A new economic agenda
Author: Subramanian Swamy, a former Union Cabinet Minister, is the chairman of the BJP Committee for Strategic Action in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
According to the author to become a developed country, India’s GDP will have to grow at 12 per cent per year for at least a decade. Technically this is within reach, since it would require
1. Incentivising the people to save more to increase the current rate of investment (which is domestic saving plus net foreign investment). The rate of investment to rise from the present 28 per cent of GDP to 36 per cent
2. efficiently deploying resources to reduce the current incremental capital output ratio from 4.0 to 3.0
Some negatives about India:
- backward agricultural sector of 62 per cent of the people, where there are farmer suicides because of inability to repay loans.
- There is a national unemployment rate that is of over 15 per cent of the adult labour force, a prevalence of child labour arising out of nearly 50 per cent of children not making it to school beyond standard five, a deeply malfunctioning primary and secondary educational system, and 300 million illiterates and 250 million people in dire poverty.
- India’s infrastructure is pathetic, with frequent electric power breakdowns even in metropolitan cities, dangerously unhealthy water supply in urban areas, a galloping rate of HIV infection, and gaping potholes that dot our national highways.
Reforms needed to become developed nation:
- efficient decision-making structure,
- tackling corruption,
- increased Foreign direct investment (FDI)
- use of IT software in the domestic industry
- India’s infrastructure requires about $150 billion to make it world class, while a new innovation climate requires investment in the education system of six per cent of GDP instead of 2.8 per cent today
Advantages India has:
- We have a young population (an average of 28 years compared to the U.S.’ 38 years, and Japan’s 49 years) that could be the base for it to usher in innovation in our production process (a demographic dividend);
- an agriculture sector that has internationally the lowest yield in land and livestock-based products, and also, at the lowest cost of production, a full 12 months a year of farm-friendly weather, and an internationally competitive, skilled and low wage rate, semi-skilled labour at the national level.
Disabilities of our democracy
According to the author we can achieve true sense of democracy only when even the basic rights such as the right to vote is exercised by even the disabled.
SC has given directives to make electoral infrastructure more accessible for the disabled but this was not enough.
While the Census of India reported 21.9 million persons with disabilities in 2001, more recent estimates by the World Health Organization(WHO) and others put India’s disabled population at more than 80 million persons, and possibly as high as 150 million.
Numerous hurdles prevent voters with disabilities from full participation in the electoral process:
- lack of access ramps
- unavailability of voting mechanism for the hearing or sight impaired;
- lack of accessible campaign material which results in a difficulty in making an informed decision.
Author has brought forward two particular issues:
1. Mental illness and suffrage
Article 326 of the Constitution enshrines the value of universal adult suffrage and states that every person who is a citizen of India and of legal age has the right to vote, with a few exceptions.
One such exception is “unsoundness of mind.” Additionally, the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 (‘RP Act’) provides the procedural framework for elections in India and similarly disqualifies a person from being registered to vote if he or she is of “unsound mind”, and is found to be so by a “competent court”.
“unsound mind” is vague and undefined, and there is no objective criterion laid down to guide the “competent court” in determining what constitutes unsoundness of mind.
2. Secrecy of voting for disabled
Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, provides for “permitting a companion to accompany a blind/infirm elector to assist him/her to cast the vote.”
Section 128 of the RP Act provides for the “Maintenance of secrecy of voting” and stipulates that no other elector should be allowed inside when an elector is inside the voting compartment. Secrecy and autonomy are key elements of the free expression of the will of the electorship.
These rules are outdated and stem from a charity model of understanding disability and not from a rights-based model. The presence of another person in the voting booth, even if he is a friend or family member, opens the door to questions of influence, which infringes on the right for voters with disabilities to vote independently and in secrecy.
So author wants that:
- scrapping the “unsoundness of mind” exception, and tying any voter registration disqualification to the lack of specific cognitive abilities in making an informed electoral choice only when declared so by a competent court.
- We should also pursue the use of assistive and new technologies that would make voting accessible for persons with disabilities, to ensure secrecy and independence in voting
News: The drone attacks which the Yemeni government says have killed at least 55 suspected al-Qaeda militants in the Mahfad region of central and southern Yemen.
U.S. officials confirm that they provided intelligence and logistical support but the CIA — which runs the drone warfare programme — has refused to comment on any direct involvement by Washington; so has the Department of Defense.
The government in Sanaa has acknowledged that the recent attacks killed three civilians; an attack in the same region in December 2013 killed 15 wedding guests, but as the U.S. does not acknowledge drone strikes, innocent victims’ relatives cannot even claim compensation.
Under the 2001 Authorisation for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), the U.S. government can engage in targeted killings, including attacks on U.S. citizens (three of whom have been killed by drones), without further warrant; even the targets, namely “associated forces” of al-Qaeda, are loosely defined.
