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GD-WAT Bible
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
10 Will Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Fix the Bank NPA Issue? 54
12 The Impact of Brexit on the Politics and Policies of the European Union 67
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Over last year and half, there has been a lot of buzz around the claim of making India a
5 trillion dollar economy by 2024. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also emphasised
the goal in her budget speech presented in July 2019. There was a mention in her budget
speech that by 2019, India had become 2.7 trillion dollar economy. Simple back of the
envelope calculations reveal that India will have to grow annually by more than 13%
every year for the period 2019-24 in order to reach 5 trillion dollar mark by 2024.
On this background, let us see how fast Indian economy has grown over the years. The
following line chart shows the rate of growth of Indian economy since 1961 (Chart plotted
using the World Bank data, taken with thanks from GDP Growth of India | India GDP
Growth 2019)
We can see that Indian economy has never grown substantially more than 10% in any
year since 1961. When the size of the economy is already the third largest in the world
in terms of Purchasing Power Parity, growing at that high rate is even more difficult due
to ‘large base effect’. We rely only on numbers, it seems difficult to achieve the goal at
the moment.
This is not to paint a pessimistic picture but to set the expectations right. Moreover, aims
are always set at higher levels, which bring out the best and in the process one achieves
the goals that seem unrealistic, though the ultimate goal is not achieved. As they say-
“Aim for the moon and if you miss, you will still be among the stars”. Therefore, in
this write-up, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities for getting that 5 trillion
dollars mark, say by 2025 or 2026, if not by 2024.
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Historic Perspective
India grew at more than 8% between 2003-04 and 2007-08 till India’s growth march was
halted by the global economic crisis of 2008. This was the fastest continuous 5-years
growth period in the history of independent India. The factors that contributed to this
rapid growth were a combination of domestic as well as international factors. In order to
grow at a high rate in the next 5 years, we will need similar (if not the same) confluence
of favourable domestic and external factors.
First let us revisit the domestic and international factors that contributed to India’s growth
story in the period 2003 to 2008.
Domestic factors
1. The latter half of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government saw some really good economic
reforms. In 2001, the Vajpayee government launched the ambitious ‘Golden Quad-
rangular’ project to connect four metros with continuous good quality highways. The
Vajpayee government gave impetus to Public Private Partnership in highway building,
which paved the way for rapid construction of highways. The Vajpayee government
also initiated ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ for building all weather roads in
the rural area. Manmohan Singh’s government that followed the Vajpayee government
continued these good policy measures. The Golden Quadrilateral project was finally
completed in 2012.
Upto late 1990s and early 2000s, the state of highways in the country was really bad.
Importance of good road network for economic progress cannot be overemphasised.
These efforts paved the way for rapid economic growth in that period.
2. The Vajpayee government continued the policy of P.V.Narasimha Rao’s govern-
ment and diluted the government shareholding from several PSUs (this is called the
process of ‘disinvestment’). Manmohan Singh’s government continued the policy of
disinvestment and disinvested from the Airport Authority of India. However Man-
mohan Singh’s first term was constrained in disinvestment due to the opposition of
Communist parties, on whom the government was dependent for survival.
3. The Vajpayee government brought much awaited reforms in the power sector through
the Electricity Act of 2003. It was an important milestone for attracting Public Private
Partnership in the power sector.
4. The Vajpayee government undertook very important policy measures in the telecom
sector. Mobile phones were introduced in India in 1996 and calling rates were as
high as Rs.16 per minute in 1996. Significant part of these high rates was due to
high government taxes. Vajpayee government cut the taxes on telecom services and
also permitted the entry of private players in the telecom market. The competition
significantly reduced the prices. At one point of time up-to early 1990s, there was
a waiting period of as much as 10 years for getting a landline phone. However by
2003-04, almost everyone in the country had mobile phones. It was a great progress
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by any standards in a relatively short time. Progress in the telecom industry paved
the way for rapid economic progress in the following years.
5. In 2002, India’s fiscal deficit was about 6% of GDP. Due to the efforts of Vajpayee
and Manmohan Singh governments, it was brought below 3% in 2008. The crisis of
2008-09 required the government to hike expenditure, as a result of which there was
a steep increase in the fiscal deficit post 2008-09.
(Reference: India Consolidated Fiscal Balance: % of GDP [1998 - 2019] [Data & Charts])
Similarly the efforts of both Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh governments in the time
period 2000 to 2006 contained inflation in manageable limits.
Since 1999, there was relative political stability in the country. That enabled the governments
to continue with their policies without any hindrance.
International Factors
In the year 2000-01, the US economy was hit by ‘dot com crash’. The attacks of 9/11
followed soon. As a result, by March 2002, the US economy plunged into a mild recession.
In response to the recession, the US Fed under Alan Greenspan cut interest rates multiple
times. By 2004, the interest rates in the US were at record low levels at almost 1%.
Whenever the interest rates in the US are low, the US financial institutions invest in other
countries that hold a promise of better returns. Due to good policy initiatives by the
government, India held the promise of better returns. Therefore, the foreign institutions
pumped in dollars in record quantity in India in that period. The data collected from the
‘Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy’ published by RBI reveals that the foreign
exchange reserves of India rose from about $ 48 billion in late December 2001 to $101
billion in late December 2003 to $273 billion in late December 2007. (Reference: Statistical
Supplement)
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To summarize, there was a favourable confluence of the domestic and international factors
that contributed to the growth of Indian economy from 2003 to 2008.
Current situation
In this background, it is important to understand how the domestic and international
scenario is unfolding. These developments will determine how fast Indian economy can
grow.
A. Domestic factors
1. Health of Banking industry
Banking industry is critical for any economy. Banks perform the important task of
lending to corporates that play an important role in the economy. Rapid growth of Indian
economy prior to 2008 and the developments from 2008 to 2014 sowed the seeds of what
later emerged as the crisis for the banking.
The second term of Manmohan Singh’s UPA government was marred by policy paralysis
to a great extent. Electricity Act of 2003 permitted private companies to install thermal
power plants. However, the coal required for these plants was to be procured from Coal
India Ltd. The procedure was to allot ‘coal linkage’ to the private companies, which were
decided in the meeting of a cabinet committee. From 2010 to 2012, the cabinet committee
did not meet regularly, which delayed the allotment of coal linkages. After the allegations of
corruption in coal linkages were made in 2012 (so called Coal Scam), there was even more
hesitancy on the part of the government in granting coal linkages. Important government
clearances such as environmental clearances took time. Similar were the woes of many
highway projects, which were held up for want of land acquisition.
The problem was that banks had already lent for these projects and construction was also
underway with repayments expected to start, usually 3 years after releasing the amount
by the bank. If a power plant could not start operations due to unavailability of coal,
where would the plant generate the amount required for repayment? This resulted in
piling up of NPAs in banks.
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Disclosure of NPAs
For a number of years, banks had misused the loopholes in RBI regulations on disclosing
the NPAs. However, in 2016, the RBI under the then governor Raghuram Rajan made the
disclosure norms more stringent which banks could not easily bypass. As a result from
2016 onwards, banks were forced to disclose the real NPA numbers.
As we can see on Bank NPAs: June 2019, the total NPA in top 36 banks in the country
increased from 6.71 Lakh Crore rupees in March 2017 to 9.66 Lakh Crore rupees in March
2018. In reality, NPAs were already there but they were correctly reported.
(Source: https://www.ceicdata.com/datapage/charts/ipc_india_domestic-credit-growth/?ty
pe=line&period=max&lang=en)
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Lending is an important and essential activity for ensuring economic growth. Any
reluctance by banks can put a spanner in the growth engine.
2. Banks occupy a very important role in the economy and lie at the core of the economy.
Any large scale failure of banks would lead to significant disruptions in the economy.
At present, about 70% banking in India is controlled by PSU banks. Therefore, in
case of any trouble in PSU banks, it becomes imperative for the government to infuse
more funds and avert crisis in the PSU banks. Over last 11 years, the government
had to infuse about 3.15 Lakh Crore rupees in PSU banks (reference: https://www.
bloombergquint.com/economy-finance/psu-bank-recapitalisation-government-infused-
rs-315-lakh-crore-in-public-sector-banks-in-last-10-years). Chunk of this was infused in
last 2 years. For example, in October 2017, the government infused 2.11 Lakh Crore
in PSU banks (Reference: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/
finance/modi-govt-announces-mega-rs-2-lakh-11-thousand-crore-bank-recapitalisation-
and-rs-7-lakh-crore-road-plan/articleshow/61202075.cms?from=mdr) and announced
infusion of additional 70,000 Crores in the budget of 2019-2020.
These funds could have been better utilized by the government for building mean-
ingful infrastructure in the country or for any other productive usage. In a way, this
was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
2. Bankruptcy Code
We have to live with the fact that the chunk of the amount stuck in NPA will be lost
and will not come back. The best course of action is to salvage whatever possible from
the borrower and remove that loan from the balance sheet of the bank. This process is
called ‘cleaning of balance sheet’ of the bank.
The problem was that all these years the laws of the country were not stringent enough
to force bankruptcy on the defaulter companies and recover the amount owed. In 2016,
Government of India implemented Bankruptcy Code to address this important lacuna.
More than 10,000 cases have been referred under Bankruptcy Code. Initially the cases of
large borrowers were focussed on. So far resolution of 94 large cases with total outstanding
of 1.7 Lakh Crore rupees has been completed, out of which about 70,000 Crore rupees
have been realised. (Reference:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/steel/ibc-resolves-cases-of-
94-companies-with-liabilities-of-rs-1-7-lakh-crore/articleshow/69877266.cms?from=mdr)
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efficiency. This is a very important step by the government. However, there have been
concerns about the implementation of the scheme. During last 2.5 years, the implementation
of filing the tax returns under GST have been progressively simplified.
One important fallout of GST is that it has become very difficult to evade taxes under
GST. As a result, several transactions that were not included in the measure of economic
activity will be progressively reported.
All in all, GST is a significant step in the economic reforms in the country. It has a
potential to boost the growth in the coming years.
However, on the other hand, certain steps taken by the government are inexplicable. No
matter all the tall claims made, demonetization exercise does not seem to have yielded
the results. Moreover during demonetization period, rules underwent multiple changes.
Initially, going for cashless (or less cash) economy found no mention in Prime Minister’s
address to the nation on 8th November 2016. However, later the cashless economy was
hailed as one grand aim of the exercise. All this seems inexplicable.
Government’s handling of the telecom sector is also inexplicable. When Jio was launched
in 2016 and initially everything was offered for free and later at very cheap prices, there
is a reason to suspect that the step was intended at capturing the market share through
predatory prices. The government, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Competition
Commission should have stepped in to avert that, which did not happen. As a result, all
other players in the telecom industry have had to face the brunt.
Government’s approach seems more on the long term. The budget of 2019-2020 contained
a number of provisions to boost Electric vehicles. However, the concerns of the automobile
industry that is currently facing slowdown have not been addressed. On the other hand,
import duty on certain spare parts used in automobiles has been hiked. Electric vehicles
may be the future. However, giving all the emphasis on electric vehicles, while neglecting
the short-term concerns of the automobile industry seems baffling.
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B. International Factors
International situation is not as stable as it was in the 2003-2008 period. The US under
Donald Trump has become more protective. The US has imposed tariffs on imports from
China. As a result, China also retaliated, leading to a trade war between the US and
China. There has been a lot of talk of agreement being reached between the US and
China, which has not yet culminated. There are protectionist tendencies in other parts of
the world, as can be seen from the Brexit referendum. This new wave of protectionism
can harm the flow of capital into India.
The situation in the Middle East, especially Syria continues to be volatile. Russia is solidly
backing Assad and helped him survive despite all odds. Further, Russia under Vladimir
Putin is very aggressive and is not willing to give in to the pressure of the West.
In the neighborhood of India also things are not very rosy. China is trying to encircle
India through efforts such as OBOR. Any repeat of an incident such as Pulwama attack
can potentially lead to escalation between India and Pakistan, which can derail India’s
growth engine.
Verdict
Considering the combination of domestic and international factors as well as government
policies, reaching the 5 trillion dollar mark by 2024 seems difficult. However, the government
is taking some right initiatives, which will help us to reach the mark, if not by 2024, may
be by 2026 or 2027. In order for that to materialize, the international situation should not
deteriorate in terms of war or conflicts. Moreover, the government should desist from
taking inexplicable decisions.
