Political parties don’t want freebies to go. It is their much-cherished tool to harness votes. And they know it works like a charm In the just concluded assembly elections in Karnataka, the grand old party (GOP) Congress had promised five guarantees viz. Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi, Sakhi programme, Yuva Nidhi, and Anna Bhagyain in its manifesto. Having got a decisive mandate to form the government, Congress pledged to approve all the five guarantees in the very first meeting of the Cabinet. The big question is: is it worth spending so much of taxpayers money? The guarantees are intended to be a welfare scheme. Under it, the government should ensure that (i) the assistance goes to a person who is desperately...
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Farmers and industry suffer as pesticides regulations stay lax
Farmers and industry suffer as pesticides regulations stay lax Recent developments in regard to the banning of 27 pesticides including 12 insecticides have brought to the fore the Union government’s cavalier approach to dealing with safety issues connected with their use. Based on a review a total of 66 pesticides, which are banned in two or more other countries, continue to be registered for use in India, in May 2020 it banned 27 pesticides. Vide an order dated February 15, 2023, it has now removed the ban on 24 of these. As for the remaining three, pesticide companies are not making them. Another disquieting development is the inordinate delay in enacting the Pesticides Management Bill to replace the Insecticides Act of...
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Govt must push to privatise fertiliser PSUs
Despite Govt’s announcement to privatise the CPSUs, the fertilizer units remain under its control as fertiliser availability is a politically sensitive issue In the Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the government’s approach to privatisation of Central public sector undertakings (CPSUs). Privatization occurs when it sells its majority shareholding (more than 50 percent) in the CPSU and transfers control to a private entity. For this purpose, it divided CPSUs in two broad categories—i.e. strategic and non-strategic. The strategy covers four subgroups: atomic energy, space and defense; transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; and banking, insurance and financial services. The non-strategic category includes all other sectors such as industrial and consumer goods, hotel and tourist...
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New gas pipeline tariff is flawed
There is no harm in helping areas at a locational disadvantage. But the problem arises when it is done using the tariff mechanism Under the zone-wise unified tariff for natural gas (NG) pipelines effective from April 1, 2023, and announced by the downstream regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), consumers will pay a uniform charge for transportation of NG within a tariff zone irrespective of their location. There are three tariff zones defined as per the distance from the gas source — up to 300 km, 300-1,200 km and greater than 1,200 km. This is a drastic shift from the extant system of tariff determination under which they pay different tariffs depending on the pipeline operator with whom they...
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Govt flip-flop over banning pesticides
The Union Government has reversed its earlier decision on 27 pesticides, which were banned in May 2020 The manufacturing, import, sale, distribution and use of pesticides are regulated under the Insecticides Act (1968) with a view to preventing risk to human beings or animals and for matters connected therewith. The Registration Committee (RC) – set up under the Act – registers every pesticide after scrutinising the formula, verifying claims of efficacy and safety to human beings and animals and specifying the precautions against poisoning and any other functions. It is empowered to refuse registration of any pesticide if issues pertaining to safety have not been satisfactorily adhered to. From time to time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW)...
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Nano fertilisers can reduce subsidies
Nano fertilisers can yield better results but they can’t perform miracles. For a substantial reduction in subsidy, the Govt must implement agri reforms On April 26, 2023, Union Minister for Home and Cooperatives Amit Shah launched liquid nano-diammonium phosphate (nano-DAP) developed by the Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) (Kalol) of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO). During the current fiscal, IFFCO plans to produce 50 million bottles (500 ml) of nano-DAP which will be scaled up to 180 million bottles by 2025-26. According to US Awasthi, Managing Director of IFFCO, by then imports of DAP might not be required; currently, India imports over 50 percent of its DAP requirement. Earlier, on October 17, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched liquid nano...
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GST is undergoing metamorphosis
There is a surge in GST collections, which has proved sceptics wrong and even surpassed the expectations of the authorities Only a couple of years ago, top officials in the Department of Revenue used to gloat over a collection of GST Rs 150,000 crore if achieved in any given month. They couldn’t even imagine that collection of Rs 150,000 crore consistently every month in a year would ever be possible. But, this happened during 2022-23, when the department garnered a total of Rs 1800,000 crore. During the current year, it is aiming at a target of Rs 2000,000 crore. A major factor behind this is an increase in nominal GDP during 2022-23 by 15.9 per cent (from a tax collection...
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Countering the menace of corruption
Funds siphoned off from welfare schemes, meant for the benefit of the poor, is also an act of corruption and must be dealt with with a heavy hand Setting aside the anticipatory bail granted by the Gujarat High Court to an IRS officer in a corruption case on April 17, 2023, the Supreme Court said “Corruption poses a serious threat to society and must be dealt with an iron hand as it not only leads to abysmal loss to the public exchequer but also tramples upon good governance”. The observation of the top court has catapulted to the centre stage a malady that has afflicted India for generations. The Government of India’s standards of financial propriety lays down that “no...
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No fertile future yet for farmers’ scheme
PM-KISAN’s benefits are being extended to many who don’t deserve them, but they elude the needy According to a statement made by the government in Parliament, the number of farmers receiving income transfers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme declined from 104 million during 2021-22 to 80 million during 2022-23. There has been a corresponding reduction in payments from Rs 67,032 crore during 2021-22 to Rs 57,646 crore in 2022-23. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24, 2019, and made effective from December 1, 2018, PM-KISAN is a central sector scheme. Under it, the Union government gives Rs 6,000 a year to each farmer with a valid enrolment. It is paid in three instalments of...
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Don’t apologise for PSH subsidy at WTO
Indian rebuttal to the claim of developed countries on food security is logical as India’s public stockholding (PSH) has helped food security around the world Last month, in a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – it oversees the implementation of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) – developed countries including the USA and Canada challenged India’s public stockholding (PSH) programme saying “it is highly subsidized, especially for rice, and that this is affecting the food security of other countries”. India countered their claim by saying that far from any adverse effect, its PSH program was helping other countries ensure their food security. This is how its argument goes. In 2021, India distributed 58...
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