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GS Paper: GS3

  • Rising unemployment is yet to receive the attention it deserves from government

    Context

    India’s unemployment rate in August was 8.3 per cent. This was higher than the 7 per cent recorded in July. The month-to-month variations notwithstanding, these are all very high unemployment rates.

    Why inflation gets more attention in India than unemployment?

    • Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) results showed the historically high unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent for 2017-18 (July to June). It was at a 45-year high.
    • New norm at 7-8 per cent: Till then, India was used to recording an unemployment rate of around 3 per cent. 
    • Today, an unemployment rate of 7-8 per cent seems to be the norm and such levels do not seem to matter.
    • The unemployment rate is not the most important labour market indicator for a country like India.
    • Why inflation gets preference: Between inflation and unemployment, the two economic indicators conjoined theoretically by the Phillips curve, it is inflation that wields political power.
    • Inflation hurts almost the entire population.
    • Equally importantly, high inflation rates can upset financial markets that in turn exert pressure on regulators to keep inflation in control.
    • Unemployment directly impacts only the unemployed, who don’t count much.
    • Worse still, society perceives being unemployed as an individual shortcoming, and not an outcome of a macroeconomic malaise.

    What does low labour force participation rate (LFPR) indicate about the labour market in India?

    • The unemployment rate is a measure of the economy’s inability to provide jobs only for those who seek work.
    • But, in India, very often people do not look for jobs in the belief that none are available which is reflected in a low labour force participation rate (LFPR).
    • India’s LFPR is at around 40 per cent when the global rate is close to 60 per cent.
    • It is important that this belief in the futility of a job hunt is overcome by an explosive creation of new good quality formal jobs.

    Why employment rate is a useful indicator for India

    • A useful labour market metric for a country like India is the employment rate.
    • This measures the proportion of the population over 14 years of age that is employed.
    • The definition of employment needs to be changed, at present, engaging in some economic activity for just one hour in any of the past seven days is counted as employment.
    • India’s record in providing employment to its people has been abysmally poor.
    • CMIE’s definition of employment indicates that in 2016-17, only 42.8 per cent of the working-age population was employed.
    •  In the year of the pandemic, it fell to 36.5 per cent.

    Reverse migration in employment from manufacturing to low productivity employment

    • People are moving away from factories as manufacturing jobs shrink, to farms that provide shelter largely in the form of disguised unemployment.
    • It cannot be the desire of a nation to move people away from high productivity, better quality jobs in manufacturing to low productivity employment in agriculture or as gardeners or security guards in the household sector.
    • Employment opportunities need to expand in areas where labour is deployed to deliver higher productivity for enterprise and higher returns to labour.

    Way forward

    • Increase investment: A large part of the solution to this lack of adequate jobs is in increasing investments.
    • Focus on demand size: For this, the investment climate needs to be business-friendly and government interventions must shift away from supply-side support to spurring demand.

    Conclusion

    The government needs to come up with policies for generating employment opportunities and stemming the reverse migration from manufacturing jobs to low productivity employment.

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  • National Monetization Pipeline shows promise — and limits

    The government of India recently announced an asset monetization plan, wherein existing public assets worth Rs 6 trillion would be monetized by leasing them out to private operators for fixed terms.

    The plan has generated a lot of print so it is worth discussing its pros and cons.

    About NMP

    • The identified assets are primarily concentrated in roads, railways, power, oil and gas, and telecoms.
    • The lease proceeds are expected to be used for new infrastructure investment which, in turn, will contribute to the government’s ambitious Rs 111 trillion infrastructure investment plan.

    Important issues raised by the plan

    [I] How much should the government expect to raise from the plan?

    Revenue Potential

    • In deciding the amount to bid for leasing rights, bidders compute the present discounted value of the annual cash flow from the asset for the duration of the lease.
    • The biggest uncertainty in this calculation surrounds the cash flow on these public assets.
    • Rates of return estimates on public capital in the US have been estimated to be upwards of 15 per cent.
    • However, this is India with its myriad uncertainties regarding pricing, bill collection, asset quality, regulatory framework as well as policy reversals.
    • Hence there is significant uncertainty regarding the revenue potential of the plan.

