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Financing clean politics with taxpayers money in India

fsaberi
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Financing clean politics with taxpayers money in India

Fighting elections cost money. More often than not, its dirty money. The entry barrier for a common man with common means to opt for public service is very high. It is almost an impossibility.

Our national defense expense allocation for 2017–18 is 3,59,854 crores. Which works out to be approximately 2,700 Rupees per capita if we were to divide the expense equally among 130 crore Indian citizens.

If we are spending 2,700/- per head for defense, should we not be spending a fraction to ensure clean elections, to select clean candidates.? I strongly believe that state funding of elections, party/candidate expense will reduce corruption massively and enable many honest and committed people to enter public service. How do we enable this?

Suggestion:

Lets assume per head expense of 100 Rs (As compared to 2,700/- Rs. of per capita defense expense). All that a citizen needs to do is to go to the election commission website or nearest government contact center and choose using his/her credentials (Aadhaar/ Voter-Id) to whom this 100/- will be disbursed. A citizen can choose to give the entire amount to one political party or have it split in percent ratios to multiple political parties. This choice can be made once annually and the chosen amount disbursed to chosen from taxpayers money. This scheme can also be extended to registered Independent candidates who signup for public service and garner some stipulated number of citizen endorsements.

At 100/- Rs per head, the total candidate & election funding corpus works out to be 13,000 crores, which is quite sufficient considering the top two national political parties received much less than 1000 crores each (see fig.) from donations last year. Imagine candidates and political parties being able to fight elections and win without any strings attached funding from corrupt lobbies. This way, the taxpayer foots the bill to ensure the candidates elected owe their careers to no one but the taxpayer.

Of course like all government schemes, this too can be subject to misuse, but I am sure those can be controlled with adequate checks and balances.

Besides ensuring clean funding, there are other amazing benefits that this scheme can ensure. It can incentivize political entities to be mindful of commitments to people on a year-on-year basis instead of the current 5 year cadence. Both ruling party and opposition’s ability to garner annual funding with people’s mandate will now depend on public perception and ground work seen by voters on a yearly basis and the amount of funding secured each year will be am important indicator of their performance.

Dear Modi Sarkar, please strengthen the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

karm22
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Dear Modi Sarkar, please strengthen the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

Other than frequent debates about the BJP exhibiting ideological bias in the content of history and literature textbooks (a charge the Left parties aren’t free from in states where they are in power, as you can see here, here, here, here, here and here) as also how to handle student-protests, such as in FTII, Pune, and HCU, Hyderabad, these debates being important in their own way, the policies of the Modi government in this very crucial sector of education haven’t been discussed as much. I must say, despite my strong disagreements with the Modi sarkar as an Indian citizen on very many issues, that some of their policies in the education sector are undoubtedly praiseworthy, such as getting scientists to take some classes for school and college students (including even eminent scientists) and instructing universities to include more about the northeast in their curricula.

However, my intended focus in this piece is to discuss the subject of reforming the Right to Education (RTE) Act (not to be confused with the Right to Information Act) introduced by the UPA government in fulfillment of a Directive Principle mentioned earlier under Article 45 of the Indian constitution, neglected by all preceding governments, and access to free education from the age group of six to fourteen years was made a fundamental right under Article 21A of the constitution, setting down some infrastructure norms that have to be met by all schools, reserving 25% of the seats in private schools for economically backward children with the government bearing their financial burden (while I normally dislike government interference in private setups, this is something I wholeheartedly support, notwithstanding the challenges, and such income-based reservations at the primary level should, in my opinion, be the only reservations in education we should have), prohibiting all forms of physical punishment to students as also prohibiting detention till Class VIII.

Yes, I am critical of certain aspects of the Act, like no detention till Class VIII, and I once met a Class VI student in a good Delhi-based private school who didn’t know his multiplication tables, which are necessary even for basic market purposes. In fact, I am glad to see that it has been rolled back by our Union HRD Minister Prakash Javedkar (and the rollback was supported by AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, who said the policy in itself was good but had to be rolled back because of poor implementation), even though I know that mindless bashing of formal education has become increasingly intellectually fashionable in the current scenario. There are problems with some other provisions too, like extensive infrastructure norms for recognition (rather than focusing on learning outcomes) leading to shutdown of low budget private schools, while government schools being given all the time to adhere to the norms, also something this government should look into. Unfortunately, despite pleas by economic right-wing intellectuals to ease the license Raj on low budget private schools by even amending the RTE Act, which have been made since 2014 now that the BJP was (and remains) in power in the centre with a full majority, nothing much has been done on this front, though low budget private schools provide affordable, better-quality education to the poor, even in places with no government schools, and the right to run a school is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the constitution as per the Supreme Court in the landmark TMA Pai case.

