Innehållsförteckning för February 15, 2021 från India Today

It was music to my ears when I heard finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman say in her budget speech: “Sir, I now come to the last of one of our core principles of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’”. This was the slogan Candidate Narendra Modi had coined in the historic 2014 general election, with the explanation that the “government had no business being in business”. It gave me hope that the NDA-II government, with a full majority, would follow an even more aggressive disinvestment programme than the one the A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA-I attempted. Also, that it would have a more market-driven approach to solving the nation’s economic problems rather than the UPA mindset of welfarism that paid scant attention to economic growth which could pay for all the entitlements. However, soon after…

The unprecedented economic disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in millions of Indians losing jobs, tens of thousands of factories downing shutters and the economy sinking into a deep recessionary hole. However, the extremely wealthy seem to have prospered—extremely, one may add—in the same period. A report by Oxfam, a confederation of charitable organisations, notes that Indian billionaires saw their wealth increase by 35 per cent from March 2020 onward, when the Centre announced one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world. This paradox also reflects in stock market performances through the pandemic. After a steep fall in the first weeks after the lockdown, markets rallied strongly—for instance, the BSE Sensex crossed 50,000 points for the first time ever on January 21 this year, partly because of a sustained…

POWER SHIFT India-China Relations in a Multipolar World By Zorawar Daulet Singh PAN MACMILLAN INDIA ₹650; 347 pages BEYOND PAN-ASIANISM Connecting China and India, 1840s-1960s Edited by Tansen Sen & Brian Tsui OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ₹1,495; 489 pages The bloody clashes in Ladakh last June raised basic questions about the continued effectiveness of the 1993 agreement in which India and China pledged themselves to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas pending a final resolution of the boundary question. This agreement enabled the two countries to pursue common interests in other areas. Recent border incidents have precipitated rethinking not only of our defence preparedness, trade and investment ties with China but also a broader shift in foreign policy toward closer cooperation with the US and its allies in the…

BJP+AGP The BJP’s popularity is growing among non-Assamese-speaking Hindus, such as Bengalis, Biharis, Marwaris and Nepalese, and in the tea gardens areas whereas the AGP has a base among Assamese-speaking Hindus Congress+ AIUDF+Left parties+ The alliance is hoping for a consolidation of the Muslim vote. The Congress expects to attract the anti-CAA voters swinging away from the BJP. The other parties in the alliance have little presence in the state Asom Jatiya Parishad+ Raijor Dal Both parties are hoping to gain from the anti-CAA movement in the state and consolidate the non-BJP, non-Congress votes under the umbrella of ‘Assamese pride’…

WHEN THE NARENDRA MODI GOVERNMENT came to power in 2014, one of its more memorable slogans was ‘minimum government, maximum governance’, a pledge to reduce the size and business footprint of government. In one area in particular, it has little to show on this count: the divestment of PSUs (public sector undertakings). Though it has regularly set ambitious revenue targets—totalling Rs 6.57 lakh crore since 2014-15—it has fallen short year after year, achieving Rs 4.04 lakh crore as of 2020-21. The figures for this past fiscal year were particularly bad, with disinvestment revenues of Rs 31,000 crore against a target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore. Nevertheless, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 2021-22 budget reiterates this commitment. Also, given that the outlook for both economic buoyancy and tax revenues remains subdued, the…

RAILWAYS PROPOSAL Monetisation of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs). The projects are expected to be commissioned by June 2022 CHALLENGES Requires an independent regulator to ensure fair play for private investors Cross subsidy of passenger fares with freight tariff needs to be reduced Railways needs to be leaner, with operations, regulations and policy-making segregated POWER PROPOSAL Competition among discoms (distribution companies) CHALLENGES Needs amendments to Electricity Act, 2003 Discoms need to segregate their content and carriage Discoms are a state subject. Central governments have had limited success in disciplining them Discoms’ cumulative losses is Rs 4.5 lakh cr…

➜ Over 15,000 schools will be qualitatively strengthened to roll out the NEP ➜ The govt will introduce legislation to set up the Higher Education Commission, announced last year ➜ Over the next five years, Rs 50,000 crore is proposed to be spent on the National Research Foundation, announced last year ➜ The govt will set up 100 Sainik schools across India; a central university in Leh ➜ In nine cities with various research institutes, the govt will create formal umbrella structures for these institutions to have better synergy, while retaining their internal autonomy ➜ The National Apprenticeship Training Scheme for post-education apprenticeship will be realigned; Rs 3,000 crore will be spent on training graduates and diploma-holders in engineering ➜ An initiative will be launched in partnership with the UAE…

RISHABH PANT ❍ Debut year: 2017 ❍ Debut format: T20I ❍ Has played for India in: Tests, ODIs, T20Is ❍ Career best (Tests): 159* vs Aus, 2019 ✪ Star turn on Aus 2020-21 tour: a match- and series-winning 89* at Brisbane (Test #4); also the 97 in Sydney (Test #3) MOHAMMED SIRAJ ❍ Debut year: 2017 ❍ Debut format: T20I ❍ Has played for India in: Tests, ODIs, T20Is ❍ Career best (Tests): 5/73 vs Australia, 2020-21 ✪ Star turn on Aus 2020-21 tour: 5/73 in the 2nd innings, Brisbane (Test #4) SHUBMAN GILL ❍ Debut year: 2019 ❍ Debut format: ODI ❍ Has played for India in: Tests, ODIs ❍ Career best (Tests): 91 vs Aus, 2020-21 ✪ Star turn on Aus 2020-21 tour: A fifty on his Test…

