India to see 'some important' reforms in next 6 months: Kaushik Basu

April 22, 2012

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Washington, April 22: After the flak over his remarks to a think tank here, chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu feels India will see some important reforms in the next six months, including on subsidies and may be partial diesel decontrol and FDI in retail.

However, he feels the biggest reform GST (Goods and Services Tax) may be tougher because it is good and not everybody wants it to happen under the present regime.

Basu, whose remarks on Wednesday that no big ticket reform is possible till 2014 elections raised a political flutter back home, said there is a serious risk of another European crisis in 2014 and appropriate measures need to be taken to avert another global economic crisis.

"Among the reforms that will happen, I hope, is, subsidy reform. The finance minister talked about this in his budget. We will try to use the UID system that we are developing to cut down leakage in subsidy," he said in an interview to this news agency.

"In India the leakage is so big that if we can cut this down, it will help cut down our fiscal deficit ... So that's a very important reform, which I think will happen," he said.

On FDI in multi-brand retail, he said, "you can't be 100 per cent sure, but I feel that it's very likely that it will happen. This can be a big boost to Indian farmers and small producers. It will also have an uplifting on investor confidence."

The other one, which is more difficult politically, is diesel decontrol, Basu said. "May be what can happen is a partial decontrol. This is not a very well defined term. There are different kinds of partial decontrol that you can have.

"What we should ideally do is to have a small subsidy that is fixed per liter. This will partially shelter the consumer but will allow the rise and fall of global price to be mirrored in India. This is essential for market efficiency," Basu said.

The chief economic advisor said his remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace were clear and addressed towards the possible European crisis and had nothing to do with the 2014 general elections as being reported in the media.

"There is nothing to clarify. I meant everything that I said; the lack of clarity was in its reporting," he said, adding around this central message, he talked about India.

Basu said in his lecture on Wednesday he had said that India needs to strengthen itself for the possible European crisis of 2014.

"Thanks to the strains of coalition politics there is a slowdown in reforms. Nevertheless, we will see some important reforms within the next six months.

"This is in our political and economic interest. But the biggest reform, the GST, is going to be much tougher because there you need a constitutional amendment," he said.

In fact, he said, an interesting reason why GST is so difficult is because all parties realise this is very good.

"Therefore, not everybody wants it to happen under the present regime," Basu said.

He said 2014 was significant in his talk because of Europe and had nothing to do with the Indian elections. "We in India love politics so much that for us 2014 is nothing but the year of Indian general elections. India has gone through a difficult year with some slowdown in growth," he noted.

"This has three causes - the European crisis, our difficult battle with inflation and the slowdown in decision-making and reforms and the disruption of Parliament that we have seen in the last year," he said.

"There is a serious risk of another European crisis in 2014," the chief economic adviser said.

This, he said, was the central theme of his talk at the Washington-based think tank.

"This is not hand-waving but is based on analysis. In December 2011 and February 2012, the ECB ( European Central Bank) pumped in about $1.3 trillion of money into Euro Zone banks. This immediately calmed the markets and I think what ECB did was right," he said.

"But you have to remember that these are loans that have to be repaid in three years. So if Europe does not manage to reform its fiscal system, then three years from now, when the time comes for this huge amount of money injected into the system to be withdrawn, we could see another European crisis, with shock waves for the entire world," Basu said.

"I argued we have to take measures against this so that we can avert the global crisis of 2014. That was the gist of my talk," Basu said.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Mumbai, Apr 14: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announed extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3, a large number of migrant workers who earn daily wages came out on road in Mumbai on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.

Bandra in Mumbai right now. Police probing what caused such a large crowd to gather. pic.twitter.com/04H1Mnggd2

— Padmaja joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) April 14, 2020

Daily wage workers have been rendered jobless ever since the lockdown was announced late last month to stem the spread of COVID-19, making their life a constant struggle.

Though authorities and NGOs have made arrangemnets for their food, most of them want to go back to their native places to escape the hardship brought by the sweeping curbs.

Wow. Thousands of ambassadors of peace doing this at #Bandra right now. Well done @OfficeofUT, well done. The world should see this.#Covid_19 #COVIDIOTSpic.twitter.com/SdinaZXm39

— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 14, 2020

According to a police official, daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on road at around 3 pm.