The AAP government of Delhi, despite known for cracking down on elite schools, has indeed, in its limited capacity, sought to facilitate smooth, corruption-free functioning for low budget private schools. Yes, the Modi government at the centre has taken a cue from what the Gujarat government did when Modi was Chief Minister wherein his government focused on learning outcomes more than infrastructure norms in the state RTE Rules to ease pressure on education entrepreneurs, and now, the centre has mandated all states to do so, but why can’t all those near-draconian infrastructure norms only for private schools be considerably eased? There are also other issues like teachers’ incentives for government schools, for which it can take a leaf out of the Pakistani legal framework. Mention must also be made of a misplaced Supreme Court verdict which exempted only unaided minority schools from the 25% quota for the economically backward, but that was a judgment against the then Congress-led UPA government, which, despite being justifiably infamous for appeasing the wrong kind of elements within minority religious groupings (given its lopsided Communal Violence Bill, among other things), did not seek any such exemption.

Even after the verdict, then Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal  had actually appealed to minority schools to abide by the quota, despite having not being mandated to do so by the Supreme Court, and I hope the Supreme Court, which declared triple talaq illegal, sent Afzal Guru, Ajmal Kasab and Yakoob Memon to the gallows despite appeals to the contrary and had emphatically rejected as unconstitutional religion-based reservations in non-minority colleges introduced by the Andhra Pradesh government, reverses this particular minority-appeasing decision as well. As Anjali George and Ashish Dhar of the Hindu right-of-centre Indic Collective Trust rightly point out, “It is difficult to imagine how asking a church-run school to take in a certain number of students from the poorer sections of society would interfere with its autonomy or its Christian identity.”

The RTE Act has placed on the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and its counterparts in the states, the State Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs), set up under the Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, to safeguard child rights (their mandate includes a host of issues like child labour, children on railway platforms, children in juvenile justice homes, health concerns of children, children in reality shows etc.), the responsibility of monitoring the Right to Education Act, giving it the same powers in this regard as it has under the statute by virtue of which it has been constituted. These powers amount to receiving complaints of child rights violations (and in this context, any violation of the RTE Act) or taking suo moto cognizance of them, conducting investigations and forwarding the matter to the concerned executive or judicial authorities as also carrying out academic surveys concerning child rights and making policy recommendations or even suggestions as to statutory reforms in this sphere. It may conduct public hearings at its own discretion at the behest of some voluntary organisation and only when the concerned executive departments have not taken due action, but the outcome of such hearings can obviously be challenged in a court of law. However, the NCPCR cannot punish any bureaucrat for inefficiency in complying with its instructions.

As someone who was, back in July-September 2012, working as a research associate in the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), a leading public policy think-tank based in New Delhi, I interacted with several NCPCR officers during the course of a study I was carrying out on the efficacy of this body in monitoring the RTE Act, and I indeed did find them to be well-meaning, fairly proactive and professionally committed. However, in real terms, there is a wide gulf between their intentions and on-the-ground impact, the fault for which lies primarily not with the NCPCR but with its limitations under the law.

A Right to Information (RTI) query reveals that as of March 2012, the NCPCR received 2,850 complaints regarding the RTE Act. However, it has been able to resolve just 692 cases, or just 24% of the entire lot, by now. Breaking down the numbers year-wise, from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011, the NCPCR resolved only about 54% of the cases, and from 1st April 2011 to 16th March 2012, only about 6%!

Mr. Umesh Gupta, who filed the RTI application and with whom I had the fortune of interacting with in person, was quoted in a news report as saying — “Not only is the data shocking, but the numbers actually denote the lowering efficacy of the NCPCR in monitoring the proper implementation of the RTE Act over the two years.”

According to a staff member of the NCPCR who was interviewed by me in person in August 2012, an estimated 60-70% of the complaints related to government schools failing to meet infrastructure norms laid down under the RTE Act or there being no school in a certain area (though when I met Mr. Umesh Gupta later, he denied this, saying that most complaints are admission-related), and getting these problems solved obviously takes time, ranging across a few months, and the work of having these schools built or infrastructure norms met in existing schools is not done by the NCPCR itself but other education-related government bodies. While loew budget private schools need more freedom from the red tape, government schools (a necessity in a developing country like ours) need more accountability, which can’t come if the refulatory body is a toothless tiger.

That apart, in the context of admission-related complaints in government schools, often bureaucrats in concerned government bodies (such as in the context of Delhi, the Directorate of Education, Delhi, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi) don’t give timely responses to the NCPCR. He stated that the NCPCR had requested for inquiries to be instituted against those inefficient bureaucrats by the concerned departments. However, the NCPCR is powerless to take action against them.

In my humble opinion, the NCPCR as a body (and this also applies to the SCPCRs) can have meaningful efficacy only if it has more power to execute its decisions and penalize government officers for non-compliance by way of fines and by having that non-compliance included in their reports to be considered for their promotions. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has that power with reference to monitoring the RTI Act, and I saw one of the former commissioners, Mr. Shailesh Gandhi (who happens to be one of the most respected personalities in the recent history of the Indian bureaucracy), making full use of it while in service, when I was interning under his esteemed self, back in my law school days, and the CIC has played a stellar role in recently taking on all political parties on the issue of black money. Till the NCPCR is given such powers, it sadly just remains a toothless tiger! I have made this suggestion on www.mygov.in, the online suggestion portal of the Modi sarkar, as you can see here. This issue is relevant even to J&K, where again the BJP is in power in coalition and where the central RTE Act doesn’t apply owing to Article 370 (the desirability of which is another debate altogether), as discussed here.

