thursday, february 21, 2019 the employment test - ibps guide · mal) route, through smuggling along...
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DELHI THE HINDU
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 20198EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
Seema Bathla & Abhishek Jha
India’s decision to withdraw theMost Favoured Nation (MFN)status to Pakistan means that
India will not treat Pakistan on anequal footing in trade as is expected of fellow members of the WorldTrade Organisation. The movecomes after the attack on a CentralReserve Police Force convoy inPulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.
Just a dentIt does not strictly fall under the‘beggarthypolicy’, often used ininternational trade through whichone country tries to resolve itseconomic problems by means thatworsen the economic problems ofits neighbours or trade partners.The moot point therefore is thesensitivity of the impact of theMFN status on Pakistan in terms ofits trade with India. It can only bea pressure tactic and do little unless stringent actions are taken tostop informal trade that has beengoing on between the two countries for long.
Besides China, India and Pakistan are the two largest economiesin the South Asian region. Being
dominant constituents of theSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, both countries have immense potential forintraregional trade. Trade nowtakes place using three channels:the offi��cial route; the illegal (informal) route, through smugglingalong porous IndiaPakistan landborders and also Afghanistan,which may not be accounted for inthe national income; and lastly,through mainly Dubai and Singapore, which have free ports andaccommodate legal agents of traders from India and Pakistan.
Informal trade generally takesplace due to restrictions on importof specifi��c items on grounds ofhealth and religious beliefs; ‘hightariff�� barriers or transportationcosts, making it cost eff��ective tosmuggle goods in the country; imposition of nontariff�� measures(NTMs)’; weaknesses in the ‘rulesof origin’ resulting in ‘trade routedthrough a third country; leakagesin transit trade; and distortions indomestic policies such as the absence of or relatively low indirecttaxes, creating an incentive totransport items illegally to neighbouring countries. Traders carryout informal trade between Pakistan and India through the exchange of goods at the border aswell as through the personal baggage scheme’ through “greenchannel” facilities at internationalairports or railway stations. ‘Infor
mal trade has also taken placethrough Afghanistan where goodsare exported offi��cially from Indiaand later smuggled into Pakistan.Indianmade goods smuggled intoPakistan include cosmetics, liquor, stainless steel utensils, ayurvedic medicines, videotapes/CDs,confectionery/cashew nuts, tea,coff��ee, live animals and spices’.
Trade dataFrom 201112 to 201718, India’s formal trade with Pakistan increasedfrom $1.94 billion to $2.41 billion.Of this, the share of exports standsat almost 80% and has been fairlystable over the years (Ministry ofCommerce and Industry, India). In201213, informal trade betweenIndia and Pakistan — estimated ina study (ICRIER, N. Taneja and S.Bimal, 2016) — was $4.71 billion,which was double when compared to formal trade. India’s informal export share to Pakistanwas again much higher at $4 billion while its import share was lowat $0.71 billion.
After the Pulwama attack, the
followup measure to raise tariff��duty on imports to 200% canagain be trivial. So would be theNTMs, if increased, as India’s imports from Pakistan are reasonably low at $0.488 billion. Besides,imports from Pakistan grew at alower rate (1.04%) compared to exports (1.32%) per annum from201112 to 201718. Major exportsfrom India that would hard hitwould be cotton (not carded orcombed) valued at $0.273 billion,pXylene ($0.082 billion), polypropylene ($0.063 billion) and singleyarn ($0.088 billion). Pakistan’sloss from major exports to Indiawould be much less — from dates($0.113 billion), portland cement($0.078 billion), other petroleumoil ($0.055 billion) and light oilsand preparations ($0.028 billion).
Thus Pakistan is an importantexport destination for India butnot viceaversa. This is despite thefact that Pakistan imposes a largenumber of NTMs (143) on Indianexports, the major ones being export related measures (25.2%);technical barriers to trade (24.5%);and sanitary and phytosanitarymeasures (22.4%). These are ‘concentrated on agriculture, plants,and foodrelated products and operate as bans that shut competitorsout of its market. Pakistan’s NTMsare blunt instruments; it is diffi��cultto use them to provide targetedprotection to the strategic industries. In contrast, India’s NTMs are
soft barriers which operate as delays or bureaucratic hurdles ratherthan bans. Pakistan’s NTMs focuson general categories of goodswhereas India’s NTMs are on particular industries and tradingpartners. The widely used NTMsIndia uses include defence procurement procedure, preferenceto domestically manufacturedelectronic goods in governmentprocurement’ and a ban on goodslargely manufactured within thecountry.