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if the rate of increase in GNP and population is same then the actual growth of GNP
would be zero, which implies that there is a decrease in per capita income.
As a result, there would be no economic growth. Therefore, in such a case, standard of
living of people would not improve even when there is an increase in the total output
of a country. However, such a growth is better than the stagnation of an economy.
The economic growth of a country is possible if strengths and weaknesses of the economy
are properly analysed.Economic analysis provides an insight into the essentials of an
economy. It is a systematic process for determining the optimum use of scarce resources
and selecting the best alternative to achieve the economic goal. Moreover, economic analysis
helps in assessing the causes of different economic problems, such as inflation, depression,
and economic instability. It is performed by taking into consideration various economic
variables, such as demand, supply, prices, production cost, wages, labor, and capital.
The economic growth of a country may get hampered due to a number of factors, such
as trade deficit and alterations in expenditures by governmental bodies. Generally, the
economic growth of a country is adversely affected when there is a sharp rise in the
prices of goods and services.
Following are some of the important factors that affect the economic growth of
a country:
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economics as three consecutive quarters of contraction in GDP. But since India is a large
developing economy, contraction is a rarity. The last instance of negative growth for India
was in 1979. A growth recession is more commonplace where the economy continues to
grow but at a slower pace than usual for a sustained period, what India has been facing
nowadays.
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far back the quarterly data in the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy database goes).
A slowdown in car sales negatively impacts everyone from tyre manufacturers to steel
manufacturers to steering manufacturers etc., when it comes to the backward linkages that
car manufacturers have. As far as forward linkages are concerned, many auto dealerships
are shutting down or shrinking. At the same time, the vehicle loans growth has slowed
down to 5.1%, the slowest it has been in five years.
Two-wheeler sales: These have not been as badly hit as car sales. Between April and
June 2019, two-wheeler sales contracted by 11.7%. This is the biggest fall since October
to December 2008, when two-wheeler sales had contracted by 14.8%, in the aftermath of
the start of the financial crisis. In fact, even mopeds are not selling, with their sales down
19.9% between April and June 2019 (In 2018-2019, a total of 880,000 mopeds were sold,
suggesting there is still good demand for them).
Tractor sales: A good indicator of rural demand, tractor sales during April to June 2019,
fell by 14.1%, the highest fall in nearly four years.
Housing sales: As per Liases Foras, a real estate research company, India’s top 30 cities
had 1.28 million unsold housing units as of March 2019, a jump of 7% from March 2018,
when the number was at 1.2 million. This means that builders are building new houses
at a faster pace than people are buying them. The real estate sector has forward and
backward linkages with 250 ancillary industries. So, when the real estate sector does well,
many other sectors, right from steel and cement to furnishings, paints, etc., do well too.
This is something which isn’t happening currently. The fact that real estate prices haven’t
gone up in years makes people feel less wealthy and as a result spend less.
Bank retail loans: This data point goes against the trend. During April to June 2019, the
retail loans of banks grew by 16.6% in comparison to the same period last year. During
the same period last year, they had grown by 17.9%. There has been a marginal fall in
growth. Housing loans form more than half of the retail loans—they grew by 18.9% during
the quarter against 15.8% last year.
How does one explain the fact that housing loans are growing and so is the number of
unsold homes? A possible explanation for the fact is that people are now buying homes
from investors who had bought many homes between 2003 and 2012, instead of buying
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directly from a builder. To that extent these are not new homes and hence, cannot create
the kind of economic activity that the building of a new home can.
Other than home loans, credit card outstanding grew by 27.6% between April and June
2019, against 31.3% in April to June 2018. Again, a marginal fall at best. This also explains,
why every time you tell someone there is a slowdown, they reply, but the malls and
restaurants are packed. Credit cards are used by a certain section of the population and
at least, when it comes to them, they haven’t slowed down on spending on small ticket
items.
FMCG companies: The volume growth or the number packs sold, of fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) companies has slowed down over the last one year. If we look at Hindustan
Unilever Ltd, the volume growth between April and June 2019 was at 5%. It was 12%
during the same period last year. There are other examples as well. Dabur India posted
a volume growth of 6% during April and June 2019, against 21% last year. Britannia was
down to 6% against 13% last year. Indeed, this is worrying, given that people seem to
be going slow on making everyday purchases.
Bank lending to industry: This crucial indicator had remained almost flat for a couple
of years, and it has improved in the recent past. For April to June 2019, it went up by
6.5% against 0.9% between April to June 2018. This was largely on account of lending to
large industries, which grew by 7.6%, against 0.8% last year. When it comes to lending
to micro and small industries, the growth was almost flat at 0.6% against 0.7% last year.
While lending to big industry is important, it is the micro and small industries which
tend to create the bulk of any jobs in any economy, as they grow bigger.
Revenue-earning rail freight: The bulk of the freight operations of Indian Railways is
concentrated around moving certain commodities like coal, pig iron, cement, petroleum,
fertilizers, iron ore etc. If the Railways is moving more of these commodities around the
length and breadth of this country, it’s a good indicator of investment and industrial
activity picking up. How do things look on this front? This indicator grew by 2.7%
between April and June 2019, the slowest in nearly two and a half years. It had grown
by 6.4% between April and June 2018.
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Final consumption of finished steel: Creation of any new physical infrastructure requires
steel. Hence, a faster increase in steel consumption than in the past shows increased
investment activity than in the past. The consumption of finished steel grew by 6.6%
between April and June 2019, in comparison to the same period during the last year,
when it had grown by 8.8%. This was the slowest in two years.
New investment projects announced: The value of new projects announced during April
to June 2019 fell by 79.5% year on year. This is the highest fall since September 2004. In
absolute terms, the value of new investment projects announced during April to June 2019
stood at ₹71,337 crore, the lowest since September 2004. This is a great indicator of the
fact that businesses really do not have faith in the economic future of India, irrespective
of what they say in the public domain.
Investment projects completed: The investment projects completed fell by 48% in comparison
to the last year. This is the highest fall since September 2004. In absolute terms, the value
of the projects completed during the quarter stood at ₹69,494 crore, the lowest in nearly
five years.
Expenditure and net exports: Government expenditure tends to form around 10-11% of the
Indian economy (in current terms, without adjusting for inflation). In the last two fiscal
years, the growth in government expenditure was at 19.1% and 13.2%, the highest since
the financial crisis years of 2008-09 and 2009-10 and was instrumental in driving economic
growth to some extent. How do things look in 2019-20? To drive economic growth, the
government needs to spend more and for that the tax growth is important. During April
to June 2019, the gross tax revenue of the central government went up by just 1.4% to 4
lakh crore. During the same period last year, the gross tax revenue had jumped by 22.1%.
What this tells us very clearly is that the government is clearly feeling the heat of the
economic slowdown. In this scenario, whether it will have the ability to increase its
spending like it did over the last two years, is a question well worth asking.
Finally, net exports: This figure for April to June 2019 stood at -$46 billion. This was
almost similar to the net exports for April to June 2018 at -$46.6 billion. This is primarily
because both exports and imports during the period were at almost similar levels as last
year. Given this, there hasn’t been any increased economic activity on the exports front
either.
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in the economy, consumers suddenly prefer to hoard cash or keep it in the bank
instead of spending on consumer goods.
Moreover, demand has also collapsed in the rural areas as the entire rural economy
runs on cash and Demonetization led to the loss of jobs as well as incomes thereby
squeezing the rural consumer who now prefers to wait and watch as well as post-
pone consumption except that of essential goods and services.
Next, Demonetization has also led to small and medium businesses or the so-called
SMEs to withhold investment since they too operate on a cash basis and the cash
crunch has left them high and dry.
One must also take note of the fact that it is not only private consumption and small
enterprises causing the slowdown.
Indeed, the Big Corporates are as much to blame since they are drowning in debt
that they accumulated during the Boom Years of the first decade of the 21st century.
It is also a fact that this has contributed to a freeze on investment by industrial houses
and corporates who are now paying down the debt or postponing debt repayments
to ensure that their present cash flow is sufficient to remain in business.
4. Rollout of GST:
Fourth, the fact that the rollout of the GST or the Goods and Services Tax on a
nationwide basis has led to the slowdown cannot be denied.
Indeed, GST has hampered the small businesses more than Demonetization by forcing
them to withhold inventory until they migrate to the GSTN or the GST Network and
become compliant with the numerous rules and regulations that are part of this tax.
It can be said that the implementation of GST is also flawed thereby exacerbating
some of the factors that have contributed to the slowdown.
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5. Global Slowdown:
It is not these factors alone, and the most important factor is that there is also a
global economic slowdown that is happening and given the fact that India is a net
commodity exporter, there has been a slump in the volumes of exports.
Apart from that, the global slowdown has also been accompanied by a retreat of
globalization which has resulted in FDI or Foreign Direct Investment being only in
the areas of speculative finance and distressed assets purchases rather than into in-
vestments that help the Real Economy.
Thus, it can be said that ongoing global headwinds also have contributed to the
slowdown in the Indian Economy.
6. Retreat of Globalization:
Hence, what the slowdown means for professionals and fresh graduates is that they
would be finding it harder to land jobs as well as see their salaries rise year on year
basis. In addition, the policies of the Trump Administration have contributed to a
decline in the number of students and professionals going to the United States and
added to this, Brexit uncertainties have compounded the situation.
It looks as though that the combined effect of all these factors means that the Indian
Economy is likely to remain in the doldrums for some time to come.
Almost all these economic indicators suggest that we are well into an economic slowdown,
and it can possibly get worse from here. The irony is that this slowdown seems to be
obvious to everyone except the government. The question this leaves us with is, how do
you solve a problem without acknowledging it first?
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blame. It's a fact that leadership in the corporate sector has failed to recognize the major
transition taking place in their sector that has affected consumer demand.
Take the auto sector, for example. It did not prepare for shifts in consumer behaviour
and market needs. They contribute almost 6 per cent to the GDP and offer employment
to 37 million people and are clamouring for stimulus on behalf of their employees.
The stimulus has to be for both employees and corporates. The sector is asking stimulus
to protect jobs, but it does not mean it will happen as they move to electric vehicles (EV).
EVs have a fraction of moving parts as compared to an internal combustion engine. The
engine and drive line are two crucial components of the internal combustion engine that
contribute 50 per cent of the auto component industries' revenues. The move to EV will
disrupt the supply chain of components at one end and maintenance and repair on the
other. This needs specific incentives to upskill employees to maintain, repair or make
electric vehicles.
Upskilling of mid-level workers is the core component of all sectoral stimulus packages.
The disruption in industries is not cyclical or because of economic slowdown. There is a
structural shift in many industries because of technology or shift in consumer preferences.
Automation is affecting jobs in both manufacturing and services, which displacement is
also affecting the consumption cycle.
The stimulus for auto companies has to promote investment. India needs an investment
of $40 billion in batteries for EVs. Auto companies can get incentives for making this
investment. They can be incentives to shift existing production lines to electric cars.
These are, however, palliative measures and will not turnaround the economy. The bigger
issue is revival of consumption demand.
The government has had discussions with several sections of business and economists
over the last few weeks. It has plucked out all the prickly issues which created a negative
perception and eroded trust. But if a tyre is losing air pressure removing nails from the
road ahead will not stop the air from leaking.
Action has to inspire confidence among consumers to spend and for industry to invest.
Removing taxation on foreign portfolio investor and other prickly issues is a hygiene factor.
It shows the government is correcting mis-steps faster. Addressing it within a week, which
the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did shows the speed of response.
This is important as it will bring back the confidence in the industry, investors and market.
But the confidence to spend or even pay EMIs has to be restored.
It is equally important to set the right expectations for a return to normalcy or a turnaround
in the growth. The massive mandate this government received shows the expectation of the
common man. Not setting the expectation right or distorting the timelines will not serve
to inspire consumer confidence. People are pragmatic and patient if they understand the
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time it will take to come out of the current situation. They know there are no shortcuts
out of slowdowns.