While the figures that came to be revealed by Mr. Umesh Gupta’s RTI query in 2012 may well have improved since then, an interview of a former NCPCR insider published in the magazine ‘Governance Now’ in 2013 still demonstrated problems in the RTE division of the NCPCR. Given that the current government is willing to give the RTE Act a re-look, strengthening the NCPCR should be a priority not only in the context of education but even other child rights issues, which would require coordination between the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the HRD Ministry.

How I wish our television news debates were geared towards public policy issues to solve real, day-to-day problems of Indians, rather than making some stupid, random Tu-Tu-Main-Main exchanges between politicians the primary focus of attention, giving them unnecessary publicity.

Why “Name & Shame” strategy needs to be relooked

Shakti Avasthy
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Why “Name & Shame” strategy needs to be relooked

After a successful #MeToo Campaign, a controversial offshoot emerged in the garb of women empowerment where a California based law student Raya Sarkar deployed crowd sourcing by creating a spreadsheet containing anonymous complaints against sexual predators.

This name & shame strategy is unsuitable in a civilized society, has potential for becoming another avenue for misuse by women, is a reflection of why feminism remains unfulfilled glory and reflecting deeper malaise in society where Institutions have repeatedly failed women.

Several arguments make name & shame strategy unsuitable as: this strategy is akin to mob violence, lynching, kangaroo courts where legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty” is violated. The “presumption of innocence” which also a part Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 11, states: “Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.” This basic principle forms the bed rock of Constitutionalism in India and has been repeatedly followed in legal recourse.

Thereafter, the anonymous complainers adopt the role of victim, lawyer, as well as judge.

Further, sexual misconduct is a highly interpretative term. What might be a minor wrongdoing could be interpreted as offense, a classic case was seen recently where a doctor in Karachi was sacked for sending friend request to one of the patients. This was possibly done because the patient was sister of Oscar winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and hence the complaint was taken seriously.

Moreover, name & shame goes directly against “Right to Reputation” mentioned by Supreme Court in Subramanian Swamy case (2016). Apex Court said “Right to one’s reputation which has been held to be a facet of Article 21 – (Right to life) is basically vis-à-vis the State, and hence, Article 19(2) – (Freedom of speech & expression) cannot be invoked to serve the private interest of an individual” [pdf].

It takes a lifetime to build upon a reputation and seconds to destroy it. Reputation is necessary for personal well-being, mental health & happiness. Reputation of not just the alleged person but also of the family, relatives, organization where person is working, etc. “Name & shame” without proof and evidence has potential to ruin the hard earned reputation of people.

Also, it is hard to deny the prevalent trend of misuse of laws by women which are not gender-neutral, and this name & shame exercise is not gender-neutral. A classic case to prove this is misuse of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (harassment to a woman at the hands of her husband and his relatives) often used in dowry related cases. This has been acknowledged by Supreme Court in several cases like Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar (2014), more recently in Rajesh Sharma and Ors v State of UP and Another (2017). Justice Kailash Gambhir (Delhi HC) guidelines on 498A cases, 2008 were also given in similar regard. Hence, it becomes tough to argue that why anonymous complaints will not become another avenue for “witch-hunt”, pursuing “personal vendetta” and undermining Rule of law.

An intellectual discourse within feminists is divided on such methodology. Liberal feminists strive for sexual equality via political and legal reform, and recent post by a famous feminist Nivedita Menon against the ongoing paradigm is a reflection of liberal feminist against such social media lynching. However, radical feminists who attack patriarchy believing that women are denied “authentic subjectivity” (Simone De Beauvoir) could well support the cause. Such adherence to ideas of ideology has led situation where core feminist agenda has been overshadowed by differences between feminism and feminism in India remains an example of unfulfilled glory.

However, all such incidents also reflect a deeper point on how society sees the route to Justice. We have a judiciary with over 3 crore cases pending, and with vacancies unfulfilled at each level. We have a police which is unable to justify PM Modi’s acronym SMART (strict and sensitive, modern and mobile, alert and accountable, reliable and responsible, tech-savvy and trained). And we have a society deeply entrenched in patriarchy where women are still seen relative to men, and thereby crimes go unabated.

One can not deny the problem women face & how Indian institutions are failing them, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Even governance failure doesn’t permit such recourse in a civilized society where education, skill development, empowerment are enhancing at a rapid pace and women are a part of it. The solution lies in information dissemination where initiatives of Government need to be promoted & if such initiatives fail Government needs to be held accountable.

Like, recently government launched SHe-box portal where sexual harassment at workplace can be reported, mandatory panic buttons in mobile phones, helplines like 181, 182, etc. Someone, may argue of the lack of functioning of these initiatives, but the better and proper recourse would be to highlight along with “name & shame” if these initiatives don’t work instead of undermining Rule of Law under the garb of anonymity in social media.