    [II] Is the plan likely to increase the efficiency of the economy?

    a. Efficiency of the economy

    • The NITI Aayog believes that the private sector is better at managing and operating the identified public assets than the public sector.
    • There is certainly scope for efficiency gains. However, there are significant efficiency impediments too.
    • One set of efficiency issues surrounds usage fees. A second factor related to efficiency is the effect of the plan on competition.

    b. Stressed sectors

    • The identified assets belong to core sectors of the economy spanning transport, energy and communication.
    • Sectors like telecoms and ports have already seen rising concentration of ownership in recent years.
    • An acceleration and extension of this trend to other segments of the infrastructure landscape would be seriously worrying.
    • While some of this could well be rationalized through the stipulation of rules for the allocation of leasing rights, the plan is silent on this.

    c. Financing of the lease bids

    • If bidders finance their bids using domestic savings, there is a clear opportunity cost of the plan since these savings would otherwise have been invested in alternative projects.
    • Moreover, the bidding for scarce domestic savings by prospective investors will also raise domestic interest rates which will put downward pressure on domestic private investment.
    • It would also be worth reminding ourselves that the last round of PPP-based infrastructure funding routed through banks ended up with a heap of NPAs in public sector bank balance sheets.

    Biggest flaw of the NMP

    • No clear objective: The biggest drawback of the plan is that it fails to articulate the reasons for public sector inefficiency in asset management.
    • No focus on management: If it is personnel-related, then privatizing management may be the right answer. If the inefficiency is related to constraints on pricing and bill collection, then the roots of the problem are unlikely to be addressed by leasing out their management to private operators.
    • No clear assessment of underperforming sectors: The plan document also fails to outline whether the identified brownfield assets are the public sector’s highest cash flow assets or the relatively under-performing ones.

    Better alternatives for the govt

    • The way around this is to welcome foreign investors to bid for the assets.
    • But this will require serious political will since entrenching foreign influence on Indian public assets will generate controversy.
    • On this aspect too, the announced plan is low on details.

    Way forward

    • If the private sector is indeed more efficient in running infrastructure assets, the most efficient strategy would be to lease out the worst-performing assets rather than the best performing ones.
    • The NITI Aayog would do the policy landscape a big service by following up the proposal with a white paper that addresses some of these efficiency-related issues.
    • Without that, the monetization plan, while intriguing, is incomplete.

    Conclusion

    • A monetization plan envisages the private sector paying an upfront fee to the government which the government uses for new infrastructure investment.
    • As much as private bidders finance themselves by borrowing, this amounts to the private sector borrowing and handing over the funds to the government to invest in infrastructure.
    • This could enhance efficiency in infrastructure investment only if the government faces higher interest rates in capital markets than the private sector.

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  • GST Council not for inclusion of Petroleum Products

    The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decided to keep petroleum products out of the GST regime.

    Present taxation of Fuels

    • Currently, taxes on petroleum products are levied by both the Centre and the states.
    • While the Centre levies excise duty, states levy value added tax (VAT).
    • For instance, VAT on petroleum products is as high as 40% in Maharashtra, contributing over ₹25,000 crore annually.
    • By being able to levy VAT on these products, the state governments have control over their revenues.

    Impact of inclusion of fuel under GST

    • If petroleum products are included under the GST, there will be a uniform price of fuel across the country.
    • However, petroleum products coming under GST not necessarily means that taxes or prices will come down.
    • If the GST council decides to opt for a lower slab, taxes may come down.
    • At present, India has four primary GST rates – 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent.
    • Levying a standard rate of GST on petrol would mean that the prices increase dramatically in Andaman and Nicobar, but on the flip side, they would fall in Maharashtra if the cumulative rate is lower than the current rate.

    Key takeaways from States VAT

    • Among the states, Rajasthan levies the highest tax across the country keeping VAT on petrol at 36 percent, followed by Telangana at 35.2 percent.
    • Other states with more than 30 per cent VAT on petrol include Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
    • On diesel, the highest VAT rates are charged by states like Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
    • So far, five states, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Assam and Nagaland have cut taxes on fuel this year.

    Back2Basics: Petroleum Pricing Mechanism

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  • Pseudo-melanism in Tigers of Simlipal

    A team of scientists has resolved the genetic mystery of Simlipal’s so-called black tigers.

    What are Black Tigers?

