012.  Ambassador Lambah was the President of Association of Indian Diplomats in 2005. He was a Convener of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) in 2004-05 and the President of the Federation of Indo-German Societies in India from 2005-2014.
He was the Special Envoy of the Government of India for Afghanistan and led the Indian delegation to the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in 2001-02. In 2001, Ambassador Lambah Chaired a Committee on the Re-organization of Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad. Ambassador Lambah has served in several Missions abroad including as the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany, High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, Consul General of India, San Francisco, and Ambassador of India to Hungary. He was Deputy Secretary General of the 7th Non Aligned Summit held in Delhi in 1983 and later Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting in India. His specializations include Economic Diplomacy and dealing with India’s neighbours. He opened the Indian Embassy in Bangladesh after liberation. He has been involved in many successful economic ventures. For instance, the first Export of an Indian Car (Sale of Maruti Cars) took place when he was Ambassador in Hungary. India’s largest investment ever upto that time of over $2 Billion in Sakhalin-I was made in 2001 when he was Ambassador in Russia. For this, in March 2015, he was conferred the “Urja Energy Security Award”. During his tenure as Consul General of India in San Francisco (1989-91) he was conferred a “Trustees’ Citation” by the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 for his initiating, coordinating, and spearheading the campaign which generated over US$2 million in a short span of four months for Indian Studies, resulting in the creation of two Chairs of  India Studies, a bi-annual lecture by a distinguished scholar from India, and an annual scholarship at the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C Berkeley. He is married to Nilima Lambah, author of “A Life Across Three Continents – Recollections of a Diplomat’s Wife”.
Having trouble with the link? Simply copy and paste the entire address listed below into your web browser:http://www.cvent.com/d/1Ivo3uXM4keqDoi4m44jKw/njf0/P1/1Q?
Become a member
1) Website Link: http://www.anantacentre.in
2) Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aspen-Institute-India/591604467532892
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The inauguration of 2015-16 ACG NBA JUMP at Thyagaraj Sports Complex

OCTOBER 22, 2015 |EDIT
 Inline images 1
Cordially invites you to witness the inauguration of 2015-16 ACG NBA JUMP
at
Thyagaraj Sports Complex
INA Colony, New Delhi
On Monday, October 26, 2015
At 01:30 PM
Present at the occasion would be:
Yannick Colaco, Managing Director, NBA India
Karan Singh, Director, ACG
Satnam Singh, first Indian player to be drafted in NBA
RSVP:  Gautam Sheth +91 98692 33393
               Brinda Iyer       +91 98205 06845
               Shivashish Chanda- 9811327887

RBI invites feedback on report of the Working Group on Implementation of Ind AS by Banks in India