Charles Darwin, Rahul Gandhi and Congress Mukt Bharat

singhrakeshk
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Charles Darwin, Rahul Gandhi and Congress Mukt Bharat

Charles Robert Darwin an English naturalist wrote “On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle For Life”. in 1859 which is considered as the foundation of modern theory of evolution. In this short write up I have extracted some quotes from this book to understand Rahul Gandhi who has been projected as eternally evolving politician from Indian main stream media:
“Man selects only for his own good: Nature only for that of the being which she tends.”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

‘Journalists’ have been trying to evolve Rahul Gandhi since time immemorial, but voters have been repeatedly doing what is good for population at large.

“Nevertheless, so profound is our ignorance, and so high our presumption, that we marvel when we hear of the extinction of an organic being; and as we do not see the cause, we invoke cataclysms to desolate the world, or invent laws on the duration of the forms of life!”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Nevertheless, so profound is their ignorance and so high their presumptions and arrogance that they marvel when they hear “Congress Mukt Bharat” and as they do not see the cause, they invoke cataclysms or invent news article proclaiming re-re-emergence of Rahul Gandhi, “I think it inevitably follows, that as new species in the course of time are formed through natural selection, others will become rarer and rarer, and finally extinct. The forms which stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

I think it inevitably follows that as new parties in course of time are formed through every election, success for Congress will become rarer and rarer. The parties that stand in closest competition with those undergoing modification and improvement will naturally suffer most.

“A grain in the balance will determine which individual shall live and which shall die – which variety or species shall increase in number, and which shall decrease, or finally become extinct.”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

A leader in the balance will determine which party shall live and which shall die-which party or coalition shall increase in strength and which shall decrease and finally become extinct. And despite ‘journalist’s’ best effort Rahul Gandhi seems to be destined to be that seed which will expedite the extinction of Congress.

“But with regard to the material world, we can at least go so far as this— we can perceive that events are brought about not by insulated interpositions of Divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by the establishment of general laws.”—Whewell: “Bridgewater Treatise”.”
― Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

But with regard to political arithmetic we can at least go so far as this- we can perceive that electoral victories are brought about not by insulated imposition of dynastic power exerted in this particular case by repeated evolution of Rahul Gandhi but by establishment of an organically growing political outfit based on merit and hard work.

“This preservation of favourable individual differences and variations, and the destruction of those which are injurious, I have called Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest.”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

This preservation of favourable variations due to meritocracy and hardwork and destruction of those which are injurious such as corrupt dynasties is what I call natural selection or the survival of the fittest in electoral politics.
“One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.”
― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Thus one general law leading to advancement of all political ideologies, namely multiply, vary, let the strongest live and weakest die, will ensure the end of the dynasty which generally prevents this kind of natural selection process as it insulates the dynasty scions from open competition.

I have no doubt in my mind that repeated efforts to evolve Rahul Gandhi will lead to eventual death and dismemberment of Congress party. Contrary to popular belief it’s not Narendra Modi but Rahul Gandhi who will be remembered as the man who fulfilled Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Congress Mukt Bharat.

Electric mobility: What to expect

Raghav Ramji
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Electric mobility: What to expect

Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to try-out a modern electric car. It is difficult to ignore the sensory delight that such cars offer. Other than the generic look and purpose of the car, everything is radically different. The experience of driving an electric car and its impact on the environment are something we have read about in hundreds of articles, but what often gets missed out is the economics of it all. And this is the most challenging aspect of electric mobility.

According to a report[1], there are approximately 1.2 Billion cars in the world. CNBC reported[2] in 2014 that annual global sales that year hit a record 82.8 million. The automobile industry is a source of employment to millions of people and its impact in terms of sheer economic activity is testament to that. The economic relationship that the automobile industry shares with almost every other commodity in the world is staggering – steel, minerals, plastics, oil, aluminum, rubber, textile, electronics, to name just a few. And this is just scratching the surface. But it is this industry that is witnessing the disruption that is electric mobility.

With countries like China, USA, Norway, Germany, and many others driving the push towards electric car adoption, each country is setting some percentage target of total volume of cars to be electric. China is doing this most aggressively. The Financial Times reports[3] that China produced 45% of total electric cars sold globally in 2016 and is planning to produce up to 7 million electric and hybrid cars by 2025. The report goes further to state that China is evaluating a time-frame within which to ban conventional automobiles sometime between 2025 and 2040. Germany and Netherlands have similar ideas[4], even as their plans have been met with mixed responses from the general public, particularly in Germany[5] where the trinity of range, infrastructure, and price influence purchase greatly.

Slow as the adoption may seem, as is true of any new technology, one thing is clear – the adoption is happening and it presents economic challenges. At the resources level, the economics of electric cars is entirely different when compared to conventional automobiles. By far, the most significant component of such a car is its battery. With it comes the reliance on Lithium and Cobalt. The eight countries with the largest lithium reserves[6] are led by Chile, China, Argentina, and Australia; followed by Portugal, Brazil, USA, and Zimbabwe. The reserves total up to about 13 million metric tons according to the US Geological Survey[7]. What is to note is that with increased adoption of electric mobility, the battery production is expected to rise several folds versus current capacity. The impact of this will be felt by the glass, ceramics, metallurgy, and even medical industries where lithium has alternative uses. Drawing lithium away from battery production will lead to higher prices of these other products that are not growing in demand as quickly.

