Flag Code of India, 2002

The Indian National Flag represents the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. It is the symbol of our national pride. Over the last five decades, several people including members of armed forces have ungrudgingly laid down their lives to keep the tricolour flying in its full glory.

The significance of the colours and the chakra in the National Flag was amply described by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan in the Constituent Assembly which unanimously adopted the National Flag. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan explained—“Bhagwa or the saffron colour denotes renunciation of disinterestedness. Our leaders must be in different to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to soil, our relation to the plant life here on which all other life depends. The Ashoka Wheel in the center of the white is the wheel of the law of dharma. Truth or satya, dharma or virtue ought to be the controlling principles of those who work under this flag. Again, the wheel denotes motion. There is death in stagnation. There is life in movement. India should no more resist change, it must move and go forward. The wheel represents the dynamism of a peaceful change.”

There is universal affection and respect for, and loyalty to, the National Flag. Yet, a perceptible lack of awareness is often noticed, not only amongst people but also in the organisations/agencies of the government, in regard to laws, practices and conventions that apply to the display of the National Flag. Apart from non-statutory instructions issued by the Government from time to time, display of the National Flag is governed by the provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (No.12 of 1950) and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 (No. 69 of 1971). Flag Code of India, 2002 is an attempt to bring together all such laws, conventions, practices and instructions for the guidance and benefit of all concerned.

For the sake of convenience, Flag Code of India, 2002, has been divided into three parts. Part I of the Code contains general description of the National Flag. Part II of the Code is devoted to the display of the National Flag by members of public, private organizations, educational institutions, etc. Part III of the Code relates to display of the National Flag by Central and State governments and their organisations and agencies.

Flag Code of India, 2002, takes effect from January 26, 2002 and supersedes the ‘Flag Code – India’ as it existed.

India Foreign Trade Policy - 2004 to 2009

PREAMBLE

CONTEXT
For India to become a major player in world trade, an all encompassing, comprehensive view needs to be taken for the overall development of the country’s foreign trade. While increase in exports is of vital importance, we have also to facilitate those imports which are required to stimulate our economy. Coherence and consistency among trade and other economic policies is important for maximizing the contribution of such policies to development. Thus, while incorporating the existing practice of enunciating an annual Exim Policy, it is necessary to go much beyond and take an integrated approach to the developmental requirements of India’s foreign trade. This is the context of the new Foreign Trade Policy.

OBJECTIVES
Trade is not an end in itself, but a means to economic growth and national development. The primary purpose is not the mere earning of foreign exchange, but the stimulation of greater economic activity. The Foreign Trade Policy is rooted in this belief and built around two major objectives. These are:
To double our percentage share of global merchandise trade within the next five years; and(ii) To act as an effective instrument of economic growth by giving a thrust to employment generation.

STRATEGY
These objectives are proposed to be achieved by adopting, among others, the following strategies:
Unshackling of controls and creating an atmosphere of trust and transparency to unleash the innate entrepreneurship of our businessmen, industrialists and traders.
Simplifying procedures and bringing down transaction costs. Neutralizing incidence of all levies and duties on inputs used in export products, based on the fundamental principle that duties and levies should not be exported.
Facilitating development of India as a global hub for manufacturing, trading and services.
Identifying and nurturing special focus areas which would generate additional employment opportunities, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas, and developing a series of ‘Initiatives’ for each of these.
Facilitating technological and infrastructural upgradation of all the sectors of the Indian economy, especially through import of capital goods and equipment, thereby increasing value addition and productivity, while attaining internationally accepted standards of quality.
Avoiding inverted duty structures and ensuring that our domestic sectors are not disadvantaged in the Free Trade Agreements/Regional Trade Agreements/Preferential Trade Agreements that we enter into in order to enhance our exports.
Upgrading our infrastructural network, both physical and virtual, related to the entire Foreign Trade chain, to international standards.
Revitalising the Board of Trade by redefining its role, giving it due recognition and inducting experts on Trade Policy.
Activating our Embassies as key players in our export strategy and linking our Commercial Wings abroad through an electronic platform for real time trade intelligence and enquiry dissemination.

PARTNERSHIP
The new Policy envisages merchant exporters and manufacturer exporters, business and industry as partners of Government in the achievement of its stated objectives and goals. Prolonged and unnecessary litigation vitiates the premise of partnership. In order to obviate the need for litigation and nurture a constructive and conducive atmosphere, a suitable Grievance Redressal Mechanism will be established which, it is hoped, would substantially reduce litigation and further a relationship of partnership.
The dynamics of a liberalized trading system sometimes results in injury caused to domestic industry on account of dumping. When this happens, effective measures to redress such injury will be taken.

ROADMAP
This Policy is essentially a roadmap for the development of India’s foreign trade. It contains the basic principles and points the direction in which we propose to go. By virtue of its very dynamics, a trade policy cannot be fully comprehensive in all its details. It would naturally require modification from time to time. We propose to do this through continuous updation, based on the inevitable changing dynamics of international trade. It is in partnership with business and industry that we propose to erect milestones on this roadmap.

KAMAL NATH
MINISTER FOR COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
NEW DELHI
31ST AUGUST, 2004

INDIANISKRA - Born Now!

Expected Audience:

Viewers, Critics, Visionaries and not the least - fellowmen.

