According to a survey by NITI Aayog, nearly 2/3rd of the farmers don’t favor direct benefit transfer [DBT] of fertilizer subsidy. It is not clear whether this view is representative of the vast swathe of the farming community [there are over 145 million farm households] in India. If, it is indeed the case and this is also the current thinking of the policy makers then, this would leave one shell shocked as this would tantamount to complete reversal of the thought process. In Budget for 2012-13, the then government had announced linking subsidy payment to manufacturers to the sale of fertilizers to farmers by retailers. Pilot projects in 10 districts spread over nine states were to be run; after successful...
More Comments are closed
Blog
Bail out to all and sundry – road to disaster
The banks – mostly public sector banks [PSBs] – are relentlessly fighting a battle to deal with unsustainable levels of non-performing assets [NPAs] those were caused by ‘indiscriminate’ lending [with hardly any or no ‘due diligence’ which is a fundamental requirement for funding any project] mostly to corporate sector particularly during a decade under erstwhile UPA – dispensation [2004-2014]. While, NPAs have declined significantly from the peak level reached as on March 31, 2018 [courtesy, a massive dose of recapitalization by the union government of over Rs 300,000 crore during the last 5 years as also rigorous governance norms including putting some of them under prompt corrective action framework], the stress is far from over. This is in view of...
More Comments are closed
Digital Revolution – challenges and way forward
Having missed the first and second industrial revolution of 19th century and early 20th century respectively [courtesy subjugation of India to colonial rulers of those times] and even the third technology-driven revolution [this one was primarily due to the ‘protectionist’ and ‘inward looking’ policies which were not conducive to embracing technology], India is now in the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution – a digitally driven. The digital revolution is the shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics which began anywhere from the late 50s to the late 1970s with the adoption and proliferation of digital-computers and digital record keeping that continues to the present day. The last five years have seen massive proliferation of affordable mobile...
More Comments are closed
Growth hit by ‘fear’ and ‘distrust’ – really!
In the wake of further deceleration in GDP [gross domestic product] growth to 4.5% during the second quarter ending September 30, 2019 on top of a low of 5% during first quarter ending June 30, 2019, the former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has launched a virulent attack on Modi – government squarely blaming the latter for what he terms as ‘disastrous policies’ and creating a palpable climate of ‘fear’ and ‘distrust’ in our society. While, delivering his valedictory address at the national conclave on economy organized by the New Delhi based Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Dr Singh observed:- “There is a palpable climate of fear in our society today. Many industrialists tell me they live in fear...
More Comments are closed
Mounting fertilizer subsidy arrears – struggling industry
At the beginning of 2019-20, the amount owed by the Government of India [GOI] to fertilizer manufacturers as subsidy arrears was Rs 39,000 crore. According to the Director General, The Fertiliser Association of India [FAI] – an umbrella organization of fertilizer industry- as on November 1, 2019, this was Rs 33,691 crore to [including Rs 20,853 crore under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and balance Rs 12,838 crore other than DBT]. The FAI expects the arrears to touch Rs 60,000 crore by March, 2020. The persistence of fertilizer subsidy arrears is not an unusual phenomenon. It has been there for decades with the only difference that the amount involved has escalated over the years. During the 80s and early 90s,...
More Comments are closed
Food subsidy – who are the beneficiaries
The Government is considering downward revision of ‘reserve price’ of rice from Rs 2,785 per quintal to Rs 2,250 per quintal for selling food under the Open Market Sale Scheme [OMSS] during the current financial year [FY] 2019-20. However, there is no plan for any revision in reserve price of wheat, and the current reserve price of wheat Rs 2,080 per quintal will continue to prevail throughout the remaining period of 2019-20. The scheme is run by the ministry of food civil supplies and consumer affairs to dispose off wheat and rice stored in buffer stock [also known as the ‘central pool’] kept by the Food Corporation of India [FCI] – the agency which is 100% owned by the Government...
More Comments are closed
Electoral Bond Scheme – the ‘transparency’ puzzle
For long, widespread use of black or unaccounted money [income on which tax has not been paid or even money generated from dubious sources] in elections has been considered to be the fountainhead of corruption. Fighting elections – be it member of parliament or member of legislative assembly or any other elected body – costs huge sums which a candidate [or the party on whose ticket he/she is contesting] is unable to garner on his/her own. Businessmen and industrialists [even other entities engaged in undesirable activities] exploit this vulnerability of candidates and political parties to give contributions expecting favors in return – under quid pro quo arrangement – either by way of favorable policies or favors in other forms such...
More Comments are closed
Giving push to second generation reforms
A section of the commentators is always on the prowl looking for the slightest opportunity to lambast Modi – dispensation irrespective of the state of the economy. During the first four years of its first term i.e. 2014-15 to 2017-18 when GDP [gross domestic product] figures were promising, they blamed the government for fabricating data. But, when the numbers were not so promising as during 2018-19 and first half of current year, they target it for allegedly doing great damage to the economy, loss of jobs and income earning opportunities. Unfortunately, in this blame game that gets hyper-publicity in the media, some of the transformative reforms undertaken by this government – reforms that will have lasting effect for generations in...
More Comments are closed
Gas price deregulation – what is holding back
The government has initiated discussions to ‘lift price restrictions on domestically produced natural gas’. However, it intends to do it ‘gradually’. It wants to continue with regulated gas pricing for at least three more years. However, during the interregnum, producers will be given freedom to sell a portion of the total output under ‘negotiated pricing deals’ with their customers. Will it help? Under the guidelines in vogue since November 1, 2014, for all of domestic supplies from fields given under new exploration and licensing policy [NELP] as also blocks given on ‘nomination’ to Oil Natural Gas Corporation [ONGC] and Oil India Limited [OIL] under pre-NELP, the price [call it normal price] is a weighted average of prices at 4 international...
More Comments are closed
Telecom industry – heading towards monopoly
Vodafone Idea Limited [VIL] – a joint venture [JV] between UK based multinational Vodafone and Kumar Mangalam Birla owned Idea Cellular – and Bharti Airtel have reported a staggering loss of Rs 51,000 crore and Rs 23,000 crore respectively for the second quarter of current financial year ending September 30, 2019. This is primarily due to a recent order of the Supreme Court [SC] directing telecom companies to pay ‘unpaid’ dues to the Government of India [GOI] towards license fee and spectrum usage charges [SUC]. The order is the culmination of a long-drawn court battle between the department of telecommunication [DoT] and service providers with the former insisting that for determining the license fee and SUC charged as a percentage of adjusted...
More Comments are closed