The other chief ingredient is Cobalt, and this has even more alternative uses than lithium. Since the push for electric mobility began, the price of cobalt has already tripled[8] in just 2 years, although this is in part attributed to the lack of ethically sourced cobalt i.e. without the use of child-labor[9] as is the case in the Republic of Congo, which has the largest reserves of the metal. The estimated reserves[10] globally are reported to be about 7 million metric tons. The use of cobalt in many industrial alloys, paints and pigments, and oxidation catalysts further drives prices upwards. Cobalt alloys are used in the medical industry for orthopedic implants and prosthetics. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how we, as people and as nations, come to terms with these trade-offs.

While we are still at commodities, one can speculate that oil will be affected too. The closer we get to a complete ban on conventional internal combustion engines, the harder it gets for oil; even though plastics are not going away any time soon. The increasing demand for oil generated by the growth in conventional automobiles (and the higher prices of oil) in the past also made it economically feasible to extract oil from reserves that were otherwise not deemed viable when the price of oil was low. The increased adoption of electric mobility is going to have the reverse effect. Even as there is demand for plastics, its growth may not justify current oil production. As a result, oil production will fall to more economically viable levels. The impact will be seen in oil-driven economies of the Middle-East, Russia, and others. Nations which collect revenues from taxation from the sale of oil such as India, will also, in all probability, face fiscal pressure.

Employment will also see a massive makeover. At this point, it is wise to note that we cannot determine exactly how many kinds of new employment opportunities may emerge from electric mobility. There is no predictive theory to support this besides speculation from what we already know. To dispel any panic, it may not be all doom and gloom[11] as some people may be speculating. We can acknowledge the potentially greater structural employment problem that we will witness. How nations address the skill-gaps remains to be seen but it should, and will, generate serious discussion. The certainty is that employment within the oil industry will take a hit and so also will businesses that are solely engaged in conventional automotive technology such as exhaust, gearbox transmission, head gaskets, pistons, cylinder linings, etc. almost all of which are not required in an electric car. What is in fact interesting to note is that many of these businesses have been pro-active and are already invested in the electric mobility business by expanding their businesses also to electric drivetrains, motors, research into lightweight materials, electronics, power management, battery management, software, and the like. Auto-makers themselves will need to add jobs to their new electric mobility departments but at the same time, might have to let go some jobs from the conventional assembly lines.

Electric mobility also means fresh infrastructure spending – power generation through wind, solar, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, as we move away from environmentally harmful methods of power generation, and then setting up of charging infrastructure. These are going to generate a great deal of new jobs. We might as well go a step forward in stating that electric mobility lays the foundations for autonomous vehicles. This translates to incredibly high use of electronics and computing. Today, if you are someone who is engaged in machine learning or data science, you are, in all probability seeing rapid advancement. Computing and data analytics is definitively going to see plenty of opportunities for employment. The growth in battery use is also going to drive battery disposal and recycling industries since batteries, through charging and discharging cycles, experience degradation over time. Considering the hazards associated with battery disposal and recycling, we can expect enforcement of tighter environmental regulations while at the same time, lucrative business opportunities leading to more employment.

At this point, it appears as though India is just not in the thick of things as far as electric mobility is concerned. Considering the size of its market, India cannot afford be too far behind. Now although India opened up its markets through the economic liberalization movement of 1991, the baggage of its socialistic past is still evident in politics. In the course of the last few years however, there has been a commitment from the top to ensure electric power generation and distribution across the country. Naturally, for India to become a market for electric mobility, it has to ensure availability of electricity and also prepare capacity for the enormous load that electric mobility will bring with it. Even though China is ahead in the adoption of electric mobility, a reported 72% of its power generation is from coal[12]. India has a similar situation where it relies 66% on fossil fuel based power generation[13] . This is often cited when discussing the clean credentials of electric mobility. Power generated from non-renewable sources generate significantly higher emissions and pollutants than automobiles[14]. The Government of India, in 2016, has signaled its intent in pushing aggressively for renewable energy in the Draft National Electricity Plan of 2016[15].

According to The Economist, 2018 shall be the tipping point for electric cars[16] which will see both greater adoption, and also switching from conventional automobiles to electric cars. This presents serious challenges also for carmakers. China and India are both huge markets but only one of them is prepared to absorb the effects of this increased electric mobility. India is still not done electrifying itself entirely and the realization cannot come sooner that going forward, the next couple of years are crucial for India’s power sector. Historically, government bureaucracy has always been terrible at managing such urgency, and in India, where power generation is still dominantly under government control, it is hard to be optimistic. There has never been a better case than now for the Government of India to consider greater privatization of the power sector which currently stands at 44%. Even as other problems like power-theft, cross-subsidization, crippling financial situation, and supply chain issues continue to plague the power sector.