Drone warfare by the U.S. is achieving the opposite of what it was meant to do. A U.S. diplomat formerly stationed in Yemen estimates that every drone attack generates 40 to 60 new AQAP adherents, and notes that the U.S. mission in Sanaa has been reclassified as a non-family post, with staff now unable to live outside the embassy compound. The U.S. is not even at war with Yemen, a country where the popular uprising which started in 2011 was far more successful than those in other countries in the region.
News: Supreme Court’s verdict permitting resumption of iron-ore mining in Goa with a temporary cap of 20 million tonnes per annum
Supreme Courts directions:
1. Iron ore excavation capped at 20 million tonne per year
2. No mining around 1 km of National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries
3. Environment ministry to identify eco-sensitive areas around national parks within six months
4. Stay-hit mining workers to be paid 50% wage
Author lauds the decision, Reasons being:
1. lifting of the mining ban will restore livelihoods to a vast number of people in a State whose economy is powered by the twin engines of mining and tourism. 1.5 lakh Goans depend on the mining industry directly, and then there are downstream beneficiaries such as truck operators and other service providers.
problem with mining is not the activity itself; rather, it is illegal and unregulated mining that needs to be clamped down upon
2. problem with mining is not the activity itself; rather, it is illegal and unregulated mining that needs to be clamped down upon
Not much in the article but three things are mentioned in the interview:
1. Judges Inquiry Bill, 2006
2. National Court of Appeal
3. National Judicial Commission
Will discuss about them in a separate article later.
nesco is pointing to a “mobile reading revolution” in developing countries after a year-long study found that adults and children are increasingly reading multiple books and stories on their phones.
Nearly 5,000 people in seven countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe — took part in the research, the largest study of its kind to date, which found that 62 per cent of respondents are reading more, now they can read on their mobile phones.
One in three said they read to children from their mobile phones, and 90 per cent of respondents said they would be spending more time reading on their mobile phones in the next year.
Reasons given by respondents for reading on mobiles were
- convenience,
- affordability and
- lack of access to books.
The survey also found that mobile reading is a “huge tool of empowerment for women”
IMD too predicts weak monsoon
Speaking to The Hindu , Director General of IMD, L.S. Rathore, said a redeeming feature was that the Indian Ocean Dipole, a phenomenon that has some influence on the monsoon, is likely to be favourable this year; thus neutralising the adverse effects of El Nino to some extent. “We would keep a close watch on both El Nino and IOD.”
Israel said on Thursday it was halting peace talks with the Palestinians following their unity deal with the Hamas rulers of Gaza, as the faltering US-backed process approached its April 29 deadline.
On Wednesday, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) — internationally recognised as the sole representative of the Palestinian people — and the Gaza Strip’s Islamist Hamas rulers signed a reconciliation agreement. They agreed to form a “national consensus” government under Mahmoud Abbas within weeks.
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Thursday to defend Japan if China attacks over a tense territorial dispute, but also urged Beijing to help stop North Korea from forging ahead with its “dangerous” nuclear programme.
Mr. Obama described as “critically important” China’s role in keeping its wayward ally in check after South Korea said heightened activity at the North’s main nuclear test site could point to an imminent test — its fourth.
Relations between Tokyo and Beijing are at their lowest point for years. Some observers warn they might come to blows over the islands, where ships from both sides lurk to press claims for ownership.
Mr. Abe’s position on historical issues also annoys the Chinese, who accuse him of playing down Japanese atrocities.
They are particularly upset by visits he and his cabinet ministers have paid to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours war criminals among other fallen warriors.
Meanwhile, progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a proposed 12-nation free trade bloc — was stalled.
Markets await revamped IIBs from Reserve Bank
The much-publicised Inflation-Indexed Bonds (IIBs) failed to attract investor interest, either retail or institutional, in the last financial year. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is now planning to re-launch this product in a restructured form.
Globally, inflation-indexed bonds are much in demand since they provide investors an inflation hedge providing real interest rate returns.
IIBs were primarily issued to institutional investors, and initial auctions worth Rs.6,500 crore received a muted response.
Main reasons for failure of IIBs in case of institutional investors were
- IIBs were primarily linked to wholesale price index (WPI) and not consumer price index (CPI).
- no systems for internal valuation of the bonds
- absence of secondary market trading
For the retail segment, Inflation Index National Savings Securities, (linked to CPI) were available to the tune of Rs.1,000 crore. Main reasons for failure in this case are:
- absence of secondary market trading
- premature redemption is allowed only after three years with a penalty
Any such instrument that is introduced in the market needs to serve a dual purpose, that is, be investor-friendly and be adequately attractive to brokers / distributors.
Further, taxation issues needed to be ironed out. Another important factor was that inflation itself had declined over the past few months. Mr. Chakravarty said the timing of introduction of such a product vis-à-vis its attractiveness, needed to be better understood.
No comments:
Post a Comment