The sense is that Pakistan maynot face an exacerbating situationwith India withdrawing the MFNstatus and raising the import duty.Informal trade may proliferate,which might not be in India’s interest and an appropriate strategy isrequired to bring it to a halt. Also,under the South Asia Free TradeArea Agreement (SAFTA) 2004,Pakistan’s share in external tradeis less than 10%, while India’sshare is more than 70%. Suchsteps may propel Pakistan to lookfor new markets beyond SAFTA,corroborated by the recent meeting held with Saudi Arabia andgrowing prospects of tradethrough a third country, mainlyvia Dubai.
Seema Bathla and Abhishek Jha are
Professor and Research Scholar,
respectively, at the Centre for the Study of
Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi
More symbolic than punitiveIndia’s traderelated action will encourage informal trade and propel Pakistan to look for markets beyond South Asia
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more letters online:
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corrections & clarifications:
In the Life page report on Hyperloop (Feb. 20, 2019, early editions), the second deck heading erroneously said the proposedsystem would cut travel time by one fi��fth to 30 minutes. Actuallythe travel time is going to be cut to 30 minutes that is onefi��fth thecurrent duration of travel. The error was corrected in the latereditions.
The picture caption in the story titled “Ever ready to deliver fi��tting response to the enemy: IAF chief” (Feb. 17, 2019) said it was aMirage 2000 fi��ring missiles during a fi��re power demonstration inRajasthan. Actually, the picture showed a MiG27 aircraft.
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Attuned as we have becometo political grandstandingon the purpose of democra
cy, we may not have imagined thatsomething so prosaic as statisticscan alter our perception of how itis actually working for us. Theemergence over the past fewmonths of data on employment,speaking precisely the lack of it,cannot but have an infl��uence onour assessment. They paint a picture of an economy that is widelyout of line with the government’spronouncements on its performance. These have generallyavoided any reference to employment, except to say that there is alack of reliable data on it, for therectifi��cation of which the government itself has done very little.
Arun Jaitley, Finance Ministerfor the greater part of this government’s tenure, has claimed that ithas coincided with a degree of macroeconomic stability that has notbeen surpassed. Perhaps he had inmind the combination of falling infl��ation and declining Budget defi��cits since 2014. However, whilethis has indeed transpired, it is important to note that these trendshad commenced even before. Moreover, after repeatedly expressinga commitment to fi��scal consolidation, the government did not hesitate to swerve from the path of rectitude to fi��nance an incomesupport programme for farmers inan election year.
Silence on jobsBut of greater signifi��cance is thefact that neither he nor the Prime
Minister has had anything to sayabout employment. In this the BJPis not unique. Employment doesnot usually fi��gure in the public discourse orchestrated by politicalparties, either at the Centre or inthe States. This must change, forsteady employment is the citizen’saspiration, to realise which sheelects representatives. Governments in India must therefore beroutinely subjected to an employment test which gauges their success in generating and sustaininghigh employment. In his electioncampaign in 2014 Narendra Modihad announced that he would generate jobs.
Employment data from government sources (Labour Bureau) forabout half a decade up to 2015 andfrom the independent agencyCentre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) for the period sincegive us a reasonably good idea ofthe progress made with respect toemployment. When supplemented with other information, thesesources also suggest to us the proximate factors responsible for thathistory. The evidence they providetell two stories. First, the Modi government has had next to no success in generating employment,notwithstanding its promises atelection time. A development thatmay require some eff��ort to understand fully, but which neverthelessit is important for the citizen to do,is that the labour force may actually have shrunk while it has been inoffi��ce. The labour force is the sumof the employed and those unemployed who are seeking employment. A shrinking of the labourforce is most unusual in an economy with a growing population,and thus a growing working agecohort.
The demonetisation eff��ectWhile this decline had alreadyemerged in 2015, it became pro
nounced after demonetisation in2016. We owe to CMIE, a privateIndian body, both this fi��nding andthe articulation of the precise mechanism at work. A section ofthose hitherto willing to work mayhave simply dropped out of an already challenged labour market.This possibility is recognised inmacroeconomics as the ‘discouragedworker eff��ect’ and has beenobserved in Western economies.The loss of skill that can accompany being unemployed even temporarily, and the consequent loss oflongrun output for the economy,is the basis of the argument thatpublic policy must respond withalacrity to growing unemployment. No such sensibility has infused the government, which appears not to have noticed thedecline in the labour force itself, adevelopment that occurred veryearly in its tenure. It has insteadcongratulated itself on having delivered macroeconomic stability.We are now able to see that whatever may have been the acclaimed benefi��cial impact of demonetisation in terms of raisingdirect tax compliance, it hascaused demoralisation among asection of the already unemployedwho may have given up all hope offi��nding employment.