    • Tigers have a distinctive dark stripe pattern on a light background of white or golden.
    • A rare pattern variant, distinguished by stripes that are broadened and fused together, is also observed in both wild and captive populations.
    • This is known as pseudo-melanism, which is different from true melanism, a condition characterized by unusually high deposition of melanin, a dark pigment.
    • This pseudo-melanism is linked to a single mutation in Transmembrane Aminopeptidase Q (Taqpep), a gene responsible for similar traits in other cat species.

    Where are they mostly found?

    • While truly melanistic tigers are yet to be recorded, pseudo-melanistic ones have been camera-trapped repeatedly, and only, in Simlipal, a 2,750-km tiger reserve in Odisha, since 2007.
    • Launched in 2017, the study was the first attempt to investigate the genetic basis for this unusual phenotype (appearance).

    Why they are rare?

    • Mutants are genetic variations which may occur spontaneously, but not frequently, in nature.
    • A cub gets two copies of each gene from both parents, and a recessive gene can show up only in the absence of the dominant one.
    • So, two normal-pattern tigers carrying the recessive pseudo-melanism gene will have to breed together for a one-in-four probability of giving birth to a black cub.
    • But recessive genes are rare and it is unlikely that two unrelated tigers will carry the same one and pass it on together to a cub.

    Connection with Simlipal TR

    • In an ideal tiger world, where far-ranging individuals are never short of choices for partners, that makes succession of black tigers a rarity.
    • Under exceptional circumstances, a black tiger may succeed as part of a very small population that is forced to inbreed in isolation for generations.
    • As it turned out, that is what happened at Simlipal.
    • Pseudo-melanistic tigers are also present in three zoos in India — Nandankanan (Bhubaneswar), Arignar Anna Zoological Park (Chennai) and Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park (Ranchi) — where they were born in captivity.
    • All of them have ancestral links to one individual from Simlipal.

    What about natural selection?

    • Natural selection eliminates the weakest from a gene pool, and the traits of the more successful get passed on.
    • Niche modelling, the study said, shows higher frequency of melanistic leopards in darker tropical and subtropical forests than in drier open habitats.
    • Likewise, darker coats may confer a selective advantage in both hunting and avoiding hunters in Simlipal’s tropical moist deciduous and semi-evergreen closed-canopy forest, with a relatively darker understory.

    Try this PYQ:

    Two important rivers – one with its source in Jharkhand (and known by a different name in Odisha), and another, with its source in Odisha – merge at a place only a short distance from the coast of Bay of Bengal before flowing into the sea. This is an important site of wildlife and biodiversity and a protected area.

     

    Which one of the following could be this?
    (a) Bhitarkanika
    (b) Chandipur-on-sea
    (c) Gopalpur-on-sea
    (d) Simlipal

     

    Post your answers here.[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”plpfw4ge94″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″][/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    Back2Basics: Project Tiger

    • Project Tiger is a tiger conservation program launched in April 1973 during PM Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
    • In 1970 India had only 1800 tigers and Project Tiger was launched in Jim Corbett National Park.
    • The project is administrated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
    • It aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction etc.
    • Under this project the govt. has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

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  • General Sherman: World’s largest tree

    Two wildfires in California are burning through the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada that is home to some of the largest trees in the world.

    Among these trees is the world’s largest tree popularly known as General Sherman, which firefighters are now trying to protect from the blaze.

    About General Sherman

    • The General Sherman tree is the world’s largest in terms of volume and exists in the Giant Forest sequoia grove of the national park.
    • As per recent estimates, General Sherman is about 2,200 years old.
    • It stands at a height of 275 feet (taller than the leaning tower of Pisa) and has a diameter of 36 feet at the base.
    • Even 60 feet above the base, the tree has a diameter of 17.5 feet.
    • Giant sequoia trees have existed in the national park for thousands of years and there are an estimated 2,000 such trees in the park.

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  • Building a resilient economy

    Context

    To revive and sustain growth, action is needed both at the international and national levels.