The current initiatives are either short-term measures or long-term reforms. The consolidation
of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) announced on August 30, falls into the latter category. It will
not turnaround the banking sector, ease the credit flow or even improve the transmission
of interest cuts -- the three most important problems contributing to the slowdown. The
consolidation will take time.
The consolidation of the PSBs is a structural reform much needed, long overdue and
may reduce the recapitalisation requirements. The governance reforms will improve the
process of supervision, hiring and compensation. It will not change the credit evaluation,
disbursement and monitoring of loans, which is the core problem in PSBs.
The culture of poor evaluation of borrowers and lack of risk mitigation has contributed to
the non-performing asset (NPA) mess in the PSBs. This culture cannot vanish overnight
as it's entrenched in processes and behaviour.
Banking leadership can use the disruption to overhaul the culture and build a new system
and processes. If they get sucked into the merger and take their eyes off credit growth,
customer retention, their merged entity will be weaker than the sum of the parts.
Both merger and governance reforms were important but are obviously not sufficient from
the slowdown point of view.
To kick-start the consumption cycle money has to go into the common man's pocket. This
can happen by reducing income tax for the lowest slab, as recommended by the Direct
Tax Code report. It can be done by making GST filing quarterly for MSMEs with less
than Rs 10 crore turnover to ensure they survive the slowdown. The GST Council can
look at reducing rate slabs and reduce the overall burden on corporates.
Immediate steps:
1. Give auto sector incentives to invest and shift to electric vehicles.
2. Incentives to auto sector employees to upskill on electric vehicles.
3. Change GST collection to quarterly for companies below Rs 1 crore.
4. Reduce the GST slab rates.
5. Adopt the Direct Tax Code, cut income tax for the bottom slab.
6. Improve credit flow to both consumer and industry.
7. Reduce real interest rates by 135 basis points as cost of capital has to come down.
8. Change the credit culture in public sector banks.
9. Stimulus should drive investment, upskilling for displaced employees.
10. Factor market reforms, including bringing the cost of land down.
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A macabre rape-murder dents Hyderabad’s image as a safe city, once again highlighting
the continuing national epidemic of sexual assault and the chronic failure of our criminal
justice system! In the later weeks after this case, we observed a familiar pattern unfold-
public anger, media frenzy and promises of stricter laws by legislators. There was a strong
sense of déjà vu in the air, accompanied with a sinking feeling that the needle hadn’t
moved forward in all these years. Supposedly, women were more likely to report abuse
and sexual attacks after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape, but unfortunately, there has been little
or no impact on arrests and conviction rates, according to a study published in February
2019.
The national outrage over the Hyderabad incident echoes the public response after the
Nirbhaya episode of 2012, suggesting widespread concern about such crimes against
women, particularly in the cities. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which
released its 2017 data this October, says a total of 3,59,849 cases of crimes against women
were reported, a 6 per cent rise over the previous year. Of these, assault on women with
'intent to outrage her modesty' comprised 21.7 per cent and rape comprised 7 per cent.
The criminal justice delivery system is still not equipped to cope with this. The NCRB
data indicates that in 86 per cent rape cases, the police file charge-sheets but trial courts
are able to dispose of only 13 per cent of the pending cases, with the conviction rate as
low as 32 per cent. In child rape cases, the conviction rate is 34.2 per cent and pendency
82.1 per cent. Over two years to 2015, the annual average reporting of rape cases in Delhi
was 23% higher compared to the annual average over a decade to 2011. The average
annual reporting of molestation and sexual harassment during 2013-2015 was 40% higher
compared to the annual average reporting before the Nirbhaya case.
Recently, a survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has ranked India as
the world's most dangerous country for women, ahead of Afghanistan, Syria and Saudi
Arabia. According to the report, India is the most dangerous country for women in terms
of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude and for customary
practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide. Debate over the state
of women in India has intensified after the survey results were presented by Thomson
Reuters Foundation.The methodology used was a survey of 548 respondents on six different
indices -healthcare, discrimination, culture traditions, sexual and non-sexual violence, and
human trafficking. However, the question arises that was it right for the Foundation to
rank the nations just on the basis of perceptions of experts without even disclosing their
names and without using any government data?
While the government has criticized the survey’s ranking, many have questioned how
countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, which grant far fewer rights to women,
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managed to perform better. The country's National Commission for Women rejected it
outright, saying that countries where women could not speak out, had done better. They
have also pointed out that rape, harassment and other forms of violence against women
have risen in India because more cases are being reported, driven by public outrage.
Additionally, an interesting data says that Thomson Reuters Foundation declares female
genital mutilation (FGM) as one the parameters in cultural traditions where India has been
ranked the worst. But, according to a report of WHO, India is not even mentioned in the
list of 29 countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent. This data itself reflects
the validity of the new survey.
However, many women welcomed this survey as well. RoopRekhaVerma, a college professor
and social activist said, “A better methodology, rooted in intensive data and empirical
work, could have been used of course, but if more than 500 gender specialists view it
like this, it has to be taken seriously. These aren't perceptions from people on the streets
- these are well-informed experts”. Though the government has been quick to question
the Reuters survey, but India has no reason to gloat - a look at the official crime statistics
shows a woman is raped every 13 minutes; six women are gang-raped every day; a bride
is murdered for dowry every 69 minutes; and 19 women are attacked with acid every
month. Adding to that, there are thousands of reported cases of sexual harassment, stalking,
voyeurism and domestic violence. Actually, this ranking does matter - because it shows
that India has lost the battle of perceptions. And sometimes, perceptions do matter. So,
instead of being a scapegoat, India should do some soul-searching to see how things can
be improved from the grass root level for the women. India has to convince the world
that it's not a hostile territory for the female gender and gets off from lists like these.
Apart from all these surveys and rankings, there is one question that is dwelling in people’s
mind- Is India safe for women? The most shocking thing is that most of the Indian women
who came across the news that India has been ranked the most dangerous country for
women by a Thomson Reuters survey, was not filled with shock. The reality is women
in India grow up, very aware of their position – inside the home and outside it. Even
if a few of them are lucky enough to be given some freedom, they are immediately told
that they are privileged – something not many Indian women or girls are given. Every
day, horrendous news of rapes, assaults and violence against women make them furious,
anguished and enraged. It makes them question humanity, the law, government, security
forces, and the whole existence of mankind. Why do the 49% of the country’s population,
who are identified as women, have to fight for a basic right like the right to safety? The
successful veterinarian from Hyderabad, who was mercilessly gang-raped and murdered,
or the minor girl in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh did not deserve such a horrific fate. However,
these are the cases, which have been reported and covered by the media. We cannot even
imagine the life stories of endless such girls whose tragedies remain untold.
But, it’s unbelievable how the government have turned a blind eye towards the pain and
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suffering of the women of the country. Forget taking action, some still remain mum about
the ongoing situation of the country, believing that the outcry would eventually fade with
time. Anything and everything that is critical about the country is being dealt with this
exact attitude—denial and name calling. And if there is something more outrageous than
the above denial about data, it is about ‘personal experiences’.So, since no one has tried
to molest a particular person, India should be declared as the safest nation in the world.
Ironically, it is like I just had food, so world hunger is cured. While every party is keen
to include women in their agendas, they are not going beneath the surface. There are
so many unresolved issues within the sphere of gender in India. For any government,
women’s rights have always been a game; after all, women constitute an important vote-
bank. The problems of women exist not only in the rural areas of the country but also
in the urban setup. Infact, the urban setup is a monster of a different sort. For every
Kathua and Unnao case, there’s a Nirbhaya to go with it.
While we do see efforts being made to make society a safer place for women, we don’t
see any results. The reason is that this toxic culture is so deep-rooted that mere encounters
or death sentences cannot eradicate the violence against women. We have grown up
hearing tales of women as powerful goddesses. But, what we are witnessing is a totally
different tale. Our personal experiences have built in us a fear of the Indian society. It’s
so brutal that women often become oppressors of other women.The current situation in
India portrays that the number of crimes and the extent of cruelty against women is on
a constant rise. Let’s not forget that if the valor, courage, and esteem of women like
SushmaSwaraj, SwaraBhaskar, RanaAayub, Sonia Gandhi etc. can be reduced to grime, what
safety can the average Indian women expect? So, irrespective of the rankings, right now,
women’s safety in India and also across the world is like a cure for Cancer—WHICH
DOESN’T EXIST!
As it wasn’t until every radio channel, advertisement, banner and speech talked about the
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that we gained consciousness of the importance of keeping our
country clean. What if that same voice declares a national emergency and tells the people
to clean their minds now? Isn’t it time that after Swachh Bharat, the nation should go on
its revolutionary path towards a Surakshit Bharat (Safe India)? So, instead of relying on
the government, let the change begin from within us!!
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A study by a premier social sciences research institute reinforces what policymakers and
media have been talking about the past few years - that India is going through a deep
agrarian crisis. The Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), based in Delhi, found
that given an option majority of farmers in the country would prefer to take up some other
work. Poor income, bleak future and stress are the main reasons why they want to give
up farming. Around 18 per cent of respondents surveyed said it was because of family
pressure that they are continuing with farming. Why they want to give up farming. The
survey of 5,000 farm households across 18 states says that 76 per cent farmers would prefer
to do some work other than farming. Sixty-one per cent of these farmers would prefer to
be employed in cities because of better education, health and employment avenues there.
A high percentage of farmers complained of repeated losses; 70 per cent of respondents
said their crops were destroyed because of unseasonal rains, drought, floods and pest
attack. Is agriculture no longer a viable occupation? Let us look at some facts:
• Extreme distress in Rural India in the farm sector has resulted in an average 10,000
to 12,000 farmer suicides every year. In the recent months, the rural distress has also
led to widespread protests in certain states. Farmers across India also mobilized in
New Delhi to protest against the policies (or the lack of) of the government.
• A large number of farmers are living below the poverty line and incidents of suicides
are frequent.
• In May 2017, the Centre informed the Supreme Court that despite a multi-pronged
approach to improve income and social security of farmers, over 12,000 suicides have
been reported in agricultural sector since 2013.
• 20 lakh hectares of cultivable land is understood to have been acquired for non- agri-
cultural purposes. Further, 42% of farmers are ready to quit agriculture as occupation,
even as almost 70 crore of our population is dependent on agriculture. Agriculture
sector absorbs too many people. It is oversaturated with workers and farmers who
are depending on ever smaller returns from it.
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4. Punjab and Haryana - Punjab was at the forefront of the famous Green Revolution
in 1960s. However, over the period of time, due to excess use of pesticides, fertil-
izers, high-yield seeds and ground water, agricultural productivity in Punjab is on a
steady decline.
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3. Farm loan waivers put considerable strains on the states' resources. Due to them,
fiscal deficit rises and the states cannot undertake capital expenditure as there is a
resource crunch.
4. Repeated waivers create an incentive for default and encourage reckless behavior
from the borrowers.
5. Waivers affect the flow of credit to agricultural sector in the long run as lending
institutions will be naturally apprehensive to extend credit. It also affects innovations
and research and development in this sector.
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Conclusion: The tens of thousands of farmers who protested in Delhi said that the
Swaminathan Committee had recommended some measures that the central government
needs to take to avert the agrarian crisis in India. However, after many years since the
recommendations were tabled, nothing has been done. It thus raises a question: If the
government’s attitude towards farming is not serious can it (farming) be a viable occupation
for the people of the country?
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By allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala Temple, the Supreme Court has set
a positive precedent regarding questions of religious equality. It is a significant milestone in,
• Unconditional respect for the equality of women and men
• Respect for the Constitution and the institutions the constitution has created
• Respect for the rights of religious adherents to follow their beliefs and practices, so
long as they do no harm to others; and the rule of law.
What is unusual about Sabarimala is that it offers the first example of these invaluable
and seemingly unchallengeable principles clashing with each other. Constitutionalistsand
liberalsand democrats can easily uphold the above principles.
The problem is that the some of these admirable values are diametrically opposed to each
other on Sabarimala.
The Temple:
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temple board. The photo showed women relatives present at the function in the temple.
In 1991, the Kerala High Court restricted entry of women above the age of 10 and below
the age of 50 from Sabarimala temple as they were of the menstruating age.
27 years later on September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court lifted the ban, saying that
discrimination against women on any grounds, even religious is unconstitutional, which
kick started the current controversy.