The second of the two historiesreferred to, seen in the reports ofone of the government’s agencies,is that of a rising unemploymentrate from 2011 onwards. This point
has political signifi��cance as we staypoised for the general election.This is that while the Modi government may have run amok with thedemonetisation, India’s unemployment challenge predates thisepisode and evidently runs deeper. Labour Bureau data show thatthe unemployment rate almostdoubled between 2011 and 2015. Itis surprising that the government’sown reports did not fl��ag this. Theeconomic, as opposed to the political, message is that the recent history of unemployment has beenimpervious to the political formation governing India.
If we are to more than justwring our hands at the existant unemployment, an understanding ofwhat underlies it is necessary. Actually, no more than standard macroeconomic analysis is needed inthis regard. Both output growthand employment are under normal circumstances associated withcapital formation. Capital formation as a share of output has beendeclining since 201112. Unlike consumption expenditure, capital expenditure is unique in expandingboth the supply and demand sidesof the economy. Despite the declining capital formation, neitherUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA)II nor National Democratic Alliance II considered it necessary torespond to it by stepping up publicinvestment, the obvious thing todo in the prevailing circumstances.
The clue to this inertia may befound in the political economy.For UPA II the success of its fi��rstterm in offi��ce must have lookedlike the perfect opportunity to expand its political base by legislating rights and reciting the mantra“inclusive growth”. Then cameNarendra Modi, who somewhat incongruously for an avowedly nationalist politician, embraced thedogma of the Washington Consen
sus. Popular in the 1990s after thecollapse of the Soviet Union, it extolled small government and asserted the capacity of the marketmechanism to deliver an optimaloutcome. There was in thisscheme of things no place for anyinvoluntary unemployment. So,whatever may have been the calculation of the two political formations, employment generation justtook a back seat in their respectiveprogrammes.
Cost of failure?We have adopted representativedemocracy as our form of government because we cannot in isolation achieve the outcomes we desire even when they are exclusiveto us. Employment is one exampleof this. Though it manifests itselfas jobs for individuals, it is determined by macroeconomic factorswhich individuals cannot infl��uence on their own. The GreatDepression in the 20th centuryand the Great Recession in the21st, both which have originated inthe U.S. but quickly spread acrossthe world, testify to this helplessness of individuals in the face ofmarket forces. In a democracy, it isleft to elected representativeswhether to pursue macroeconomic policies conducive to the generation of employment. India’s political parties have for close to adecade now failed to so, either wilfully or out of neglect. However,when elected to govern, they aregiven a chance to create the conditions that enable Indians to leadfl��ourishing lives, which includesbeing meaningfully employed during their working age. India’s political parties must pass ‘the employment test’. When they fail theymust vacate the stage.
Pulapre Balakrishnan is Professor,
Ashoka University, Sonipat and Senior
Fellow, IIM Kozhikode
The employment testThe labour force may have actually shrunk while the Modi government has been in offi��ce
Pulapre Balakrishnan
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Electoral alliancesThere cannot be a moreopportunistic alliance thanthe one formed betweenthe All India Anna DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam andthe PMK (Page 1, “AIADMKsigns pact with BJP, PMK,February 20). It was onlyrecently that some in thePMK complained about theAIADMK’s allegedcorruption. One wonderswhat happened now. ThePMK is too naive to takepeople for granted. Onehopes that peoplerecognise and reject theopportunistic politicsbehind such alliances. T. Anand Raj,
Chennai
■ The PMK allying with theAIADMK is an unanticipatedmove given that that partyhas been critical of theAIADMK administration eversince Jayalalithaa was inpower in Tamil Nadu. TheBJP joining hands with the
AIADMK is another game ofopportunism.N. Visveswaran,
Chennai
■ Politics makes strangebedfellows and the seatsharing accord reachedbetween the AIADMK, theBJP and the PMK is proof thatparties with disparateideologies that have beenspewing venom at eachanother can come togetherto fi��ght elections byswallowing the insults. Whatis really puzzling though isthe PMK hitching its wagonto the AIADMK star. There are numerousinstances of the topleadership in the PMKhighlighting the “misdeeds”of the Dravidian party andeven accusing it of beingindiff��erent towards thepeople (“Trolls have a fi��eldday on social media”,February 20). C.V. Aravind,
Bengaluru
Pakistan’s responsePakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan may havebroken his silence after thePulwama attack, and he hasonly shocked us (Page 1,“Pakistan will hit back ifIndia strikes, says Imran”,February 20). He has justrepeated the usual statementone gets out of Pakistan,which is nothing but anevasive tactic. What moreproof does he require? It isamusing that the Pakistangovernment, which is unableto control terror activities onits soil, is now talking aboutretaliation.D. Sethuraman,
Chennai
■ The Pakistan PrimeMinister should realise thathe sounds silly andridiculous. The world knowshe is a puppet in the handsof his military masters. Hehas the audacity to say thiswhen Pakistan is the ‘posterboy’ of terrorism. Mr. Khan is
not only a neophyte inpolitics but also equallyuntrustworthy. Deepak Singhal,
Noida
■ Mr. Khan’s response ishardly surprising. WithPakistan already bleedingfi��nancially, India’s pressurecould weaken it further.India appears to be adoptinga clever strategy of notletting anyone know what itsnext move could be. Wearingdown the enemy silently is atactic with potential.R. Sivakumar,
Chennai
No to tortureA civilised nation can illaff��ord to continue theinhuman ‘third degreetreatment’ that convicts areoften subject to in custody(Editorial page, “Theimportance of beinghumane”, February 20).Custodial torture is brutaland benumbing. It is time
and the circumstances underwhich a person may commita crime have to be wellstudied, and in this scienceand psychology play a keyrole. Individuals identifi��ed asa risk must be helped andtheir rehabilitation must bethought of. Defi��ciencies inthe justice system must alsobe overcome. Vinod Santhanam,
Tysons, Virginia, U.S.