While electric mobility, once a visionary idea, is fast becoming a reality, and there is optimism surrounding its adoption; its economics presents unique challenges. It will be interesting to see how nations, politicians, and regulatory agencies approach these challenges even as the debate about electric mobility’s clean credentials still goes on.

 

  1. Green Car Reports. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093560_1-2-billion-vehicles-on-worlds-roads-now-2-billion-by-2035-report
  2. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/09/global-auto-sales-hit-record-high-of-828-million.html
  3. The Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/00b36a30-a4dd-11e7-9e4f-7f5e6a7c98a2
  4. Electrek. https://electrek.co/2016/06/14/all-new-cars-mandated-electric-germany-2030/
  5. Quartz.com. https://qz.com/953748/why-germans-dont-want-electric-cars/
  6. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/268790/countries-with-the-largest-lithium-reserves-worldwide/
  7. The United States Geological Survey. https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/
  8. Mining. http://www.mining.com/web/electric-cars-yet-turn-cobalt-market-gold-mine-nornickel/
  9. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/
  10. The United States Geological Survey. https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cobalt/mcs-2016-cobal.pdf
  11. Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/electronic-vehicles-and-auto-manufacturing-jobs-2016-10?IR=T
  12. U.S. Energy Information Administration. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=33092
  13. Central Electricity Authority. http://www.cea.nic.in/reports/monthly/installedcapacity/2017/installed_capacity-10.pdf
  14. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data
  15. Central Electricity Authority. http://www.cea.nic.in/reports/committee/nep/nep_dec.pdf
  16. The Economist. https://youtu.be/zGFb6CcG0DA

Positive and negative effects of foreign debt loans on Indian economy

Ajeet Panigrahi
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Positive and negative effects of foreign debt loans on Indian economy

In last few years, we are hearing a lot about foreign investments in our Country. From Manufacturing to Infrastructure, from Government to Non-government sectors, all the sectors are at some point taking loans from different foreign entities. As charted below, it can be seen that the debt figures are growing at an average rate of 7.30% year on year.

Any government that comes to power always announces any form of such investment by some external agency proudly, with a lot of pomp and show. With the figure currently standing at around 19% of our Gross Development Product, it becomes important to understand, drill down and see if it will have positive or negative impact on us.

Most of the loans taken by India are either for Government Loans or Non-government Loans. Most of these loans are in form of Commercial Borrowings, Non- Resident Indian Deposits, International Monetary Fund Loans, Bilateral or Multilateral borrowings, etc.

Most of the Non-government borrowings are by private corporate entities who avail it for their business expansion. However, the case with Government borrowing is different, as it is required for various social & economic development projects which have very low revenue generation capabilities. As a result, viability of the borrowings, the repayment of the debt and entity from which the loan is taken becomes a critical issue, which if not taken care may have adverse effects.

Now coming to the Government loans, most of the loans in our country is from World Bank, Asian Development, European Institutes or Japanese Institutes. Globally even China is known to be major investor. A basic in-depth analysis of their economic status, term-loan policies and central bank rates reveals the purpose of giving loans. While World Bank & Asian Development Bank were created to help poor countries reduce poverty, foster economic growth and cooperation, the same doesn’t seem to be the case with other Institutions from Japan, Europe or China as they claim. Their purpose of giving loans seems to be something else as seen from the given chart trends.

As it can be seen in European nations, Japan or US, the Long term borrowing rates seen to be reducing. If the same is rate assumed and interpolated for next decade, it can be easily said to go negative. Which means that banks will start charging interest even for the deposits, which is not good for any growing economy. Hence these countries are giving long-term loans at interest rates ranging from 0.1% to 2.5% as it will ensure their money value at least remains static and they continue to grow, even if marginally. So giving such loans are their need as well.

Even the trends of central bank rate strengthen the fact that for most of the European nations and Japan, giving infrastructure loans are their need. This serves the interest of both the entities involved i.e the institution giving the loan and the entity receiving it. However the interest rates of loans extended by China, varying from 2% to 4% (link 1, link 2), seems different as it is well below their own Central bank rate. In this case, mutual interest doesn’t seem to be the prime motive. This when seen in line with Tajikistan (ceding land china on account of non-repayment), Sri Lanka (Mattala Rajpakasa International Airport being declared world’s emptiest airport and unable to generate revenue) and Cambodia (almost 80% of its total debt owed to China) cases rings the bell. It seems more of like a debt trap than a development loan.

The risk any term loan carries is the risk on account of Forex rate. Most of the term loans availed by the borrowers are either in Dollars, Euros or other global currencies and not in their local currencies. Which means due to varying exchange rates, an additional risk on account of Exchange rate becomes a major factor. The extent of impact may even overshadow the lower interest rates by the lender and needs to be checked on timely basis.

Keeping this mind, whenever any government announces any loan with pomp and show, one should study the different aspects and conditions as mentioned and then make any pronouncement regarding the loan/investment availed as growth is good only if sustainable. Not doing so may expose to the risk of falling into the unending debt trap as seen in many cases.