The protests took a political turn after BJP ally Shiv Sena warned of "mass suicides" if
women set foot inside the Sabarimala temple. The protests intensified as the date of opening
neared. On October 17, when the doors to Sabarimala opened, the protesters camped at
the base of the trek and at the last stretch of the trek (at Pamba) to stop women from
entering the temple.
4:1 Verdict – SC ruled that not allowing women was in violation of the Constitution.
(Justice InduMalhotra dissented)
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For centuries, women were not allowed to enter the Sabarimala shrine based on the
biological ground of menstruation. The Rule of the Kerala Hindu Places of Public Worship
states that “Women at such time during which they are not by custom and usage allowed
to enter a place of worship” was the basis of the practice of excluding women of the
age group of 10 through to 50 years to enter the temple. The KHC had further held that
only the chief priest was empowered to decide on traditions.
There is a practice of exclusion of menstruating women from social and religious functions.
At times, it takes the form of untouchability. In rural Nepal, religious Hindus believe that
menstruating women are unclean and should be banished from the family home – many
women have died. This is despite the Nepalese government passing a law and making it
illegal. Such notions of purity and pollution, which stigmatise women in what is essentially
a biological process, are anathema to human rights.
Such a practice has certainly no place in our constitutional order. When we, the people of
India, gave ourselves the Constitution of India, we sought to break the onerous shackles
of inequities, injustice, and social hierarchies and entrenched structures that perpetuate
discrimination and prejudice. It is indeed shocking that we had to wait 70 years after
independence to provide equity to half the population of the country.
In favor of tradition:
• Issues of deep religious sentiment should not be interfered in by the court.
• Notion of rationality should not be seen in matters of religion.
• Worshippers of Sabarimala have attributes of religious denomination.
Judges should not impose their personal views, morality or rationality with respect to
the form of worship of a deity. A pluralistic society and secular polity would reflect
that the followers of various sects have the freedom to practise their faith in accordance
with the tenets of their religion. It is irrelevant whether the practice is rational or logical.
Notions of rationality cannot be invoked in matters of religion by courts. Ayyappa is in
the form of a NaishtikBrahmachari. The belief in a deity, and the form in which he has
manifested himself is a fundamental right protected by Article 25(1) of the Constitution.
The prohibition in vogue for time immemorial qualified to be an “essential practice”. A
religion can lay down a code of ethics, and also prescribe rituals, observances, ceremonies
and modes of worship. Imposing the court’s morality on a religion would negate the
freedom to practise one’s religion according to one’s faith and beliefs. It would amount
to rationalising religion, faith and beliefs, which is outside the ken of courts. India is a
country comprising diverse religions, creeds, sects each of which have their faiths, beliefs
and distinctive practices. Constitutional morality in a secular polity would comprehend
the freedom of every individual, group, sect, or denomination to practise their religion in
accordance with their beliefs and practices.
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Equality is not the problem in Sabarimala. Instead, it is an issue concerning the holiness and
the rituals of the temple. In Kanyakumari, there is a temple where men are not allowed
to enter. Nobody has gone to court saying that they want to enter the temple. There
are other Ayyappa temples for women, for those who want to pray to him. Eeveryone
should respect the speciality of Sabarimala. Democracy, one must respect religious beliefs,
the Constitution, the law and so on. Balancing all of this is what democracy is all about.
Sabarimala has now become a police camp. How can anyone pray peacefully there.
The notifications issued by the Travancore Devaswom Board in 1955 and 1956, which refer
to the devotees as “Ayyappans”. The worshippers of Lord Ayyappa together constitute a
religious denomination, or sect thereof, as the case maybe, follow a common faith, and
have common beliefs and practices. They are designated by a distinctive name wherein
all male devotees are called “Ayyappans”; all female devotees below the age of 10 and
above the age of 50 are called “Malikapurams”. A pilgrim on his maiden trip is called
a “KanniAyyappan”. The devotees are referred to as “Ayyappa Swamis”. A devotee has
to observe the “vratham” and follow a code of conduct, before embarking upon the
“PathinettuPadikal” to enter the temple. Thus, Ayyappa devotees are a separate religious
denomination and their rights need to be protected and not interfered with.
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Muslim mosques don’t allow men and women to pray together in the same space. The
Catholic Church does not permit female priests. Some Shinto monasteries are off-limits
to women altogether. There are Hindu temples which do not allow men to enter during
specified periods, and the Kumari Amman temple situated in Kanyakumari does not permit
them at all. The law does not interfere in such matters.
In implementing the Supreme Court verdict, politicians should have sought to reconcile
the principles upheld by the Court with the believers’ sense of the sanctity of their faith.
There is a need for mutual engagement between the liberals and the traditionalists on
what their convictions and doctrines mean in a changing world.
Conclusion:
With its Sabarimala verdict, the SC underlines the Constitution’s transformative power. The
Constitution protects religious freedom. The legal challenge to the exclusion of women in
the 10-50 age group from the Sabarimala temple in Kerala represented a conflict between
the group rights of the temple authorities in enforcing the presiding deity’s strict celibate
status and the individual rights of women to offer worship there. The decision reaffirms
the Constitution’s transformative character and derives strength from the centrality it
accords to fundamental rights. Liberals are thus torn between their basic respect for
gender equality and their democratic duty to respect the beliefs and wishes of the people.
In religious matters, beliefs must prevail; in a pluralistic democracy, legal principles and
cultural autonomy must both be respected.
40 Odd review petitions have been filed against the September 2018 ruling in which Justice
Malhotra famously used the diversity logic to dissent against the majority verdict on the
ground that courts should not sit in judgement over religious practices unless these are
as abhorrent as sati.In February 2019, the court reserved its judgment on pleas seeking
a review of its September 2018 verdict. In November 2019, The Supreme Court referred
review pleas to a larger seven-member bench.
The larger bench is also expected to hear issues relating to other communities’ right to
practise, profess and follow their own religious fundamental rights, guaranteed under Articles
25 and 26 of the Constitution. “The debate about the constitutional validity of practices
entailing… restriction of entry of women generally in the place of worship is not limited
to this case, but also arises in respect of entry of Muslim women in a Durgah/Mosque
as also in relation to Parsi women married to a non-Parsi into the holy fire place of an
Agyari,” the judgment said. “There is yet another seminal issue pending for consideration
in this court regarding the powers of the constitutional courts to tread on (the) question
as to whether a particular practice is essential to religion or is an integral (part) of the
religion, in respect of female genital mutilation in DawoodiBohra community.”
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The judgment suggested that a decision by a larger bench would “instill public confidence”
and “put at rest recurring issues touching upon the rights flowing from Articles 25 and 26”.
On December 13, 2019, the Supreme Court declined to pass any order on pleas by two
women activists seeking a direction to the Kerala government to ensure safe entry of
women in the Sabarimala temple under police protection.The top court said the issue was
"very emotive" and it did not want the situation to become "explosive".A bench, headed
by Chief Justice S A Bobde, said the "balance of convenience" required that no orders
are passed in the mater today as the issue had already been referred to a 7-judge bench.
The apex court said it would endeavour to constitute the larger bench at the earliest to
hear the matter.
Further Reading:
https://thewire.in/law/watch-sabarimala-verdict-what-the-judges-said
https://thewire.in/women/sabarimala-women-entry-supreme-court-judgement-kerala
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ban-on-entry-of-women-facts-controversies-
about-kerala-s-sabarimala-temple/story-K4Xi6GKMacPDmQO2jAmjNO.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/what-is-sabarimala-case/articleshow/66054724.cms
https://www.firstpost.com/india/why-women-are-barred-from-sabarimala-its-not-because-
they-are-unclean-2583694.html
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/keep-the-peace/article25265690.ece
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/why-the-sabarimala-verdict-allowing-women-
s-entry-is-not-against-mass-opinion/story-TbhvfuhI8myB0SW3qoAxeM.html
https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/the-constitutional-and-legal-bases-of-the-
sabarimala-verdict-october-17-2018/1352605/
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/sabarimala-to-bigger-bench/cid/1719399
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The Internet is not short of people who instead of winning arguments based on reason,
resort to abuse, threats, insults and bullying, to prove their point. You must have come
across such people everywhere, especially while browsing through social media. Trolls
are individuals who post abusive and controversial remarks or comments on social media
platforms to bother other people, with the sole malicious intention to hurt the sentiments
and feelings of others and provoke an angry reaction. Their messages are such that they
can shift everyone’s attention from the subject matter.
Trolling is the new generation cybercrime and trolls are the new generation of criminals
on the internet who derive sadistic pleasure in spreading abuse and hate. One should not
ignore the trolls, but should fight against them.
Is trolling punishable? We do not have a specific law that directly addresses this growing
concern, but we do have a few sections in different laws such as Indian Penal Code (IPC)
and Information Technology (Amendment) Act (IT Act) which make trolling a criminal act.
These are some of the specific actions that one can take in different situations:
• Violation of Privacy – If any person takes your photograph, makes your videos,
records and publishes your private pictures or sends them electronically to anyone
without your consent, then you can take legal action against them. Any violation of
privacy is punishable by a prison term of three years.
• Publishing Sexually Offensive Material on the Internet – Nowadays, we can see large
amounts of improper and offensive content on the Internet which, no doubt, attracts a
lot of attention. If any person publishes any offensive sexual content on the internet,
he or she can be jailed for up to seven years.
• Sexual Harassment – If any person tries to make physical contact or sexual advances
with you, or demand for sexual favours from you, or shows pornography, or makes
sexual comments about you, then you can take legal action against them by filing a
complaint. Posting sexually offensive comments against other people on social media
and other platforms also makes a person liable for sexual harassment.
• Defamation – If any person who intentionally uses any words, signs or visible repre-
sentations, or publishes anything only to harm your reputation, they can be punished
for defamation. Acts such as defaming a woman online, commenting on social media
platforms, posting obscene remarks or images or videos are all covered under the
offence of defamation.
• Criminal intimidation by anonymous communication – If a person conceals his/her
identity to threaten another, they can be jailed for up to two years. This is very
helpful and effective in dealing with online trolls.
• Insulting the Modesty of a Woman – If you are a woman and any person insults
or outrages your modesty, uses any word, makes any sound or gesture, or displays
any object which can violate your privacy, then you can sue him. Posting sexually
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offensive comments or pictures or videos on social media or other platforms are also
covered under the offence of trolling.
• Voyeurism – If you are a woman and any person watches or captures an image of
you when you are engaged in a private act, under circumstances where you would
not expect anyone to watch you and if such person publishes those images, then you
can take legal action against them.
• Stalking – If you are a woman, and bothered by a man who follows you and contacts
or attempts to contact you to make personal relations despite your lack of interest;
or keeps an eye on your activities on the internet or any other form of electronic
communication, then you can take action against them by filing a case under the IPC
with the help of a lawyer.
• Monitoring social media exchanges so that they stay within defined limits: Trolling
has real and dangerous consequences for those who do face it. They live with the
fear of actually having to face the violence suggested online. They feel incapable of
expressing themselves freely. Hence, the government should have laws in place that
are specific about what kinds of trolling can face legal action. The threat of legal
action will stop or at least instil fear as a deterrent.
• Trolls are often people who cannot tolerate dissent from their own opinions. Their
abuse and threats to those they troll should be taken seriously as they may act on
their threats. Even their verbal abuse causes fear in someone expressing an honest
opinion.
• Non-abusive and politely expressed disagreements are not something most people
are capable of - they will have to be coerced to learn it by strict and punitive laws
that restrain their loosely directed anger.
• Trolling took on international proportion religious s with the story of how Russian
operatives secretly manipulated Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other social-media
platforms during the 2016 US election. Recently executives from Twitter; Alphabet, Inc.,
which runs Google, and Facebook- were grilled about alarming new reports-including
a series of revelations from inside Russia itself-about Moscow's covert purchase of
political ads, use of countless Internet bots and trolls, and creation of fake American
users, all as part of an effort to instigate racial and conflict and spread conspiracy
theories during election campaign and beyond. It compelled the biggest social-media
platforms to archive and maintain a public file of all political ads for buyers who
spend more than $500 and require them to "make all reasonable efforts to ensure
that foreign individuals and entities are not purchasing political advertisements in
order to influence the American electorate.