this abhorrent practice iswiped out through suitableenactment of antitorturelaws.B. Gurumurthy,
Madurai
■ Punishments are meant toinfuse fear in the person whocommits a crime with theexpectation that it will act asa deterrent. But one needs todraw the line as far as havingsevere custodial punishmentis concerned. The reasons
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
With leaders of the Gujjar agitation for reserva
tions calling off�� their stir, the Rajasthan go
vernment has averted what could have been
a prolonged crisis. There is a sense of déjà vu amid all
this. Gujjar leaders have held various rounds of protests
over the last decade and a half, demanding reservations
in educational institutions and employment in a sepa
rate backward category that is apart from the existing
21% set aside for Other Backward Classes in the State.
Despite governments bringing in legislation towards
this end, they have been struck down on the grounds
that the additional quota would take the quantum of re
servation above the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court
in the Indra Sawhney judgment. On Wednesday, the Ra
jasthan State Assembly passed legislation providing 5%
reservation to Gujjars and four other nomadic com
munities, classifying them as “extremely backward
classes”. But this time, the circumstances have argua
bly changed with the passing of the 103rd Amendment
to the Constitution that allows for a 10% quota for the
economically backward among communities that do
not enjoy any form of reservation. The State govern
ment has also added a line to the Bill explicitly referring
to the amendment, which eff��ectively breaches the 50%
limit set for reservations by the Supreme Court. It re
mains to be seen how the judiciary will tackle this ques
tion in light of the 103rd amendment, the constitution
ality of which is under challenge.
The demand by Gujjars has a specifi��c context. In Ra
jasthan, the community is currently eligible for reserva
tions as an OBC community. They had in the mid and
late2000s agitated for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe
category, in keeping with the way they are classifi��ed in
Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. This de
mand was denied because tribal status, as defi��ned in
the Constitution’s Fifth Schedule, involves identifi��able
characteristics such as lifestyle, culture, inaccessibility
and backwardness, and not just economic underdeve
lopment. Since then, the largely pastoral community
has pressed for reservations under a separate backward
class category, arguing that inclusion of Jats in the OBC
list has crowded Gujjars out of the benefi��ts of reserva
tions. Clearly, the decision to accommodate a demand
from one politically dominant community ( Jats) has
come to haunt administrators in the State as this has
fanned Gujjar agitations on and off��. Multiple commis
sions appointed by State governments have recom
mended the implementation of the 5% quota on the ba
sis of the community’s “extreme” or “most” backward
nature. But the lack of adequate data in the absence of a
proper socioeconomic caste census to prove this has
led to the policy’s undoing in judicial orders. More im
portant, the repeated agitations are an indication of the
shortfall in adequate, gainful and secure job opportun
ities in States such as Rajasthan.
With reservationsIt’s not clear if the 103rd Amendment will
protect the new quota for Gujjars in Rajasthan
In Tamil Nadu, political alliances for the Lok Sabha
election are falling into place as in a jigsaw. The real
fi��ght, as it has been over the last four decades, is bet
ween the two major regional parties, the AIADMK and
the DMK; but the BJP and the Congress have ensured
that they have skin in the game, giving the contest a na
tional fl��avour. While the BJP virtually forced its way into
the AIADMK camp, the Congress drove a hard bargain
for seats in the DMKled alliance. Through four elec
tions from 1996 to 2004, the AIADMK had switched bet
ween the Congress and the BJP, before contesting 2009
and 2014 without either of them for company. In 2014,
the goitalone strategy yielded rich dividends: the par
ty won 37 of the 39 seats. For the party to now give away
fi��ve seats to the BJP and another seven to the Pattali
Makkal Katchi is therefore a climbdown. But the
AIADMK is more interested in retaining power in the
State. The party is running the government on a wafer
thin majority after a revolt by the faction led by T.T.V.