RBI invites feedback on report of the Working Group on Implementation of Ind AS by Banks in India
The Union Budget for 2014-15 emphasised the urgent need for convergence of the current Indian accounting standards with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India notified the rules for IFRS converged Indian accounting standards (Ind AS) along with its implementation road map for corporates in a phased manner from 2016-17 onwards. The roadmap for convergence of insurance companies, banking companies and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) is expected to be announced by MCA in due course. The Reserve Bank recommended to the MCA a roadmap for implementation of Ind AS by banks from 2018-19 onwards and NBFCs in a phased manner (2018-19 and 2019-20).
Considering these developments, a Working Group was constituted to look into the issues in implementation of Ind AS by banks. The Working Group has structured its recommendations into the following key areas with focus on financial instruments.
· Classification and Measurement of Financial Assets–The Working Group reviewed the requirements of Ind AS 109 with regard to the classification and measurement of financial assets which are similar to the requirements laid down in IFRS 9 issued by the IASB. The Working Group also took cognizance of the fact that there were a number of RBI circulars containing guidance and instructions on accounting matters which may not necessarily conform to the requirements of Ind AS 109. Therefore, a review of the important RBI circulars was carried out to identify areas requiring attention.
· Classification and Measurement of Financial Liabilities–The IASB finalised the requirements relating to financial liabilities in October 2010. Most of the requirements for financial liabilities were carried forward unchanged from IAS 39 with some changes made to the fair value option for financial liabilities to address the issue of own credit risk. The Working Group reviewed the Ind AS 32 and Ind AS 109 and also compared these requirements with the existing accounting practices and RBI guidelines on the matter to identify and assess potential issues as well as suggest solutions. The key issues identified by the Working Group pertain to the following areas (a) Initial recognition (b) Subsequent measurement (c) De-recognition of financial liabilities (d) Offsetting/ netting (e) Classification: Equity versus liability
· Hedge Accounting and Derivatives–Hedge Accounting formed Phase III of IASB’s project to replace IFRS 9 in its entirety. The IASB has segregated the overall hedge accounting broadly into two components i.e. (a) general hedge accounting and (b) macro hedging. In November 2013, the IASB added to IFRS 9 a new hedge accounting model in respect of component (a) above. The new general hedge accounting model represents a substantial overhaul of hedge accounting model and corresponding disclosures that will enable entities to better reflect their risk management activities in their financial statements. However, as at May 2015, the prescriptions in relation to component (b) i.e. Macro Hedging are still a work in process and the IASB has issued in April 2014 a Discussion Paper titled ’Accounting for Dynamic Risk Management: a Portfolio Revaluation Approach to Macro Hedging’ with public comment period which ended on October 17, 2014. The Working Group therefore did not consider the discussion paper and its propositions as they have yet to be translated into an accounting standard even internationally and instead focussed on the interaction of current RBI prescriptions on derivatives and hedge accounting with Ind AS requirements contained in Ind AS 109.
· Fair Value Measurement–As the Indian banking sector moves towards reporting under converged International Financial Reporting Standards, one of the key issues facing the industry would be the application of fair value measurement, in view of the very nature of banking business and the preponderance of financial instruments on a bank’s balance sheet. Challenges in migrating to fair value measurement arise on account of the absence of active markets for corporate bonds and loans, differences with extant RBI instructions and practices on valuation, absence of an established body of accredited valuers and lack of adequate historical experience in the use of fair values by banks.
In deliberating its recommendation with respect to Fair Value Measurement, the Working Group was guided by the following objectives: (a) Valuation in accordance with the accounting standards and international best practices with departures only in exceptional cases (b) Transparency in the application of the valuation methodology and the inputs to the valuation process (c) Valuation to be determined on an independent and objective basis (d) Consistency in valuation of identical or similar instruments and (e) Ease of regulatory supervision.
· Impairment of Financial Assets–Given the business of banking, ensuring that the recoverable value of impaired financial assets is properly reflected and such financial assets are adequately provided for is of critical importance. One of the lessons of the financial crisis was that the pre-crisis accounting model for impairment waited for the impairment to be incurred before requiring a loss allowance thereon and was criticised for being a “too little, too late” approach. In order to address this issue, as a part of its project to replace IAS 39, the IASB developed a forward looking “expected credit loss” (ECL) framework for recognising impairment on financial assets. Unlike IAS 39, where an entity only considers those losses that arise from past events and current conditions, IFRS 9 broadens the spectrum by requiring an entity to base its measurement of expected credit losses on reasonable and supportable information that is available without undue cost or effort, and that includes historical, current and forecast information. The IFRS 9 ECL requirements, which have been incorporated without any significant change in Ind AS 109, also represents a paradigm shift from current practice in the Indian banking industry which follows income recognition, asset classification and provisioning (IRACP) norms prescribed by the Reserve Bank.
· Presentation of Financial Statements and Disclosure–As a part of designing the formats, the Working Group considered several alternative approaches possible. Some of the key considerations, besides the Ind AS requirements, included the changes in the business of banking over the years through the introduction of new products, increase in offbalance sheet items, need for enhanced disclosure relating to impairment, extent of guidance to be given for presentation and disclosure, etc. During the course of deliberations particularly while reviewing the financial statements of banks based in the EU, the Working Group also arrived at the conclusion that minimum formats for financial statements need to be specified to promote comparability. Accordingly, the Working Group has suggested the formats as below:
Balance Sheet13, including statement of changes in equity (Annex I, Form A, to be prescribed under the Third Schedule to the BR Act) (b) Profit and Loss Account (Annex I, Form B, to be prescribed under the Third Schedule to the BR Act) (c) Notes (Annex II, to be prescribed by way of RBI circulars) (d) Guidance for preparation of financial statements (Annex III, to be prescribed by way of RBI circulars)
· Derecognition, Consolidation and Other Residuary Issues–In the course of deliberations with bankers and a review of extant RBI instructions, the Working Group identified areas where the extant instructions may not be consistent with Ind AS and may need to be reviewed or withdrawn. These recommendations are discussed under the following heads. (a) Derecognition (b) Consolidation (c) Residuary issues
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