Humanitarian crisis in Yemen due to attack by Saudi Arabia

Bhimashankar Sanga
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Humanitarian crisis in Yemen due to attack by Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen to smithereens, causing a precarious food situation. Yemen is the only place in the Arabian peninsula where you can farm, especially coffee. Now, the odious regime is attempting a neocolonialist idea of ethnic balkanization, thus creating unending genocidal ethnic conflict in Yemen.

Saudi-lead and US-armed military coalition’s incessant bombing has resulted in the outbreak of cholera and famine, destroying the country’s infrastructure: farms, ports, bridges, water plants, etc. and creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern times.

All of this Yemen conflict is religious, Houthis (Zaidiyyah Shias) vs Sunnis.There are two Yemeni factions supported by foreign elements-the Houthis are supported by Iran, and the Hadi-led Yemeni government (the one that is considered the legitimate Yemeni government by the UN) is supported by Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis are a Yemeni minority who decided to overthrow the Al-Qaeda supporting dictator. Saudi didn’t like having a Shia group being south of them,created the war in Yemen by trying to make the nation submit through practically genocidal mad bombing and also robbing them of their resources.

Saudi Arabia will do anything in order to distract from their own in-fighting within their royalty. The Houthis have never attempted to overthrow the Sunni majority in Yemen for centuries. They used to have their own hermit kingdom until Arab pressurized the two states to merge. Houthis never took marching orders from Iran. Anti-Iranian think tanks have tried making spurious connections between the Houthis, Zeidi Shia and Iran for a while, but never provided evidence.

Saudi Arabia’s posturing risks destabilizing Yemen. Yemen would not have faced famine if it wasn’t for a major chunk of the “outside world” deciding to unleash hell on the country.

The many inconsistencies of Rahul Gandhi

bakaiti
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The many inconsistencies of Rahul Gandhi

Here’s a look at the many inconsistencies and political opportunism of Rahul Gandhi:

राहुल गांधी का राजनीतिक अवसरवाद

bakaiti
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0
राहुल गांधी का राजनीतिक अवसरवाद

राहुल गाँधी के राजनीतिक अवसरवाद और असंगतियों पर एक नज़र:

Why Railway bureaucracy is struggling

anupamkr
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Why Railway bureaucracy is struggling

New India wants leapfrog growth but our existing bureaucratic system wants it to be step by step in its unique frugal manner. Indian government has able to tame this big elephant through various means of ease of governance in recent past, but still a lot of to be done so far as Railways is concerned.

Status-quo inside its bureaucracy stops it to free its wing in the changing time. A mammoth bureaucracy with well defined departments and highest manpower does not seem to be  an easy task. Bibek Debroy committee, 7th CPC recommendations, World Bank comments on Independent Railway Safety Investigator & various other recommendation are piled up in the almirahs of their chambers. Previous government or in the recent various ministers had struggle hard to make them work.

For understanding the basic cause of such lethargic behaviour one need a detail analysis how railway is organised and why there is so much resilience in Indian Railway in the recent past especially at implementation level.

Background

As in other ministry, this big elephant is run by four basic Group of staff/Officers Group A, B , C & D. Group A man’s are decision & policy makers posted at various places (Divisions, Zones & Railway Board level) in various capacity as per their experience & hierarchy. Group B officers are those well experienced person which got promoted from Group C and well aware of the system and mostly manned to implement the policy planned by Group A at ground level.

The same hierarchy & promotions policy are well defined by DOPT and followed in IR as well as by other services like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc with basic fact of  50:50 ratio & DITES. In Railway, implementing agencies works at divisional level where mix of Group A (Direct Recruits DR) & Group B (Promotion Recruits PR) at officers level works in liaising under defined hierarchy.

REASON OF PRESENT SITUATION

The plight of Indian railway has degraded in last decade as a recent discontent which can be felt among Direct Recruits of batches starting from 2007 onwards and most of the reason lies in arbitrary, unconstitutional and unfair practices of Railway Board for not implementing Supreme Court & DOPT guidelines on promotion policy between DR & PR. Remember its a PAN-INDIA issue,  Policies has been well played, modified at secretariat level which affect well laid promotional aspects of Direct Recruits and giving undue advantages to Grp B. These issues are highlighted even by 7th CPC in its recommendation.

It is all started with optimization policy of NDA-1 during 2001-2009 when 30% curtailment was done in all direct requirement across all ministries. Railway ministry has curtailed the size of DR, but rather than decreasing, increased the intake of Group B officers that too without consulting DOPT & MR under undue pressure from Promotee Officers Association and nexus at Railway Board level causing disturbance in 1:1 ratio of DR versus PR. It’s important to note that where optimization policy decreased the number of total officers strength by 18% in other ministries whereas in Railways, it has been modified in such a way that total strength of officer increase by 350% in the said period of 2002-2010 with large number of induction of Promotee Officers.