    Hopes of V-shaped recovery of Indian economy

    • The National Statistical Office (NSO) had recently estimated that India’s economic growth has surged to 20.1% in the April-June quarter.
    • In its recently launched Trade and Development Report 2021, UNCTAD has estimated global growth to hit 5.3% in 2021 and growth in India to hit 7.2%.
    • According to the report, India showed strong quarterly growth of 1.9% in the first quarter of 2021, on the back of the momentum of the second half of 2020 and supported by government spending in goods and services.
    • Given the inherent fragilities, India’s growth in 2021 as a whole is estimated at 7.2%, which is one of the fastest compared to most countries in the analysis.
    • But it is still not sufficient to regain the pre-COVID-19 income level.
    • However, going forward, the economy is likely to experience a deceleration of growth to 6.7% growth in 2022.

    Ways to sustain growth

    1) Efforts at the International level

    • To revive and sustain growth, action is needed both at the international and national levels.
    • TRIPS waiver: The report strongly supports India’s proposed temporary suspension of the World Trade Organization TRIPS waiver.
    • Waiver is considered as a necessary step to enable the local manufacture of vaccines in developing countries

    2) Steps to be taken at the national level

    • Resilience: At the national level, COVID-19 has reinforced the idea that resilience is a public good and responsibility of the state.
    • It has to be delivered through a robust public sector with the resources to make the necessary investments, provide the complementary services and coordinate the multiple activities that building resilience involves.
    • Mobilising financial resources: We need a financial system that accords a more significant role to public banks, breaks up and guards against the emergence of megabanks, and exercises stronger regulatory oversight is more likely to deliver a healthier investment climate.
    • Minimum wage:  Wages are a critical source of demand and their growth can stimulate productivity and underpin a strong social contract.
    • Minimum wages and related labour legislation are needed for appropriate protection against abusive practices.
    • Policies for informal sector: Policies targeting informality are of particular importance, especially for a country like India with a large informal economy.

    Conclusion

    It is important to build a healthy, diversified economy. For this, a strong industrial policy focusing on building digital capacities is needed. A resilient economy goes beyond offering a residual category of safety nets designed to stop those left behind from falling further.

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  • Government sets up ‘bad bank’ to clear the NPA mess

    Paving the way for a major clean-up of bad loans in the banking system, the Union Cabinet has cleared a ₹30,600-crore guarantee programme for securities to be issued by the newly incorporated ‘bad bank’ for taking over and resolving non-performing assets (NPAs) amounting to ₹2 lakh crore.

    What is a Bad Bank?

    • A bad bank conveys the impression that it will function as a bank but has bad assets to start with.
    • Technically, it is an asset reconstruction company (ARC) or an asset management company that takes over the bad loans of commercial banks, manages them and finally recovers the money over a period of time.
    • Such a bank is not involved in lending and taking deposits, but helps commercial banks clean up their balance sheets and resolve bad loans.
    • The takeover of bad loans is normally below the book value of the loan and the bad bank tries to recover as much as possible subsequently.

    Bad Banks to be established

    • The NARCL-IDRCL structure is the new bad bank.
    • The National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) has already been incorporated under the Companies Act.
    • It will acquire stressed assets worth about Rs 2 lakh crore from various commercial banks in different phases.
    • Another entity — India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL), which has also been set up — will then try to sell the stressed assets in the market.

    How will the NARCL-IDRCL work?

    • The NARCL will first purchase bad loans from banks.
    • It will pay 15% of the agreed price in cash and the remaining 85% will be in the form of “Security Receipts”.
    • When the assets are sold, with the help of IDRCL, , the commercial banks will be paid back the rest.
    • If the bad bank is unable to sell the bad loan, or has to sell it at a loss, then the government guarantee will be invoked.
    • The difference between what the commercial bank was supposed to get and what the bad bank was able to raise will be paid from the Rs 30,600 crore that has been provided by the government.

    Will a bad bank resolve matters?

    • From the perspective of a commercial bank saddled with high NPA levels, it will help.
    • That’s because such a bank will get rid of all its toxic assets, which were eating up its profits, in one quick move.
    • When the recovery money is paid back, it will further improve the bank’s position.
    • Meanwhile, it can start lending again.

    Why do we need a bad bank?

    • The idea gained currency during Rajan’s tenure as RBI Governor.
    • The RBI had then initiated an asset quality review (AQR) of banks and found that several banks had suppressed or hidden bad loans to show a healthy balance sheet.
    • However, the idea remained on paper amid lack of consensus on the efficacy of such an institution.
    • ARCs have not made any impact in resolving bad loans due to many procedural issues.
    • While commercial banks resume lending, the so-called bad bank, or a bank of bad loans, would try to sell these “assets” in the market.