Dhinakaran. Alongside the Lok Sabha election, byelec
tions to 21 Assembly constituencies are likely to be held.
For Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, winning
these seats is more important than a few more Lok Sab
ha constituencies in Tamil Nadu. With the BJP on
board, the AIADMK can hope to have a stake in a go
vernment at the Centre, but even more important for
the party is the tieup with the PMK. With its concen
trated support base in the northern districts of the
State, the PMK could be of immense help in at least
eight seats where byelections are due.
The alliance with the BJP and the PMK also helped
the AIADMK win the battle of perceptions with Mr. Dhi
nakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. In the
public eye, the AIADMK, as a soughtafter ally, is now
the bigger of the two parties. For the DMK, the tieup
with the Congress is part of its visualisation of a larger
national canvas. In India’s coalition era, the DMK has
had an important role to play: the party was part of go
vernments led by diff��erent combinations of parties. If
indeed the AIADMK government lasts its full term until
2021, the DMK would very much like to have some lev
ers of power at the Centre. The party was in power eith
er at the Centre or in the State for most of the 15 years
from 1996 till 2011, and it would like to avoid a second
consecutive loss in the Lok Sabha election after two suc
cessive defeats in the Assembly elections. Moreover
DMK president M.K. Stalin knows this is his fi��rst big test
after the passing of his father and party patriarch M. Ka
runanidhi. For him, the stakes are just as high in the
Lok Sabha election.
The big fi��ghtFor the AIADMK, the Assembly bypolls are
more important than the Lok Sabha election
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THE HINDU DELHI
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019 9EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
A ND-NDE
OPED
The prospects of political talks between President Ayub Khanand the Opposition brightened today [February 20, New Delhi] with the release on parole of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, principal accused in the Dacca Conspiracy Case. There were rumours that the Government might be willing to drop theconspiracy case, but there was no offi��cial statement on the circumstances under which Mr. Rahman, who had earlier refused to meet Mr. Ayub Khan except as a free man, was persuaded to accept parole. As word of Mr. Rahman’s releasereached Rawalpindi, the eightparty Central Democratic Action Committee resumed discussions on Mr. Ayub Khan’s invitation for talks to resolve the political crisis. The D.A.C. convener, Nawabzada Nasmllah Khan, told newsmen inRawalpindi that Mr. Rahman would reach there from Dacca toparticipate in the D.A.C. discussions.
FIFTY YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 21, 1969
Mujibur Rahman let out on parole
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FROM ARCHIVES
The murderous aff��ray in a compartment of the Quetta Mailtrain which left Karachi on Tuesday morning [Feb. 18] has resulted in the death of two persons. A Punjabi Mohammadannamed Haji Almadin belonging to Lahore, who for the last fi��veyears has been a sweetmeat seller in Karachi, entered a thirdclass compartment of the train at Junnshahi. Fourteen passengers were already in the compartment. He asked one seatednear the window to surrender his seat, but the man refusedwhereupon the Punjabi drew a large knife and stabbed him inseveral places fi��nally throwing him out of the window. Another man interfered and was also attacked, but took refuge in alavatory where he smashed the window and jumped from thetrain... The Punjabi continued his attacks on other passengersand altogether one man was killed on the spot and eight severely injured.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 21, 1919
Aff��ray in a Train.
It is diffi��cult being a teacher thesedays. The dismantling of institutions,which seems to be the prime concern of this government, began witheducation. The attack on premier public universities through motivatedhiring, questioning reservation, andcreating a climate of fear and intimidation has continued. This is a timewhen many teachers are forced torethink the meaning of teaching.
The place of the teacherThis has also led to a climate of suspicion about teachers in general, inschools, colleges and universities.Teachers are constantly under attackby systems which want to protectstudents (especially because students are nowadays seen as paying‘consumers’), by parents who decidewhat and how a teacher shouldteach, by a government which humiliates and uses teachers, and by private managements which see teachersas a necessary ‘evil’ to put up with.Our colleges and schools even todayare places of feudal authority and oppressive labour conditions. In such aclimate, for the fi��rst time in my life, Iam beginning to ask whether it isworth teaching at all.
It was not easy being a teacher earlier too. The pay was quite abysmaland the work that it entailed, particularly the grading of hundreds of exam papers, was not necessarily enjoyable. But there was somethingdiff��erent; there was a sense of serviceand commitment to the act of teaching, somewhat similar to the medicalprofession then. There was an underlying notion of respect for teachers,even from students.