Secondly, Reserve Posts have been arbitrarily included in Junior Scale to Enhance Recruitment. Detail analysis shows that Railway Board Secretariat Service has done all this on its whims without competent authority approval. For example, adding Reserve post in normal vacancy is in the jurisdiction of Cabinet, even RTI clarify that said Proposal was approved by Railway Minister not by Cabinet.

Thirdly, the “connotation” rule, which is unique to Indian Railways, states that the seniority of a Group `B’ officer promoted to Group `A’ will be determined by giving weightage according to “the year of service connoted by the initial pay on permanent promotion to Group `A’ service.” has been decided arbitrarily at lower stage of Rs 18950 for PR in comparison to DR to give undue advantage. This decision also required approval of DOPT & Finance Ministry but it was not sought off.

7th CPC, in its report claims, it to be ambiguous and untenable. Supreme Court of India in P. Sudhakar Rao v. U. Govinda Rao, 2013, clearly ruled that Provisions of anti dating seniority is totally arbitrary and unconstitutional. But Railways still follow this rule by giving undue advantage of 5 year weightage in seniority to PR. In one of such case of anti-dating, a Group B officer was allocated Group A on the date of its induction to Group B i.e he was promoted from Group C to Group A on the next day whereas it took minimum 20 years in other ministries.

Fourthly and most importantly, fixation of inter se seniority between PR & DR is a paramount issue which has been deliberated in detail by DOPT & SC in its various judgement. As per latest judgement of the Apex Court in N.R. Parmar’s case (supra), the DOP&T issued a OM dated 04.03.2014 for fixation of seniority of direct recruits vis-a-vis promotees, in which date of sending requisition to recruiting agency is the final date to fixed the inter se seniority between these two. But, Railways has not yet implemented this order which is totally illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional.

For going into technicality one can read the news , which elaborate the issue in more lucid manner:-

  1. http://railsamachar.com/news/1013/read
  2. http://railsamachar.com/news/1009/read

EFFECTS

The effect of such undue promotion/posting has affected the health of Railways over long run. Induction of officers more than sanction revenue cost affects the revenue of government. Keeping in mind the focus of NEW INDIA when DIRECT recruits are given new responsibility in other ministry, IR has blocks the existing Direct Recruits promotion aspects which in turn affects the decision making ability of the organisation  in long turn. Rather than Contributing to the nation whole-heartily such DR  When such unqualified/short sighted Group B officers are posted at policy & decision-making level in divisional level,  the quality of maintenance work got affected specially  posted at the same place where he has work since lifelong at subordinate level. So over one decade the situation of maintenance in IR on safety ground got hampered and now the trickle down effects started. It is quite amazing that this isn’t happening in one department, this is the story of all department across Indian Railways, 7th CPC, has just highlighted issue of IRSME in its report.

STRUGGLE 

When there is a will, there is win, Junior Group A officer of various services gave representation to RB for such anomalies but RB has denied the justice. For their rights, DR knocked the door of judiciary for justice, through O.A. No. 050/00460 of 2015 in CAT/PATNA. CAT/PATNA gave the Judgement in favour of Direct Recruits on dated 03/05/2016 & directed Railway Board to recast inter-se seniority between DR & PR a fresh and directed to issue corrigendum/amendment/correction slip in Indian Railway Establishment Manual Volume, with  granting all consequential benefits in favour of the applicant including promotion in JA Grade on the basis of his seniority as per the principle.

But, Railway Board set aside all these directives issued by the court, as it works under strong lobbying of Promotee Officers and the case was referred to Ministry of Law & Justice in the name of “Legal Opinion” just to delay the Implementation of Court Orders. In background, Promote Officers association challenged the CAT/PATNA Judgement in High Court, Patna. It’s correct to mention here that truth prevailed again & Railway Board faced the heat of Hon’ble High Court as Court straightly dismissed the Writ Petition stating that railway board has no authority to frame rule for Group A.

Due to lethargic attitude at secretariat level, again Special Leave Petition (SLP) was filed by Promote Officers against the Order of High Court/Patna in Supreme Court. Though, SLP was admitted by SC but Court denied to put stay on Orders of High Court. Its seems that Railway itself don’t want to do justice for their own employees. With deliberate delay for implementing High Court & CAT, Patna orders, Railway Bureaucracy has given open challenge to Judiciary & its new management team. Now it is upto Judiciary to decide, how it wants to run the show. As nobody wants to see degrading image of our Supreme Institutions, merely to satisfy the Needs of select few.

JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED

Railway is seeing tough times, and Indians in the technology driven times, only cares about result on safety, punctuality. If the decision implementer are themselves struggling hard for their rights in starting of their career, how will they will be able to execute policies & sail through the high winds? With new Chairman & New MR on the corner, Indian Railway workforce has got new energy and aspire to achieve new heights. During his various interaction with media new chairman has put emphasis on HR with keeping “Employee First” objective for ensuring fundamental of safety.  In the recent innovative step, all Station Director post has to be manned by young officers. So new Minister will able to give justice to the newly entered fresh vibes with feel of pride or CRB will able to put much needed motivation so that young officers can able to contribute in the changing times. The future will surely see this time back and analyze the decision taken by ministry and judiciary.

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