The daily wage earners, who reside on rent in slums in in the nearby Patel Nagri locality, were demanding arrangement of transport facilities so that they can go back to their native towns and villages.

They originally hail from states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Thousands of migrants gather at Mumbai's #Bandra railway station and protested. All are migrant workers, specially from Bihar-Bangal and they wanted to go home. They had hoped trains will start today. The police is investigating the matter and says crowd has been dispersed now. pic.twitter.com/NMHfv0CEpj

— Shivangi Thakur (@thakur_shivangi) April 14, 2020

One of the labourers, who did not reveal his name, said, NGOs and local residents are providing food to migrant workers, but they want to go back to their native states during the lockdown which has badly affected their source of livelihood.

"Now, we dont want food, we want to go back to our native place, we are not happy with the announcement (extending the lockdown)," he said, looking dejected.

Asadullah Sheikh, who hails from from Malda in West Bengal, said, We have already spent our savings during the first phase of the lockdown. We have nothing to eat now, we just want to go back at our native place, the government should made arrangements for us.

This happened in bandra just minutes back ! This can be potentially dangerous. Mumbai anyways is a hotspot ! What is the @MumbaiPolice and @OfficeofUT doing ???? Did @uddhavthackeray not provide food and shelter to such migrants ? #mumbai #UddhavThackeray #Lockdown2 pic.twitter.com/AeSuqbwhyN

— Megha Prasad (@MeghaSPrasad) April 14, 2020

Another labourer, Abdul Kayyun, said I am in Mumbai for last many years but have never seen such a situation. The government should start trains to shift us from here to our native place."

Heavy police deployment was made at the protest site to tackle any untoward incident.

Personnel from other police stations were called at the spot to maintain order, the official addd.

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Agencies
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday brought back over 2,300 kg of polished diamonds and pearls worth Rs 1,350 crore of firms belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi from Hong Kong, officials said.

Out of the 108 consignments that landed at Mumbai, 32 belong to overseas entities "controlled" by Modi while the rest are of Mehul Choksi firms.

Both the businessmen are being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an over USD 2 billion alleged bank fraud at a PNB branch in Mumbai.

The valuables include polished diamonds, pearls and silver jewellery, and is worth Rs 1,350 crore. 

The ED completed "all legal formalities" with authorities in Hong Kong to bring back these valuables, the agency said.

These will formally seized under the PMLA now, it said.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: A day after India and China military commanders held "cordial and positive" talks at Chushul-Moldo point along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, Ministry of External Affairs said the two countries have agreed to "peacefully" resolve the situation in the border areas by continuing the military and diplomatic engagements.

The Indian delegation led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh on Saturday met his Chinese equivalent Maj Gen Liu Lin, who is the commander of South Xinjiang Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, to address the ongoing tussle in Eastern Ladakh.

In a statement on Sunday, the MEA said that the meeting between the Corps Commander based in Leh and the Chinese Commander took place in a "cordial and positive atmosphere".

"Both sides agreed to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas in accordance with various bilateral agreements and keeping in view the agreement between the leaders that peace and tranquillity in the India-China border regions is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations," the statement read.

They also noted that this year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and agreed that an early resolution would contribute to the further development of the relationship.

"Accordingly, the two sides will continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas," it further read.

China has moved its troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh areas including the Finger area, Pangong Tso Lake, and Galwan Nala area.

The meeting between military commanders was to discuss and resolve the stand-off in Eastern Ladakh.

Following the meeting, the Army Headquarters' Directorate General of Military Operations also briefed the Ministry of External Affairs and other concerned government officials about the discussions.

On Friday, officials of India and China interacted through video-conferencing with the two sides agreeing that they should handle "their differences through peaceful discussion" while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns and not allowing them to become disputes in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership.

In the last few days, there has not been any major movement of the PLA troops at the multiple sites where it has stationed itself along the LAC opposite Indian forces.

The Chinese Army's intent to carry out deeper incursions was checked by the Indian security forces by quick deployment.

The Chinese have also brought in heavy vehicles with artillery guns and infantry combat vehicles in their rear positions close to the Indian territory.

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