Link:

http://www.indianiskra.blogspot.com

Where are we?

Reframe - What you know about India?

1. 71% or 742 million people are below 35 years of age. Indians are young.

2. 29 million people are born every year,10 million die per year, population increase 1.8%.

3. 94% drop out rate of children between kindergarten and 10+2.

4. 6% or the ones that cross the 10+2 stage, ( Educational “Line of Control”) which is our so called educated youth, go in for a
regular college degree which may not be very relevant in today’s context for the sake of employment generation and National GDP enhancement.

5. 72% of all graduates from colleges are Arts graduates. Balance 28% in Science, Commerce, Engineering, I. T., Medical, Law, Management and special subjects.

6. While 95% of the world youth between 15 to 35 years of age learn a vocation, a skill or a trade, with a choice of 3000
vocational education & training (VET) programs, we in India have only identified about 141 trades, after 57 years of
Independence and hardly 2% of the population goes for formal VET training!

7. We can get engineers in India but no carpenters, plumbers, drivers, repairmen and other skilled personnel as per
international standards! Information Technology, Software or I.T. is the only exception. Perhaps because of 50,000 or more Pvt. I.T. training centers.

8. I.T. & Software is only 1.5% of the world’s GDP. India’s present share is about 3%. For rapid economic growth and employment generation we need to concentrate on the balance 97% of the Economy & Enterprise and make it world class.

9. 300 million unemployed/employable age* and only 45 million have actually registered with employment offices with little or no hope of getting employment (our estimates)*.

10. Of all new employment generated, 1% are Government jobs, 2% are in the ‘organized sector’ and the balance 97% in the ‘unorganized sector’.

11. Out of our 430 million workforce, 94% work in the ‘unorganized sector’ and about 6 % in the ‘organized sector’.

12. 1.7% of the entire population, viz. 18 million people work for the Central & State Government; another 9 million work in the ‘private organized sector’, total 2.6% people.

13. All the Labour Laws are made to protect, at any cost, the above 2.6% of the Indian population. Article 311 of the Indian constitution needs revision since it over protects employees of the Government even at a cost to the Nation.

14. While MP's, MLA's and Municipal Councilors and the village Panchayats, can only be elected for a maximum of 5 years, the officials, babus, and government employees enjoy life long benefits of employment, in spite of performance.

15. 600 million illiterate people, based on the international definition of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic,
education up to primary level)

16. The Indian definition of literacy is based on survey of people - “If you can write your name, you are literate”; nobody
has seriously ever challenged this definition!

17. 300 million live below the Government of India's definition of Poverty Line of Rs.10 per day! (based on being able to buy
enough rice and wheat from the Public Distribution System / Ration Shops, which has food value of 2200 K Cal. per day)
This is my India !

18. Nobody has ever challenged this definition of ‘Poverty Line’. How can one expect people to live with a few kilos of raw uncooked wheat or rice? As human beings don’t we need more? How about one set of clothes to cover our bodies, a set of chappals for our feet, some vegetables, milk & fruit, in our diet? How will we cook without any energy and fuel?

19. 450 million* live below the poverty line definition of the World Bank's old definition of @ US$ 1 per day per person, or US$ 365 per year. 700 million* people below the poverty line definition of the World Bank's new definition of @ US$ 2 per day per person, or US$ 730 per year. (our estimates)*

20. Average Per Capita of an Indian is about US$ 606 per year per person (1.07 billion people and a GDP of US$ 648 billion).Average earning of an Indian is US$ 1.66 per day

21. India has only 1.77% of the World GDP and is 17% of the world population. Demands are high but buying power is low. Hence we will need to increase our export related activities by 10 times, as the foreign markets are 75 times bigger than the Indian market. Our share of world markets or foreign trade is 0.8%, down from 33% 1000 years ago, down from 27% when the British landed in India and down from 3% in 1947.

22. Only 5% of Indians understand English, yet most of the websites of the Government of India, State Governments and Public Institutions are in English!

23. While English is a language used in countries which account for about 40% of the world GDP, viz., USA + UK + old British Colonies, yet in India while we talk of Globalization, we are not serious to learn the other languages of the world, eg., Japanese, German etc, unlike the Chinese youth who are doing otherwise

24. India is probably at the bottom of the heap, as far as the human development index is concerned such as infant mortality, women’s health, sicknesses, disease, health, etc.

25. Democracy is to the people, for the people, by the people. If we have to succeed the Citizen has to get involved and participate in Governance

26. Unlike other countries, we have 17 official languages, 4000 dialects, all the religions of the world, and because of low
human and economic development, emphasis on SC, ST, Dalits, caste, religion, sect, minorities, regions, etc.

27. Employment generation is restricted due to existing Policies which do not encourage “Labour Intensive” enterprises. Relevant Labour Reforms in line with prevailing practices in other countries of Asia are required for a level playing field for Indian organizations.

28. The size of Enterprises cannot be decided by officials in the Central Government. They are decided by technology, process, international market forces and competitive pressures.

Reservation for Small Scale Industry (SSI), needs to be scrapped and SME’s should be encouraged. SSI’s are 7% of the Indian GDP. 99.7% of all organizations in the world are SME’s. 90% of the Indian GDP is SME. To understand the meaning of ‘E’ in SME (small & medium enterprise).