In India, there are many stories ofteachers who sacrifi��ced much in order to teach. Teaching meant inspiring students, making them better human beings, and enabling them to goup in life. A good mathematics teacher always taught more than mathematics. What students learnt with every good teacher was not just subjectmatter but ways of being in theworld.
The fi��rst disintegration of this
world of teaching came when teaching became equivalent to ‘giving tuition’. And then came other majorproblems that have contributed tothis suspicion of teaching. In a digitalworld, the role of a teacher is moreand more unclear. There is a lack ofclarity on what exactly a teacher issupposed to teach: the content, or diverse ways of thinking, or learningtogether with others?
Related to this issue is the continued lack of equal access to education. We have spent more money andeff��ort keeping people out of the education system than trying to bringthem in — much of this is donethrough dubious concepts called intelligence and merit, operationalisedby examinations. It is not a surprisethen that our gross enrolment ratiosfor all levels of education are quitelow, because the aim of the systemright from the beginning was to fi��ndways to control who would enter theportals of education. This is a continuation of the Ekalavya complex, andit is possible because we have created a system in which the excludedfi��nd little representation of theirlives, their world views and their articulations in what is taught.
A story of caste and learningIn the midst of this existential crisis, Iwatched a new Tamil movie calledSarvam Thaala Mayam. It is a moviewhich has been criticised for its avoidance of caste issues even though itis primarily about Carnatic music’s
relation with caste. While that maybe true, here I am more interested inwhat it says about the nature ofteaching and learning. It is a modernEkalavya story in a Tamil mainstream idiom and, like Ekalavya’sstory, which is about caste and privilege, at its core it is about the processes of teaching and learning.
The story of Ekalavya is wellknown and has been used as a powerful metaphor to highlight problems of exclusion in education —about how the privileged monopolise learning even though others maybe far better. This movie makes usask: What would Ekalavya do today ifDrona refuses to teach him?
The modern Ekalavya, Peter Johnson, is the son of a mridangam maker. He is very talented. When he accidentally listens to a mridangamvidwan, Vembu Iyer, he is mesmerised. But this Chennai Ekalavya cannot easily become a student of thisvidwan and much of the obstacle isrelated to their caste diff��erences.These diff��erences are most tellinglyarticulated by the boy’s father whocreates these instruments but alsoseems resigned to the fact that hewill not be allowed to play them.
However, the modern Ekalavyadoes not give up when Vembu Iyerrefuses to take him as his student. Hepersists and is fi��nally taken as Iyer’sstudent because Iyer sees Peter’s passion and genuine commitment. Peteris like Ekalavya in his complete devotion to his guru, but due to a misun
derstanding, the teacher banishesPeter for no fault of his. Their reconciliation is really the heart of the story, for it is not just a negotiation between people of diff��erent castehierarchies but also between the hierarchy of teacher and student.
If Arjuna was the counterpart toEkalavya in the original story, there isan equally powerful counterpart inthis modern version. This is in theform of a fairskinned, Tamil Brahmin NRI, who has been admitted to aPhD programme at Harvard University. He comes with more privilegethan Arjuna! But Peter is unfazed. Hetakes on the traditionalists in theirown game. In the climax of the movie, his strength is shown to lie in hisown historical and cultural consciousness. Peter changes due to hisencounter with his guru but he alsochanges the instrument and the classical music tradition which uses it.
Vembu Iyer epitomises all thestruggles of a teacher, one who belongs to an exclusive tradition butwith an ideal of learning that transcends that exclusion. A teacher isone who is able to go beyond his orher tradition and comfort zone forthe sake of a true seeker. The fi��lm reminds us that a teacher is incompletewithout good students, but good isnot intellectual competence alone; itis something more. The last scene ofthe fi��lm, when the teacher acceptsthe student as someone who can notonly carry on the tradition but alsobring his own modifi��cations to it,captures one of the central ethicalprinciples of teaching.
Need for an inclusive systemWhat this movie reminds us is thatthe presentday education system isbased on the qualities, attributes anddesires of a dominant community. Itis not inclusive, since it does not havespace for truth, knowledge and thequalities of learning based on the diverse strengths of diff��erent culturesand histories like those of Peter. ButPeter’s struggle should remind teachers that teaching is a service, not atransaction. Our society is fi��lled withcountless such committed teachers,but they are all silenced by the powers that run education as a handmaiden for their personal and politicalambitions.