• "It's only going to expand. We have to muster a self-defense, just as we would from
a military or a cyberattack." – Senator Richard Blumenthal.
It seems clear now that, at the very least, one consequence of Russiagate will be a
whole new set of rules and regulations for the corporate giants of the online world,
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who until now have coasted along in a mostly regulation-free Wild, Wild West.
• Union Minister for Women & Child Development, Maneka Gandhi has decided to
take action against troll-abuse on social media, particularly against women. She has
requested the Union Home Ministry as well as the I&B ministry to take possible
steps to control the abusive trolling community. She has also asked social networking
platforms like Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms for their assistance
in tackling this troll menace. Maneka Gandhi became proactive following complaints
by troll victims.
In any society freedom is never absolute. Freedom always comes with a rider. You
have freedom to speak/express. But, at the same time, you must take care of the fact
that your exercising of the right to freedom must not abuse anybody, must not hurt
anybody's sentiments, must not be provocative and finally it must not be indecent. The
SC rightly scrapped the law relating to 66A as it was difficult to implement. But then,
the Supreme Court never said that acts shouldn't be there to control such violations. The
SC, on numerous occasions has said that the right to freedom is not absolute. We should
consider the introduction of a "report abuse" tab on social networking sites like many
newspaper websites provide. If the abuse tab is hit beyond the threshold number (set as
per assessment), the account could be blocked by the social media administrator and an
inquiry by the police initiated. One may not be booked at that moment, but an inquiry
can name and shame the trolling person and that would be enough for many to control
their language on social media. For repeat offenders, a 24-hour detention in a police station
would be sufficient because all such trollers probably do not understand what spending
a night at a police station means.
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In the 1980s, TV was the centerpiece of almost every living room around the world. In India,
owning a TV also had the tag of affluence attached to it, and there were ad campaigns,
such as the Onida ad with a tagline that said, “Neighbour’s envy, Owner’s pride”. The
square box back then was the biggest source of entertainment and information. With
the launch of Star TV and ZeeTV in India in the 1990s India witnessed a sharp rise in
demand for cable TV. However, in the 90s and in 2000s no one could imagine that there
would be a time not too far off in the future when cable TV could become redundant
and would be on the verge of being replaced by something even better. And that iswhat
happened with the advent of Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime. In India, we are seeing
a major boom in the number of streaming subscribers, and among these include three
big and popular players—Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime. Video streaming services
have made us realise that we don’t need a dish or a cable connection to enjoy great TV
content. They deliver content on multiple platforms. So we can enjoy watching our TV
shows whenever we want and wherever we want.Primarily the reason for a surge in
streaming services was connected with the sharp fall in mobile data price in India with
Reliance Jio spearheading this price war in 2016 as it began to offer bulk of data at no
charge to customers for a certain period of time.
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exclusives to Netflix. Apart from that Netflix has partnered with some Indian production
houses to get popular titles and has started looking at original regional content. Sacred
Games, Netflix’s breakout series in India is one such example. Coming toAmazon Prime,
they are rolling out not just Hindi movies and few Hindi TV shows, but also catering to
Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali audience. At the moment the movie titles are limited
across the dialects but Amazon plans to invest heavily on its service for the Indian market,
thus one can expect a lot more premium content from Amazon in the recent future.
Price Points
Let’s talk about the price points, although both Amazon Prime and Netflix has hit shows
like The Man in the High Castle and Goliath on Amazon, and House of Cards and Sacred
Games on Netflix, if you compare the pricing of the two services, Prime scores a point here
because it is cheaper than Netflix. At present the annual Prime subscription in India costs
Rs 999 and Rs 129 per month. Now, Netflix has finally launched the cheapest subscription
plan in India at Rs 199 for a month. The catch for the low-price is that the streaming is
limited to mobile and tablet only. And, this new plan allows the users to stream only on
one screen. Netflix also offersa basic plan at Rs 499; standard plan at 649 and the premium
plan at 799. The yearly cost of Netflix is higher than that of Prime. In India for many
consumers, Amazon Prime comes free for a year because of bundled offer they get with
their post-paid mobile plan. But Netflix has its pluses as it has more quality international
contents and more originals; it is a more user friendly app and has a separate button
on the set top box. But if you are a huge sports fan then nothing is better thanHotstar.
The Hotstar premium membership grants you access to all their premium titles which are
currently available on the platform. In addition to premium titles, you also get access to
all Live Sports, including Cricket, Premier League and so on. You can get all this for a
yearly plan of Rs 999 or a monthly plan for Rs 299.
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restricted to conventional plotlines and characters for most of their shows, Netflix and
Amazon Prime Video create content based on different themes and plotlines to cater to
the large masses, so now there is something for everyone.
The TV business is basically based on two factors: advertising and subscription. Premium
channels, such as, HBO is able to thrive on subscription models alone.However, most of
the other channels work on a hybrid model, so they sell advertising and receive fees from
cable providers in return for allowing them to carry programming. Till the recent past,
cable companies held a lot of leverage because, unlike broadcasters, they had a direct
financial relationship with the consumer. With streaming television, this business model
needs a major overhaul. Viewers are increasingly moving away from cable and satellite
TV. So, what is the future of Broadcast TV and Cable? It still reaches vast numbers of
consumers but the question is how will the advertisers that are paying for the cost of
producing content reach the young and the affluent viewers? Advertisers are therefore
trying to find ways of reaching consumers digitally. Cable box is now something of a
redundant item from the past as smart TVs, tablets, mobile phones and a host of other
streaming devices can act as your source of entertainment. The consumer has indeed become
King with the streaming services. Although the future of entertainment looks extremely
exciting, it looks like the future of cable business is not so bright. So, in a nutshell yes,
TVas we know it might be a thing of the past.
To conclude, it won’t be surprising if all televisions become smart TVs within the next
ten years. We might expect these devices to transform into another medium to stream
videos, music and so on, and thus becoming an integral part of virtual reality and future
programming.
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• Before India embarked on a policy of economic reform and globalization, there was
a massive socioeconomic problem. Globalization’s dramatic success in India consisted
of lifting hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. However, with it and
automation, many workers were no longer required. This made some of proponents
of Isolationism to argue that Globalization was nothing but a type of colonization.
However, it is now widely believed that it is was the inability of developing countries
like India to skill and protect their workers - and not Globalization - that caused this
distress.
• Globalization’s benefits have brought many countries food security, fiscal stability
and energy independence. However, this has also brought about immense social
changes such as immigration. Add to that the global financial slowdown, and many
people across countries believe that globalization is detrimental to their own and the
country’s economic well-being. There is a belief that Isolationism will help in curbing
any social ills. However, proponents of isolationism do not state how withdrawing
from the global arena will solve these problems. At best, an isolationist stance is a
chimera that has not delivered any solutions as yet.
• Also, governments are motivated to limit and alter market outcomes for political or
social ends. While governments can limit the rise in prices of some products, they
cannot control how much people want to buy or how much firms are willing to sell.
The laws of demand and supply still hold.
• Furthermore, Isolationism may temporarily create jobs for domestic workers. The
protection of tariffs, quotas or subsidies allows domestic companies to hire locally,
but again, if a company in a protectionist state wants to expand, they won’t be able
to. In the long term, trade protectionism weakens the industry. Without competition,
companies within the industry have no need to innovate. Eventually, the domestic
product will decline in quality. It will be lower quality and more expensive than
what foreign competitors produce.
• One example that is often propagated is that China has gained from an Isolationist
policy. It is said that modern day China originated from one of the oldest civilizations
in mankind and has kept its power and solitude by isolating themselves. However, it
is often forgotten that the huge growth in economy was prompted by restructurings
initiated in the 90s by Zhu Rongji, fifth Premier of China, who advocated market
reforms, open economy and increased intermingling with the global community. This
lead to double-digit growth of the Chinese economy and its increased assertiveness
in international affairs. Thus, advocates of Isolationism often ignore the benefits of
Globalization and clamor for chopping off the branch that bore the fruits of financial
stability in the first place.
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• Between 1991 and 2013, China’s share of global manufacturing exports increased
from 2.3% to 18.8%. Some categories of US manufacturing production were wiped
out. The United States might gain “eventually.” But the gains might take “decades”
to be realized, and would not be equally shared.
• The election of Donald Trump and his effort to withdraw the United States from the
world stage is another example of the decline of a global order. Since getting elected,
Trump and his secretaries of state have systematically decoupled American leadership
abroad from global problems in the quest of achieving an ‘America First’ vision. . The
United States has been credited with laying the foundations of globalization, but it
is now attempting to dismantle essential elements of that infrastructure, particularly
in trade and defense!
Thus, globalization and isolationism hold many different characteristics. Although both of
them are very different, both have greatly affected many aspects of society such as trade,
employment rate, and diversification within the economy. In conclusion, globalization may
not be what it once stood for but each nation and its people must evaluate its pros and
cons to arrive at the right mix of policies that is suitable for their growth and development.
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In India, the history of High Speed Rail (HSR) started with an announcement made in the
Rail Budget of 2000-2001 about high speed railways, which resulted in a general feasibility
study done by Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES). The signing of a pact
for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-speed rail corridor - a massive project involving a cost
of 98000 crore rupees - created news in the mainstream media. Both India and Japan have
invested time, energy and diplomatic resources in this showpiece project for which the
Japanese are committed to advancing a loan of 8 billion dollars. India has inched closer
to getting a bullet train after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe laid the
foundation for the high-speed train network. It will cost Rs. 1.1 lakh crore to see this
ambitious project through. Indian Railways, with help from Japan government, is now set
to begin work to set up a 500-km route for high-speed trains between Ahmedabad and
Mumbai. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had indicated that the bullet train project will
be completed by August 15, 2022, one year before the official deadline of December 2023.
Japan has offered to lend India a soft loan of Rs. 88,000 crore at an interest of 0.1 per
cent. The loan will have to be paid in the course of 50 years, with a moratorium of 15
years. Although, the bullet train project brings with it several promising prospects, there
also exist hurdles which might hinder them.
The BJP was in power in both Maharashtra and Gujarat states when work began on
project in 2017. Maharashtra is giving a major chunk of money for the project, when most
of the track is in Gujarat. The train will run from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, the main city
in Gujarat state, a distance of 508 kilometres (315 miles). But it has run into obstacles
acquiring land amid opposition from fruit farmers. Moreover, the new state government
of Maharashtra does not appear to be in favour of the project. Any delay of the project
is likely to undermine investor confidence, at a time when growth has slowed to its
weakest pace in years.
Critics say India does not need the high-speed train and investment should go instead to
improve the existing network. "We are not against development or infrastructure projects,
but at the same time farmers' interests can't be ignored. We will rethink about projects
that farmers are opposing," said a senior leader of Nationalist Congress Party, which is a
part of the coalition government. The authorities have acquired 548 hectares land out of
the total requirement 1,380 hectares and the project was targeted to be operational by 2023
, the government told parliament in July. Protests against land acquisitions are common
in India, where tens of millions of farmers till small holdings.
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• Stoppages - With limited stoppages (only two in Vadodra and Surat), the Ahmed-
abad- Mumbai bullet train will complete its journey in 2 hours, where increasing the
stoppages will increase the journey time up to three hours.
• Profitability - The origin stations - Ahmedabad and Mumbai - have airports and pas-
sengers from these cities could consider taking a flight instead of boarding the bullet
train..
• A total of 80 per cent of the funds for the project will come from Japan, and will
have to be returned after a period of 15 years. The profits this project make will
decide how easy or difficult it will be for India to pay this loan back.
• India is seeking loans to build the HSR but is ambivalent in the approach to acquir-
ing technology and indigenous manufacture of high-end components in the traction
chain. Essentially, India's Ministry of Railways projects the image of a buyer of rolling
stock rather than that of a technology seeker.
• The infrastructure projects required for HSR are meant for the elite and not the
middle- class passengers.
• The cost of laying a bullet-train corridor is estimated to cost up to Rs 100 crore a
kilometre. After summing up the costs of signals, rolling stock, etc, the cost can rise
up to Rs 115 crore a km. thus, one of the major disadvantages includes high capital
cost, operation and maintenance cost, and need to change alignment. Another impor-
tant dissuading factor is that planning and implementation could take a long time,
while change of government could upset the project.