35% The increase in Indian billionaires’ wealth during the lockdown, up 90 per cent since 2009 to $422.9 bn. India is now ranked sixth globally in billionaire wealth, after the US, China, Germany, Russia and France ₹ 90 CRORE PER HOUR Mukesh Ambani’s effective earnings during the pandemic. In comparison, about 24 per cent of Indians were earning less than Rs 3,000 per month during the lockdown ₹ 12,97,822 crore The increase in the wealth of 100 Indian billionaires since March 2020—enough to give each of the 138 million poorest Indians a cheque for Rs 94,045 each COVID GAINS FOR INDIA’S 11 TOP BILLIONAIRES The pandemic has worsened inequality in both direct and indirect ways. Financial losses aside, the poorest Indians have also lost access to social safety nets,…

VIRAL AMBITION Bahujan Samaj Party national president Mayawati seems to be warming to social media, shedding the aversion of days gone by when BSP workers were asked to stay off social media because Opposition parties, she felt, were using it to spread false information about her party. But now, with the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election on their mind, the BSP is actively promoting the party and Behenji’s message on Facebook and WhatsApp. Party leaders are even appealing to workers to save money to buy smartphones. Whether the BSP can make itself heard in the midst of the BJP’s high-decibel social media bombardment is another question. The Assam Divide A low turnout at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Assam has left the BJP anxious. Only 50,000 people showed…

KANYASHREE PRAKALPA Scholarship of Rs 1,000 per annum for girls aged 13-18 Outlay: Rs 1,500 crore a year; Rs 10,000 crore spent since 2013 Beneficiaries: 6.9 million girls RUPASHREE PRAKALPA Rs 25,000 for marriage of girls from families with annual income less than Rs 1.5 lakh after they attain 18 years Outlay: Rs 1,500 crore a year Beneficiaries: 600,000 girls KANYASHREE UNIVERSITY Set up in Krishnanagar, Nadia district, in 2020 for educational empowerment of women. Assured admission for girls covered under Kanyashree DIAMOND HARBOUR WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY Set up in 2013, it caters to students from the remote Sundarbans GOVT GIRLS GENERAL DEGREE COLLEGE All-women’s minority college set up in 2016 in Ekbalpur, Kolkata. The state government also runs 21 hostels for women in polytechnics SABOOJ SATHI Launched in 2015, the…

THERE WAS JUBILATION IN the Opposition ranks last month when the Congress and Badruddin Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF)—along with the Left parties and the newly formed Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM)—announced a grand alliance for the Assam assembly election. Though the Left drew a blank in the previous two assembly polls and the AGM is just a few months old, analysts feel the grand alliance holds the advantage in at least 46 of the 126 assembly seats, subject to one condition—a consolidation of the Muslim vote in its favour. According to the 2011 Census, 35 per cent of Assam’s population is Muslim, a higher proportion than in any other state. Unofficial estimates put this figure at over 40 per cent. A strong contender for their votes is the…

THE SIMILARITIES ARE UNCANNY. In 1933, faced with the Great Depression that saw the American economy severely contract and unemployment soar from 4 per cent to 25 per cent, Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled what he called the “New Deal” that focused on the 3Rs—relief for the poor and unemployed, recovery of the economy and reform of the financial system that had all but collapsed. Apart from an expansive monetary policy and injecting liquidity into the banking system, Roosevelt launched a major programme to build infrastructure, including roads, schools, dams, airports and hospitals, to provide jobs and income to unemployed millions. Cut to India in 2021. A once-in-a-century pandemic devastated most of the world’s economies and took its toll on India too. The country’s GDP growth turned negative for the first…

₹ 36,960 CRORE Revenues from CPSE disinvestment in 1998-2004 MARCH 1998 A.B. Vajpayee becomes prime minister DECEMBER 1999 Department of disinvestment set up FEBRUARY 2001 Centre approves sale of Balco (Bharat Aluminium Co.) to Sterlite Industries controlled by Anil Agarwal SEPTEMBER 2001 Department of disinvestment renamed ministry of disinvestment; Arun Shourie becomes first disinvestment minister FEBRUARY 2002 Tata acquires controlling stake in VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) MARCH-APRIL 2002 Hotels Airport Centaur and Juhu Centaur in Mumbai acquired by Batra Hospitality and Tulip Hospitality, respectively APRIL 2002 Government divests share in Hindustan Zinc to Sterlite Industries MAY 2002 Disinvestment of Maruti Udyog approved, Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp takes the driver’s seat JUNE 2002 Government divests stake in IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited) in favour of Reliance Industries…

HOW AND WHY FISCAL DEFICIT WENT FOR A TOSS Revised estimates minus budget estimates, FY21 (% of GDP) BORROWINGS FROM MAJOR SOURCES MORE THAN DOUBLED IN FY21 *includes borrowings through G-Secs and T-bills; #includes net receipts from internal debt and public account and PO Life Insurance Fund; ^decrease/ increase…

Amitav Ghosh has been visiting the Sundarban forest ever since he was a child. “It’s one of the places where you can see that the earth is alive, that the earth is really Gaia, a living entity. You see erosion. You see deposits being laid in front of your very eyes,” he says. This vividness that Ghosh describes is true of both the landscape and his writing of it. After two novels—The Hungry Tide (2004) and Gun Island (2019)—the author again returns to the mangrove forest for his new book, Jungle Nama. Written entirely in verse, it proves Ghosh’s talent, but it also signals to the forest’s abundance. If you’re looking for stories, the Sundarban has a prodigious capacity. It is the kind of gift that keeps on giving. Reading…