Sundar Sarukkai is Professor of Philosophy
at the National Institute of Advanced Studies,
Bengaluru
The education system continues to exclude many people’s histories, world views and cultures
“Our society is fi��lled with committed teachers, but they are all silenced by thepowers that run education as a handmaiden for their personal and politicalambitions.” A classroom in Mandawa, Rajasthan. * GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO
A modern story of Ekalavya
Sundar Sarukkai
It is puzzling that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is busy announcing a spree of sops, given the State’spoor fi��nancial situation. A recently releasedWhite Paper on State fi��nances and economicgrowth details how the unscientifi��c and unjust bifurcation of undivided Andhra Pradesh, as well as the unwillingness of the Central government to implement severalprovisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, left Andhra Pradesh with a revenue defi��cit of ₹��16,078 crore in 201415.
Several problemsThe paper argues that 46% of the estimatedrevenue was granted to Andhra Pradeshagainst a population of 58%; assets were allocated on location basis (most locations werein Hyderabad and hence left behind), whiledebts and liabilities were divided on the basis of population; the pension liability of thecombined State was divided on the basis ofpopulation; power allocation was done onthe basis of consumption; and refund of taxes, a liability, was allocated on the basis ofpopulation, whereas deferred tax collections, an asset, were given on the basis of location, causing a loss of ₹��3,820 crore.
Further, the State lost Hyderabad, that in2014 was estimated to generate about₹��60,000 crore of revenue, besides the manufacturing and service sector hubs. It inherited drought and cycloneprone areas.Though the Central government had acknowledged that the fi��scal, economic and social conditions of Andhra Pradesh would beadversely aff��ected by bifurcation, the support lent to the State in the last four and halfyears has been abysmal, the State claims.
Andhra Pradesh’s economy continues tobe predominantly agrarian. This is evidentfrom the fact that the contribution of theagriculture sector, which was 23% in undivided Andhra Pradesh, shot up to 30.2% atthe time of bifurcation in 2014, and to 34.4%in 201718. Consequently, the per capita income was ₹��82,870 in 2014, compared to Telangana’s per capita income of ₹��1,12,162. Telangana is powered by the industry andservices sector. The per capita income ofAndhra Pradesh is the lowest among the fi��vesouthern States.
The Socio Economic Survey of 201718says the State’s public debt has gone up to₹��2,25,234 crore. Market loans are a lion’s
share in the debt, accounting for 60%. Theoutstanding debt includes the unapportioned amount of ₹��23,483 crore betweenAndhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The debt accounts for 28.79% of the StateGDP and the government says it is forced toraise loans as no special funds are fl��owingfrom the Centre beyond the Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
Dealing with the fi��nancial crisisYet the government insists that it has “converted the crisis into an opportunity”. Despite structural challenges, the Budget boaststhat the State is counted among the best economic performers with an average growth of10.66% compared to the allIndia growth rateof 7.3% ( June 2014December 2018).
How is the State overcoming the problemsof a low tax base, defi��cit rainfall, an “uncooperative” Central government, and thehurdles mounted by bifurcation and a predominantly agriculture economy? Government offi��cials say the State is not only controlling revenue expenditure by cuttingadministrative costs, plugging revenue leakages, minimising transaction costs and rationalising the tax structure, but also usingmore technology across the board.
Presenting the voteonbudget in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Finance Minister Y.Ramakrishnudu said the government hadsuccessfully launched the the Comprehensive Financial Management System, which isin operation now. This, he said, not only improved “eff��ectiveness of budget, expenditure and cash management”, but alsobrought about a sea change in governmenttransactions. The government, he said,saved ₹��2,585 crore through Aadhaar seedingin the Public Distribution System by usingtechnology to plug leakages. And it has managed to increase tax revenue from ₹��38,038crore in 201415 to ₹��75,438 crore in 201819.
Although it claims to have done well inmanaging the available resources, the government seems unable to resist the temptation to launch more populist schemes in total disregard for the State’s fragile fi��nancialcondition. After spending over ₹��22,000crore on crop loan waivers, it announced₹��5,000 crore in the Interim Budget for Annadatha Sukhibhava, an economic supportscheme for farmers; doubled social securitypensions; and increased the unemploymentallowance. It also increased the pay scales ofemployees, the wages of Anganwadi workersand village revenue assistants, and the allocation for various welfare schemes.
How can a government indulge in fi��nancial profl��igacy while alleging a virtual fundsfreeze by the Centre?
Splurging in the time of debt Andhra Pradesh’s government continues to launch populistschemes despite its poor fi��nancial situation
K. Venkateshwarlu
The healthcare panel at the recent India Conference hosted bystudents of the Harvard KennedySchool and the Harvard BusinessSchool discussed the role of theprivate sector in augmenting public healthcare services. Goal 3 ofthe UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDG) is to “ensure healthy
lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages”. India has amammoth role in helping the world attain SDG3 as globalhealth indicators cannot improve without India makinggiant strides. In providing healthcare, the Indian government has led the way, as it should, given that India is a welfare state.