• The high speed rail program will just eat the budget and reap no real rewards. Crit-
ics argue that very few people will take the trains, opting instead for the freedom
offered by personal automobiles and/or airlines. Some also claim the prices for high
speed rail tickets might be too expensive for many people to take the trains regularly.
• This lack of riders will render the supposed benefits of the high speed rail network
moot. Given the amount of government funding that is being used on the project
and the doubter's lack of belief in its success, they argue that the funding should be
instead used for improving the current transportation infrastructure.
• Proposed systems and technologies like Maglev & Hyperloop might make investing
a humongous capital on bullet train seem obsolete.
• Noise pollution - Noise pollution concerns make it difficult to increase the speed of
these trains. In Mumbai & Ahmedabad, the population density is high leading to
limits on noise levels in residential areas. Thus, it would be necessary to reduce op-
erational noise, particularly the tunnel boom phenomenon caused when trains transit
tunnels at high speed.
Conclusion:
The future of high speed rail is rapidly approaching, with many lines planned and some
already constructed, but whether this future will be a good one is in question. There's no
way of telling at this juncture whether the project is a boon to the country or an albatross
that will weigh the country down.
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10. Will Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Fix the Bank NPA
Issue ?
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prone to red-tapeism, chronic corruption, and nepotism. The IBC seeks to keep the
role of the adjudicator to the minimum.
6. Prior to the implementation of the IBC, only an average 25% of the asset value was
recovered by the creditors even after the liquidation process.
7. All these compounded to the pitiable position our Public Sector Banks find them-
selves in. Rising NPAs and mounting Stressed Assets have also eroded their profits.
The easing of liquidation process can help the banks recover a lot of bad debts.
8. India still fares quite poorly in the Ease of Doing Business index of World Bank.
Easiness of Exit is an important parameter in this index. The previous morass of laws
did not help in easing the exit of trouble-prone entities.
9. According to World Bank data, it takes more than four years to wind up an ailing
company in India, almost twice as long as it does in China.
10. Just like the US Bankruptcy Code that provides for fairly quick liquidation or reor-
ganisation of business, India too needed a new code that would prevent the economy
from tumbling southwards
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shall appoint an IRP within fourteen days from the insolvency commencement date
Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP): The Code outlines separate insolvency
resolution processes for individuals, companies and partnership firms. The process may
be initiated by either the debtor or the creditors. Recently the maximum time limit, for
completion of the insolvency resolution process, has been amended.Prior to the Amendment,
the Code required that the CIRP should be concluded within a maximum period of 180 days
(with a maximum one-time extension of 90 days) from the insolvency commencement date
(the Code denotes this to be the date of appointment of interim resolution professional).
However, many CIRPs were exceeding this overall 270-day limit on account of legal
proceedings initiated either against the corporate debtor, the CoC or the Amendment
provides that the CIRP must mandatorily be completed within an overall timeline of 330
days from the insolvency commencement date (including all or any extensions granted as
well as any litigations and related legal proceedings). Additionally, for an on-going CIRP,
in case the 330-day overall timeline has already been breached at the time the Amendment
comes into force, the Amendment provides for an additional relaxation of 90 days as a
transitionary measure. The minimum default amount to initiate the CIRP is Rs 1 lakh.
Corporate Debtor
An individual or corporate (proprietary, partnership or limited firm) that has borrowed
money is referred to as a Corporate Debtor under the IBC. For the purpose of IBC, a
corporate debtor is an entity (individual or corporate) that defaults on the debt repayment
in whole or any part of the instalment of the amount of the debt that has become due.
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a total of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, or a recovery rate of 48 per cent, slightly better than the
average recovery rate of close to 42 per cent across 156 cases resolved till 30 September
2019 (as on November 15th , the amount recovered from the Essar Steel account increased
from 30030 crores to around 42000 crores making the total amount recovered about
1.14 lakh crores out of 2.14 lakh crores from these 7 cases making the total percentage
recovery around 53% for these 7 cases) .However, the recovery of these loans ranges
between a low of 17 per cent for Alok Industries and 85 per cent for Essar Steel.
Arguments against- Resolution under IBC has not been significant so far
The numbers put out by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) as indicated
above paint a not-so-rosy picture on the progress of cases under IBC.Since the IBC is still
evolving and testing waters, there have been challenges at various stages — right from
admission of the case, expression of interest from parties, to submission of plans and final
approval by the NCLT. It has certainly delivered, but it could have delivered much more
. A similar set of issues, have been experienced in the past as we do right now, when the
Debt Recovery Tribunals were set up: lack of infrastructure, lack of presiding officers,
lack of sensitization of other stakeholders, undue delays in litigations etc. Some of the
issues faced in the implementation of the IBC are:
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members, technical members at NCLT .Expanding judicial capacity in the NCLT and
NCLAT is critical for the success of the IBC.There are over 2,787 registered insolvency
resolution professionals (IRPs) as on 30th September 2019 .However ,it is not known as
to how many of these individuals are equipped to manage affairs of the business, cash
flows, labour disputes etc. . Some of the IRPs work for the large audit and accountancy
firms, while others are at smaller firms or work as independent professionals. They are
certified by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. However ,there is a wide
variation in quality and experience, and legal experts demand more consistency .
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IBC has also resulted in a slower accretion of new non-performing assets (NPAs) in the
Indian banking system. CRISIL estimates the banking sector’s gross NPA (aggregate) has
declined to 10% in end-March 2019 from 11.5% the year before on the same date.
In the period of time that the insolvency code has been in force, both the NCLT and the
NCLAT have attempted to adapt to new legal concepts and strict procedural timelines.
This must continue, of course, as an efficient judicial process is also critical in protecting
the going concern value of distressed companies.
Some of the steps taken by the government in the implementation of the IBC are:
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tion before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for initiating the insolvency
resolution process. In 2018, home-buyers were categorised as financial creditors for
the purpose of IBC. Since then, developers have claimed that this provision has ham-
pered successful completion of various projects as construction was getting stalled
due to filing of insolvency applications by home buyers.As per the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) data, since the 2018 amendments till September 2019,
1,821 cases were filed under the IBC by home buyers and in almost all cases, by a
single home buyer. The Bill amends this to provide minimum thresholds for certain
class of financial creditors to initiate the insolvency resolution process.For example,
in case of real estate projects, if an allottee (person to whom a plot, apartment, or
building has been allotted or sold) wants to initiate resolution, the application should
be filed jointly by at least 100 allottees of the same real estate project, or 10% of the
total allottees under that project, whichever is less.
3. Liability for prior offences: The Bill provides that corporate debtors will have immu-
nity against offences committed by them prior to the commencement of the resolution
process. In addition, the Bill provides immunity from any action against the property
(such as attachment, seizure, or confiscation) of the corporate debtor in relation to
such offences. Such immunity will be granted if the resolution plan approved by the
NCLT results in the change of promoters, or management of the corporate debtor.
The rationale behind the amendment is that the successful bidder should not have
the risk of a corporate debtor being made an accused by any enforcement agency.The
amendments would remove bottlenecks, streamline the corporate insolvency resolution
process and boost investment in financially-distressed sectors.
4. Extending the scope of Moratorium: To help keep the corporate debtor a ‘going
concern’, the Bill extends the scope of moratorium to prohibitsuspension or termina-
tion of arrangements that involve conferment of rights by any government authority
on the ‘grounds of insolvency’, or any arrangements relating to supply of goods and
services that the resolution professional considers critical to protect the value of the
corporate debtor,so long as there is no default in the payment of current dues aris-
ing out of use of such benefits during the moratorium period
It further appears that the intention of the legislature has been to not burden a stressed
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All in all, avoiding undue delays in the process, and limiting judicial overreach is imperative,
if IBC is to serve its intended purpose.
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Physicist Stephen Hawking said the emergence of artificial intelligence could be the “worst event
in the history of our civilization.”
“The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) could be the worst event in the history of our
civilization unless society finds a way to control its development”: late Stephen Hawking.
Hawking in 2017 talked about the potential of AI to help undo damage done to the natural
world, or eradicate poverty and disease, with every aspect of society being “transformed.”But
he admitted the future was uncertain.
“Success in creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization.
Or the worst. We just don’t know. So we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by
AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it,” Hawking had said
during the speech.
“Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the
worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous
weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption
to our economy”.
How it helps:
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you can just tell your phone - ‘Uber ride Crowne Plaza San
Francisco’ - and then the Uber app just gives you the car?” - said Dekang Lin, Naturali’s
co-founder and chief technology officer.
This is possible through bots which either classifies or predicts what’s going to happen.
It has been popularly termed as Artificial Intelligence.
There has been a significant development in the technology sector, which is a consequence of
the substantial improvement in the lifestyle of humans. The concept of artificial intelligence,
termed earlier as fiction, has now become a reality in our lives.
Artificial intelligence is a broad branch of computer science which are designed and
programmed in such a manner that they can think and act like a human. The goal of
artificial intelligence is to create systems that can function intelligently and independently.
Ithas reduced human effort in many ways, and its role can be observed significantly in
our daily life.
In our day-to-day life, we come across different sets of data in different types of organisations.
For example, if you have lots of data for sales versus advertising spend, you can plot
the data to see some pattern.
If the machine can learn this pattern, then it can make predictions based on what it has
learnt. Machines can learn in many more dimensions – like hundreds or even thousands.
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That is why machines can look of high dimensional data and can determine the patterns.
Once it learns these patterns it can make predictions, that human cannot even come
close to. You can use all these machine learning techniques to do one of two things –
classification or prediction.
Machine learningaccompanied with neural networksmimics the actual processes of the real
neurons, which allows machines to process complex data and provide accurate information
through artificial intelligence.
Understanding the scope of artificial intelligence, you can observe that artificial intelligence
has penetrated into our daily life. Nowadays in many organisations, humans are using
this technology to speed up the process of completing the work with a greater level of
accuracy. The technique of artificial intelligence has brought out the idea of error-free
world, with reduced human effort and faster results.
Following are some of the domains where artificial intelligence is having the greatest of
impacts:
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• https://www.livemint.com/AI/v0Nd6Xkv0nINDG4wQ2JOvK/Artificial-Intelli-
gence-in-Indian-banking-Challenges-and-op.html
• https://www.proschoolonline.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-changing-banking-
sector/
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heat and noise. Thus, implementation of artificial intelligence has helped considerably
to provide protection and offer safety measures to humans.
Thus, we see that artificial intelligence impacts our day-to-day life ranging from healthcare
system to banks, from transport system to applications in jobs. It also has a wide area of
applications in gaming, air-transport systems, and computerised methods.
Application of Global positioning system (GPS) during travel; prediction of what we are
going to type and correcting it when wrongly-typed; identify and tag a person on social
media;execution of tasks through digital assistants like Cortana, Siri, Alexa; all form essential
components of application of artificial intelligence.
The development and invention of artificial intelligence have made a considerable impact
on the humans. Consequently, the advent of the next era of artificial intelligence also
plays a partin war prediction and hence eradication, proper means of fighting diseases
and thusdeveloping appropriate preventive measures against it. It is predicted to help in
fighting against poverty, which would be one of the significant roles of artificial intelligence
to be played in the coming days.
In conclusion, artificial intelligence has substantially improved and impacted people’s lives
in different ways, and the world is not the same as before. It has played an essential role
in time-saving and done wonders in the automation process. Evidently, artificial intelligence
has dramatically influenced and contributed to the people’s lives and industries. Saying that
it may be the worst event in the history of our civilization may not hold true at present!
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Decoding Brexit
Brexit: (an abbreviation for the term “British exit”), explained simply as Great Britain
leaving the European Union (EU) as it was earlier part of the EU.
The referendum
A referendum was held in the UK on June 23rd 2016. Contrary to what the economists
were predicting (and hoping), the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European
Union (EU) by 52% to 48%. ‘Leave’ won the majority of votes in England and Wales,
while every council in Scotland voted to remain in the EU
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● Control & Autonomy: the European Parliament decides on many rules and standards
that EU countries have to follow and critics felt that UK was losing control of our
own affairs and laws.
In essence, it was about autonomy, monetary benefits, & immigration that got 52% of the
Britons voting to leave the EU.
2017 was in the news for the two kinds of Brexits:a ‘hard Brexit’ or a ‘soft Brexit’.
Two options were floated since the Brexit referendum - a ‘hard Brexit’ or a ‘soft Brexit’.
The two different terms essentially refer to the kind of relationship and level of participation
the country will have with the EU’s Single Market – the free movement of people, goods
and services – and the Customs Union – the bloc’s trade and tax agreement.
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Ground Already Covered till 2018: The vote was just the start.The discussions have been
mainly over the "divorce" deal, which sets out exactly how the UK leaves - not what
will happen afterwards.
This deal is known as the withdrawal agreement which covers some of these key points:
● How much money the UK will have to pay the EU in order to break the partnership
● What will happen to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU, and equally, what will
happen to EU citizens living in the UK
● How to avoid the return of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland when it becomes the frontier between the UK and the EU
● A length of time, called the transition period, has been agreed to allow the UK and
EU to make a trade deal and to give businesses the time to adjust
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‘No deal’ also means immediately leaving EU institutions such as the European Court of
Justice and Europol, its law enforcement body.Membership of dozens of EU bodies that
govern rules on everything from medicines to trade marks would end.And the UK would
no longer contribute to the EU budget - currently about £9bn a year.
In conclusion, Boris Johnson's majority may have bought him some time, but the potential
nightmare of a no-deal Brexit still looms.
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“I tried to purchase umbrellas and I just can’t” on those platforms, said Kelvin Yeung, a 22-year-
old university student who has participated in about half of the marches this summer. “I cannot
put it into my basket if the destination is Hong Kong.”
The story:
Hong Kong, one of the world’s most important financial hubs, has exploded into protest.
The so-called “umbrella revolution” has turned the city’s gleaming central business district
into a virtual conflict zone, replete with shouting mobs, police in riot gear, and clouds
of tear gas. Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents – young and old, rich and poor
– have peacefully occupied major thoroughfares across the city, shuttering businesses and
bringing traffic to a halt. They claim that Beijing reneged on an agreement to grant them
open elections by 2017, and demand “true universal suffrage”. Neither side seems prepared
to back off, and nobody knows how the standoff will end.
History:
Demonstrators brought Hong Kong to a virtual standstill in 2014 when they demanded
the right for the territory to pick its own leaders.
For many years, Hong Kong was run by the UK as a part of the former British Empire.
That was until 1997, when control of the city was handed over to China.
But a special agreement with China - called “one country, two systems” - was created to
make sure that Hong Kong had some independence from China.
The protests started in reaction to a decision made by China that it would allow elections
in Hong Kong in 2017, but only from a list of candidates pre-approved by the Chinese
government.
Tens of thousands of people, of whom many were students, camped in the streets and
demanded the right to fully free leadership elections.
It was called “the Umbrella Movement” because protesters used umbrellas to protect
themselves from the tear gas used by police.
“The umbrella has been a symbol since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, and we use it to protect
ourselves. But it gives us power. We stand at the back, but we can donate it to the front. We
pass the power to them.” - Elsa Chan, 30, retail marketing
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1997. The principle is simple in theory — Beijing is responsible for the city’s defence and
foreign affairs; Hong Kong enjoys limited self-governance and civil liberties, including an
independent judiciary and unrestricted press.
Its top political post – that of chief executive – is chosen by a “nominating committee” of
1,200 people, most of them from pro-Beijing elites. Yet when Beijing regained control over
the city, it promised that the region would be able to elect its top leader by universal
suffrage by 2017. The group guiding the current protests threatened to paralyse the city’s
central business district if Beijing broke its word.
Nobody knew when, or if, the protest would occur, but in August Beijing passed a reform
framework to stipulate universal suffrage on its own terms – only two or three committee-
vetted candidates who “love the country” would be allowed to run. Activists considered
this the last straw. Students began a class boycott and, galvanised by a city-wide surge
in support, staged a large-scale protest outside of the city government headquarters.
Current Protests
In June 2019 new protests were sparked in Hong Kong against a law that could have
seen its citizens tried, or taken to court, for political crimes in China.
Although the law was scrapped the protests continued over issues like democracy and
human rights in Hong Kong.
Benny Tai, a leading activist who was put in prison for his role in the Umbrella movement,
says the campaign switched young people on to protest.
Though the original Umbrella protests died down the action inspired many people in Hong
Kong to take to the streets to protest in ways we have seen once again in recent months.
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“The Umbrella Movement has taught them many lessons, including the importance of solidarity
and how to keep the society vibrant by allowing a wide spectrum of people to participate,”
Dixon Ming Sing, an associate professor at the University of Science and Technology, who
investigates comparative political culture, told Al Jazeera.
Frequent skirmishes between the police and the protesters have also exposed the failings
of Hong Kong’s leaders, who remain in power solely on Beijing’s blessing rather than
the people’s consent.
Moreover, widespread outrage against police brutality and sympathy for the mostly peaceful
protesters has helped sustain - and even broaden - public support for the current fight.
Michelle Tsang, 52, wiped off tears as she talked about how young protesters are being
smeared by the authorities as rioters.
“I didn’t know any better back then,” said Tsang. “But this fight is worth fighting.”
“The umbrella is very useful in those protests, protecting the people behind you, and absolutely,
it’s a symbol.” —K, 24
Reference Links:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/-sp-hong-kong-umbrella-revolution-pro-
democracy-protests
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/modi-summons-ministers-india-protests-death-
toll-increases-191221063611978.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-hong-kong-protesters-umbrellas/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49862757
https://www.diggitmagazine.com/papers/social-movements-digital-age
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_protests
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The Goods and Services Tax or GST came into effect on the 1st of July 2017. The aim of
introducing the tax was to replace all the existing indirect taxes with a single comprehensive
tax. Through GST, all indirect taxes such as central excise tax, service tax, VAT and
entertainment tax were consolidated. This major step has helped the citizens of India to
file their taxes easily without the hassles they faced earlier.
What is GST? - Goods and Services Tax is levied on the manufacturing and sales of goods
and services across the country. The tax is charged at every stage of the manufacturing
process. GST is applicable for both the customer and the manufacturer. It is a destination-
based tax. This means that GST is to be collected at the point of consumption. So, if a
product is manufactured in Bihar and is sold in Bhopal, the tax will be levied in Bhopal.
Moreover, at every stage of the manufacturing process where value is added to the
product, GST is collected.
The types of GST are as follows:
CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax): The tax is collected by the central government on
the intrastate sale of goods and services. SGST (State Goods and Services Tax): The state
government collects this tax based on the intrastate supply of services and products.IGST
(Integrated Goods and Services Tax): The tax is charged on the supply of products and
services between two states. The taxes are shared between the central and state governments.
Demonetization is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender. It occurs
whenever there is a change of national currency: the current form or forms of money is
pulled from circulation and retired, often to be replaced with new notes or coins.
On 8th November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500
and ₹1000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. These notes accounted for 86 per cent
of the total value of the currency with the public. It also announced the issuance of new
₹500 and ₹2000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetised banknotes.
The objectives behind demonetization are:
– to destroy fake currency and fight tax evasion
– to do away with black money and thus reduce corruption
– to reduce the excess cash circulation outside the formal economic system
– to reduce Inflation and to promote a cashless economy
Three years after the country was wiped out of old currency, the effects of Narendra
Modi’s demonetization can still be felt in the economy. Some of the pros and cons of
both demonetisation and GST are as follows:
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demonetization era. 9.1 million New taxpayers were added to the slab which was an
80% rise over the typical yearly rise. This increase in the number of taxpayingcitizens
in the country has been credited to demonetization. This increase was also resonated
in IT returns filing and advance tax payment.
6. Demonetization and GDP: The ban on old notes is being cited as one of the key
contributors to the economic slowdown. With the gross domestic product (GDP) for
the April-June quarter slipping to 5.7%, the reality of the economic slowdown could
not be ignored. The World Bank has reduced the India GDP growth forecast to 7%
for 2017-18 owing to demonetization and GST (Goods and Service tax). The slowdown
is being cited as a delayed consequence of demonetization by the World Bank and
while there are various other reasons at play, the steep decline has been credited to
be an effect of demonetization.
7. Demonetization and MSMEs: Demonetization had a lasting effect on Indians MSMEs
(Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises). Various medium and small enterprises turned
towards digitalization, however, the micro industries were affected by the worst of
its wrath. The micro industry owners were not a part of the black economy and
they were clearly unprepared for the effects of demonetization. Many micro industry
workers returned back to villages and the growth rate of these companies went as
low as 1%. The MSME sector has been recovering from the drastic changes and its
impact on the revenue, but demonetization forced the MSME sector to be friendlier
and more accommodating towards the digital arenas and made them more accom-
modating towards change.
While these are some of the effects of demonetization on the national and economic front,
demonetization gave individuals several lessons that have changed the way we look at
managing finances. Demonetization made sure that we monetize our earnings to get the
best returns possible whether it is by turning to monthly investment schemes to save
better or by turning our safe cash pile into an easy withdrawal FD (fixed deposit). The
government’s revenue will see an increase because of demonetization and its initial effects
are already prevalent in the income tax filings post note ban. Demonetization has played
a crucial role in bringing digitalization and financial planning into the forefront for many.
India has withstood the immediate chaotic impacts of demonetization and it is evident
that the returns of the hardships will begin to show in the coming months.
• Effect of GST on the Indian economy: The implementation of GST has significantly
affected the Indian economy in the following ways:
1. Simplification of the tax structure: GST has simplified the taxation system of the
country. As GST is a single tax, calculating taxes at the multiple stages of the sup-
ply chain has become easier. Through this, both customers and manufacturers get a
clear idea of the amount of tax they are charged and its basis. Further, hassles of
handling tax officials and authorities can also be avoided.
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2. Fostering production: As per the Indian retail industry, the total tax component is
around 30% of the product cost. Due to the impact of GST, the taxes have gone
down. So, the end consumer has to pay lesser taxes. The reduced burden of taxes
has enhanced the production and growth of the retail and other industries.
3. SME support: Small and medium enterprises can now register under the Composition
Scheme introduced by GST. Through this scheme, they pay taxes according to their
annual turnover. Therefore, businesses having an annual turnover of Rs. 1.5 crores
only have to pay 1% GST. Moreover, other enterprises having a turnover of Rs. 50
lakh are required to pay 6% as GST.
4. Enhanced pan India operations: Companies can now avoid taxation roadblocks, such
as toll plazas and check posts. Earlier, these created problems, including damage to
unpreserved products while transporting them. So, manufacturers had to keep buffer
stock to make up for the damages. These overhead costs of storing and warehousing
hampered their profit. A single taxation system has reduced these problems. They can
now transport their goods easily across India. This has resulted in the improvement
of their pan India operations.
5. Increase in exports: GST has reduced the customs duty on exporting goods. The cost
of production in the local markets has also decreased due to GST. All these factors
have increased the rate of exports in the country. Companies have become more
competitive when it comes to expanding their businesses globally.
The introduction of GST has helped merge the taxes of the state and central govern-
ments. This has helped remove the cascading effect of multiple taxes. Therefore, the
burden of taxes has reduced for companies and customers. Not just this, taxpayers
have increased in number and hence, the tax revenues have also increased signifi-
cantly. The overall taxation system is now easier to administer. Moreover, small- and
medium-sized enterprises are able to enhance their businesses. It is expected that
GST will help more Indian organisations to establish themselves in the international
markets.
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In the months that followed, even as reports suggested that the government had not come
any close to achieving its stated objectives, the government was seen patting itself on
the back for the country’s move towards becoming a ‘cashless’ economy, or, as the PM
said, a ‘less-cash’ economy. Many called this an act of ‘moving goal posts’ and rushed to
label demonetisation as an economic nightmare.Three years later, we have enough data
to analyse and gauge the impact of the note-ban exercise on various important sectors
of the economy.