Over the past decade, courtesy changing demographicsand lifestyles, India has been witnessing shifting diseaseprevalence in terms of the largest causes of morbidity andmortality. This requires that we give our health delivery system a relook. The Harvard panel dove in to how the privatesector can be leveraged for this purpose. The preconditionis to create an ecosystem where partnerships between theprivate and the public sector can thrive. This must start withtrust and stated common objectives. Once the ecosystem ismore conducive, complementarities need to be identifi��ed.
While one may not foresee a great presence of the privatesector in providing primary healthcare services, areas suchas ambulance services and valuebased care delivery can bepromoted through this sector. Ayushman Bharat seeks toimprove the network of the government’s fi��rstpointofcontact health centres. For higher levels of services, the privatesector can be incorporated by creating linkages between public health infrastructure and private providers through ahubandspokes model.
Besides services, the private sector is also a source of capital. A legally mandated way to provide this is through Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies above a certain annual turnover (₹��1,000 crore), net worth (₹��500 crores) orannual net profi��ts (₹��5 crore) have to earmark 2% of their netprofi��ts of the past three years to CSR projects, which may include healthcare projects. CSR has not yet reached its fullpotential. However, it is encouraging to see the merging ofinitiatives. This is seen in the government directing companies, albeit public sector ones, to the focus districts of theAspirational Districts programme, which was started in2018 to improve governance and service delivery across sixsectors including health and nutrition.
At the end of the day the lesson was clear: as India strivesto ensure availability, aff��ordability and accessibility to quality healthcare for its people, both private and public stakeholders need to come together.
The writer is a doctor pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy atHarvard University
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The private sector in public healthIt can provide services and capital
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Finance
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in January 2019. Prices inFebruary have been slightly higher than that, but theincrease is not much.
What does this mean forthe economy?The nature of the Indianeconomy is such that achange in oil prices hasknockon eff��ects on almostevery sector such as food,manufacturing, transportand infrastructure. Anysector that uses fuel orenergy as an input is aff��ected by global oil prices because India is still overwhelmingly dependent onimported oil to meet itsneeds.
When global oil pricesfall, infl��ation falls acrossthe board, most notably inenergyintensive sectors.
Why has infl��ation beenfalling?Infl��ation at both the retailand wholesale levels hasbeen falling for the last 45consecutive months. Infl��ation as measured by theConsumer Price Index(CPI), which captures retailinfl��ation, and the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) hasbeen falling in general forthe last year or so. The CPI,for example, was as high as5.21% in December 2017,following which it fell quitesteadily (except for a midyear blip in 2018) till itreached 2.05% in January2019, the lowest it has beenin 19 months. The WPI hassimilarly seen an overalldecline, but has been morevolatile than the CPI.
The main reason why infl��ation has been falling isthe drop in global oil prices. After rising in the middle of 2018 to average $80 abarrel in October, the Indian basket of crude oilprices fell to $57 a barrel inDecember 2018. It was $59
And within this, fallingprices in each of these sectors have an impact on theother sectors dependenton them. For example, falling infl��ation in the transport sector means that every sector that needs totransport goods will alsobenefi��t.
Another aspect of fallinginfl��ation is that the ReserveBank of India has more leeway to go easy on interestrates, one of its key infl��ation targeting tools. In itslast Monetary Policy Review, the central bank cutthe benchmark interestrate by 25 basis points.Some experts feel there isscope for even more cuts.Politically, low and fallinginfl��ation is always to the benefi��t of the government.This is especially noteworthy in the runup to thegeneral election. In contrast, the CPI infl��ation averaged about 7.6% in thethree months leading up tothe 2014 elections.
Why do WPI and CPIinfl��ation diverge?
Economists have pointedout the divergence for quitesome time now. The mainreason behind it is that thetwo indices measure diff��erent products and assigneach of the categories diff��erent weights in the calculation of the overall index.
This divergence has intensifi��ed since the implementation of the Goodsand Services Tax becausethe new tax system aff��ectsretail infl��ation far morethan it does wholesale infl��ation, since it is includedin the fi��nal price of theproduct.
What is the outlookahead?The outlook on oil prices isa stable one. The consensus is that crude oil priceswill remain in the range of$5565 a barrel for the nextthree to four quarters. Given how important this isfor infl��ation in India, experts feel retail infl��ationwill remain subdued at23% and wholesale infl��ation at 34% in the near future.
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FAQ
Infl��ation pressure eases
The Indian economy benefi��ts from the fall in global oil prices
T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan
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