1. Jobs: According to Labour Bureau's Sixth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey,
the unemployment rate rose to a four-year high in 2016-17, when the government
demonetised old currency notes. In 2017-18, the country's unemployment rate stood
at a 45-year-high of 6.1 per cent, according to the National Sample Survey Office's
(NSSO's) periodic labour force survey (PLFS).Moreover, demonetisation caused a
2-3-percentage-point reduction in jobs and national economic activity in November and
December 2016, according to a research.Between 2016 and 2018, five million people
lost their jobs and the labour force participation started declining suddenly between
September and December 2016 for both urban and rural men. The rate of decline
slowed down by the second half of 2017, but the general trend had continued and
there had been no recovery.
2. Income taxpayers: As many as 8.80 million taxpayers did not file tax returns in the
financial year 2016-17 - the year Modi government demonetised high-value currency
notes. Records accessed by The Indian Express reveal a massive spike in the num-
ber of “stop filers” in the same year, reversing a four-year trend. In 2016-17, the
number of stop filers jumped 10-fold to 8.80 million from 856,000 in 2015-16, the
highest increase since 2000-2001. During 2017-18, there was some positive impact of
demonetisation on the widening of the tax base. The Income Tax department said
it added 1.07 crore new taxpayers while the number of dropped filers' came down
to 25.22 lakh.The Central Board Of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said 6.87 crore Income Tax
Returns (ITRs) were filed during FY 2017-18 as compared to 5.48 crore ITRs filed
during FY 2016-17, translating into a growth of 25 per cent. Also, during FY 2017-18,
the number of new ITR filers increased to 1.07 crore as compared to 86.16 lakh new
ITR filers added during FY 2016-17.
3. Real Estate: The total number of developers in the top nine Indian cities shrunk by
over 50 per cent by 2017-18. While Gurugram witnessed a decline of 76.8 per cent
in the number of developers from 82 in 2011-12 to 19 in 2017-18, Noida registered a
plunge of 73.2 per cent – from 41 to 11.Financial distress of small developers, lack
of execution capability and over-supply of inventory played a key role in the down-
turn.According to analysts, a large number of fly-by-night developers were forced to
leave the market after demonetisation. All major cities with significant potential for
real estate development – Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad
– saw a decline in the number of developers.
4. Farm income and wages: Both farmers’ incomes from crop cultivation as well as
wages of farm labourers contracted in 2016-17 despite the above-normal monsoon
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season. On the positive side in agriculture as a whole, output from fishing and
livestock grew the fastest in 2016-17. The growth was nearly 10 per cent over the
previous year.In a period of low supply of cash, input suppliers demanded higher
prices. Demonetisation was carried out briefly after the harvest of the kharif season
entered the markets, and when the entire rabi output was yet on the fields. On the
other hand, agriculture had grown (gross value added) the fastest since 2012 in the
demonetisation year due to a bumper crop.
5. Factory investment: In the year when the demonetisation was implemented, investment
in the country’s factories contracted 10.3 per cent over 2016-17, showing their worst
performance since 2002-03. In the year immediately after the note ban exercise, even
as factories in the organised sector witnessed job growth and wage rise consistent
with previous years, their ability to channel funds in productive capital was severely
dented in 2017-18.
6. Spending on milk and milk products: In 2017-18, the amount spent on milk and milk
products (M&MP) dropped 10 per cent. Households, hotels, and halwai shops spent
Rs 6 trillion on M&MP in 2016-17, consumption expenditure reduced to Rs 5.4 tril-
lion in 2017-18, the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed.
7. Digitisation: Pushing India towards becoming a cashless economy was another reason
that demonetization was publicized for. People turned towards digital transactions
for everything from buying groceries from a road side vendor to paying utility bills
during the time of demonetization. However, as the flow of cash into the economy
began to increase, the use of these apps and digital wallets saw a slide once again.
8. Has growth been impacted by de-monetisation? Yes. By any measure, the PM's deci-
sion was incomprehensible and, in view of its adverse effects revealed subsequently
by the Economic Survey 2016-17, the annual report of the Reserve Bank and other
reliable sources, demonetisation turned out to be a monumental failure. The PM had
three objectives in mind: flushing out fake currency, attacking terrorism and, most
importantly, flooding out black money. None of these was fulfilled. For instance, as
the RBI revealed, fake currency worth only Rs 41 crore was found out. This was
contradictory to the estimates of about Rs 4-5 lakh crore given by MukulRohatgi,
the then Attorney General, in the Supreme Court on November 23, 2016.Terrorist
activities are far from controlled, let alone eliminated.
9. Demonetisation did not hit illicit wealth held as real estate, shares, gold, silver and
foreign currency. In addition to this, there have been allegations that the information
had been leaked to BJP units and ‘friends of BJP’ prior to its public announcement.
10. The hardships caused by a shortage of new legal tender, and the rush to deposit old
500 and 1,000 rupee (Rs 15.28 lakh crore)notes in bank accounts before the Dec. 31
deadline, took a heavy toll. More than 100 people died in bank and ATM queues,
although it's impossible to confirm if the deaths from heart failure or exhaustion were
directly a result of demonetization.This chaos continued for six to seven months. But
soon the people were to be disillusioned.
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11. When 86 per cent of the total value of cash was withdrawn from circulation, the
economy was bound to suffer. Of the three main functions of money, the "transaction"
function (others being "precautionary" and "speculative") keeps the economy moving
and growing, mainly through the exchange of goods and services. The government
issued Rs 2,000 currency notes. As per RBI data, on March 17, of the total 10,029.3
crore currency notes, Rs 2,000 currency notes constituted only 3.3 per cent but they
accounted for 52.2 per cent of the total value. These high denomination notes lacked
transaction value, which paralysed the mainly cash-dependent informal economy. De-
monetisation brought economic transaction and exchange to a standstill. This affected
growth.
12. The RBI spent close to Rs 13,000 crore over the next two years to remonetise Indian
money market in post-demonetisation phase. New notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 were
introduced. The designs were markedly different from the recalled ones. This escalated
the cost of printing as it had several new features.
13. About 80% of the informal economy - mainly comprising micro, small and a large
part of medium enterprises, small and medium traders, and through that, low-paid,
contract workers - was badly hit. This significantly affected employment. During
January-April 2017, about 15 lakh jobs were lost mainly due to demonetisation. The
latest Economic Survey shows that in North India demand for MGNREGA (Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005) increased by 30%. The
government's promise of creating two crore jobs annually has withered away.
14. There is a clear impact on the services sector from the latest numbers. The services
sector grew by 6.8%, the slowest rate in 11 quarters. In terms of specific sub-segments
within services, 'Finance, insurance, real estate and professional services' grew by a
particularly low rate of 3.1%, the lowest growth rate seen in this sub-segment since
the start of the new series growth rates in 2012-13.
15. Is de-monetisation the only factor playing on growth? It is the counterbalancing fac-
tors that have kept the growth relatively buoyed. These are: (i) A strong agriculture
season and (ii) Festive season demand. Further, the growth in the government spending
has also been quite substantial, in fact, the highest ever at 19.9% in the new series,
which explains the support to overall growth. So, demonetisation would have had a
worse impact were it not for these factors.
16. In March 2017, the RBI revealed that currency notes worth Rs 15.28 lakh crore or 99%
of the total 15.44 lakh crore was deposited in banks. Thus, the objective of attacking
black money fell on its face. In fact, as experts argue, black money constitutes about
25% of India's national income (GDP). If this ratio is applied to the cash deposited
in the banks (Rs 15.28 lakh crore), then, it turns out to be about Rs 3.82 lakh crore.
Thus, far from attacking black money, one may argue that demonetisation allowed
the culprits to convert Rs 3.82 lakh crore into "white" money.
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The GST has been more positively viewed and the few negatives associated with it
include:
1. Proposed GST Rate Is higher than VAT:The rate of GST is proposed to be larger
than the current VAT rate in India. Although VAT implies decreasing the prices in
the long run, it will be of no help in cutting down prices of commodities.
2. Dual Control: A business will be indirectly controlled by both the Centre and the
State in all tax-related cases. The State will lose autonomy to replace the tax rate
which will be regulated by the GST Council.
3. Certain Sectors Will Face a Negative Impact: Sectors that are currently enjoying no
excise duty or have enjoyed a lot of tax benefits will have to bear the brunt of a
higher tax. These include Textile, Media, Pharma, Dairy Products, IT/ITeS, and Tele-
com. The same goes for products. It is supposed that the prices of the following
commodities will increase – jewellery, mobile phones and credit cards.
4. Loss Incurred by the Manufacturing States: Since GST is commonly related to the
manufacturing segment, most manufacturing states may incur losses.
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Various parts of India have recently broken out in protest, ironically some for and some
against the CAA. There have been reports of violent clashes: protestors against the police;
and social media is full of debates concerning this act which has become the talk of the
town. So what is this CAA and why is it being opposed by a section and supported by
a section of society at the same time??
The Citizenship amendment bill was firstly introduced in the LokSabha on 19th July 2016
as the Citizenship Bill, 2016. On 12 August 2016, It was referred to the Joint Parliamentary
Committee which submitted its report on 7 January 2019. It was passed in the LokSabha
on 8th January 2019 but it lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th LokSabha. The bill was
re-introduced in the Parliament as Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. On 9 December
2019, Amit shah introduced the Bill in the LokSabha and it was passed on 10th December
2019. At least 125 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill and 99 against it. After a long
hardship, the bill finally got the assent of President Ram Nath Kovind on December 12,
2019 and it became the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.
The CAA 2019 amends the Citizenship Act of 1995, which grants Indian Citizenship to
persecuted minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists and Christian fleeing
from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. According to the previous act, any person who
doesn’t have proper documents would be termed as an illegal immigrant. But according to
the new act, people of the following religions from three countries will not be treated as an
illegal immigrant: Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh and Pakistan. The previous act had provisions for people living in India to
receive citizenship through naturalization. According to the previous act a person must
have lived in the country for 11 years preceding the application submission of citizenship.
This bill reduces that to 6 years. This act also states that registration of OCI (Overseas
Citizen of India) cardholders will be canceled if they violate any law.
The point to note is that Muslims are conspicuously not listed in this act till date, which
has, in part been a major reason for widespread protests against this act. People feel that
the BJP is trying to push its Hindutva agenda by isolating the Muslims and by trying
to favour only refugees from other religions, whereas the BJP has strongly defended
its intentions by stating that Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are already Muslim
majority countries and that the scope of persecution of Muslims itself in these countries is
negligible. This is one open weakness of the act that the government has not successfully
managed to defend as its logic is not consistent – the bill does not protect all religious
minorities, nor does it apply to all neighbours. The Ahmedia Muslim sect and even
Shias face discrimination in Pakistan. Rohingya Muslims and Hindus face persecution
in neighbouring Burma, and Hindu and Christian Tamils in neighbouring Sri Lanka but
all have been ignored against any benefits by this bill. But also in its defense it can be
noted that there has been a considerable reduction in the non Muslim population of the
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aforementioned Islamic majority countries and that the bill is mainly aimed at aiding those
who are persecuted the most there.
The Northeast has been protesting for a slightly different reason as illegal immigration
has been a major issue here right from the beginning and the region has witnessed
many agitations against illegal immigrants for decades now. But, the biggest concern of
people in Northeast is that the bill undermines the effect of the Assam Accord signed in
1985 according to which, any person who can’t prove their ancestor’s presence in India
before March 24 1971 will be deemed as an illegal immigrant. The Assam Accord didn’t
discriminate on the basis of religion and it ended the 6-year long agitation against illegal
immigration in the state of Assam. However, the Citizenship Amendment Bill has tried
to change the definition of illegal immigrants and excluded religious minorities from the
illegal immigrant list and hence the majority of the northeast fears that its region will
become a dumping ground for foreign immigrants and threatens its language and culture.
This fear is justified to an extent but it is unfair on the part of the Northeasteners to
refuse to accept immigrants solely on the basis of such logic as many of them too have
immigrated to all parts of India in search of better education and job prospects.
On the whole this cannot be seen just as a fulfillment of a poll agenda by the BJP, as
the persecution of minorities in India’s neighboring countries is an often ignored facet of
reality which has to be addressed immediately. But given the various logical gaps and
loopholes the act contains in its current form, it is up to the ruling party to either offer
a plausible explanation for the formulation of the act the way it is, or bring changes to
inclusively benefit the aggrieved as a whole without a strong undertone of discrimination,
purportedly going against the values of India.
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