    Good about the bad banks

    • The problem of NPAs continues in the banking sector, especially among the weaker banks.
    • The bad bank concept is in some ways similar to an ARC but is funded by the government initially, with banks and other investors co-investing in due course.
    • The presence of the government is seen as a means to speed up the clean-up process.
    • Many other countries had set up institutional mechanisms such as the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) in the US to deal with a problem of stress in the financial system.

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  • Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) Biosphere Reserve

    UNESCO has designated Mura-Drava-Danube (MDD) as the world’s first ‘five-country biosphere reserve’.

    About Mura-Drava-Danube BR

    • The biosphere reserve covers 700 kilometres of the Mura, Drava and Danube rivers and stretches across Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia.
    • The total area of the reserve — a million hectares — in the so-called ‘Amazon of Europe’, makes it the largest riverine protected area on the continent.
    • The reserve is home to floodplain forests, gravel and sand banks, river islands, oxbows and meadows.
    • It is home to continental Europe’s highest density of breeding white-tailed eagle (more than 150 pairs), as well as endangered species such as the little tern, black stork, otters, beavers and sturgeons.
    • It is also an important annual resting and feeding place for more than 250,000 migratory birds, according to WWF.
    • Almost 900,000 people live in the biosphere reserve. (UPSC may ask if it is uninhabited.)

    Significance of this BR

    • The new reserve represented an important contribution to the European Green Deal and contributes to the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy in the Mura-Drava-Danube region.
    • The strategy’s aim is to revitalize 25,000 km of rivers and protect 30 per cent of the European Union’s land area by 2030.
    • The declaration as BR puts river revitalization, sustainable business practices enhancing cross-border cooperation into focus.

    Ignore at your own risk! Its better to correct it here itself.

    Such PYQs are ought to repeat any number of times in UPSC CSE.

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. The boundaries of a National Park are defined by legislation.
    2. A Biosphere Reserve is declared to conserve a few specific species of flora and fauna.
    3. In a Wildlife Sanctuary, limited biotic interference is permitted.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”crefywlmtc” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    Back2Basics: UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

    • Biosphere reserves are ‘learning places for sustainable development’.
    • They are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located.
    • They are designated under the intergovernmental MAB Programme by the Director-General of UNESCO following the decisions of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB ICC).
    • Their status is internationally recognized. Member States can submit sites through the designation process.
    • Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems.

    They integrate three main “functions”:

    1. Conservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity
    2. Economic development that is socio-culturally and environmentally sustainable
    3. Logistic support, underpinning development through research, monitoring, education and training

    (a) Core Areas

    It comprises a strictly protected zone that contributes to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation

    (b) Buffer Zones

    It surrounds or adjoins the core area(s), and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce scientific research, monitoring, training and education.

    (c) Transition Area

    The transition area is where communities foster socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable economic and human activities.

    UNESCO recognized BRs in India

    Year of

    recognition

    Name

    States
    2000 Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve Tamil Nadu
    2001 Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Tamil Nadu
    2001 Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve West Bengal
    2004 Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Uttarakhand
    2009 Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve Madhya Pradesh
    2009 Nokrek Biosphere Reserve Meghalaya
    2009 Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Odisha
    2012 Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve Chhattisgarh
    2013 Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve Great Nicobar
    2016 Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve Kerala and Tamil Nadu
    2018 Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve Part of North and West Sikkim districts
    2020 Panna Biosphere Reserve Madhya Pradesh

     

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  • [pib] PLI Scheme for White Goods

    A total of  52 companies have filed their application with a committed investment of Rs 5,866 crore under the PLI scheme to incentivize the domestic manufacturing of components of White Goods.

    What are White Goods?

    • White goods refer to heavy consumer durables or large home appliances, which were traditionally available only in white.
    • They include appliances such as washing machines, air conditioners, stoves, refrigerators, etc. The white goods industry in India is highly concentrated.

    Why PLI scheme for white goods?

    • Indian appliance and consumer electronics (ACE) market reached INR 76,400 crore (~$10.93 bn) in 2019.
    • Appliances and consumer electronics industry is expected to double to reach INR 1.48 lakh crore (~$21.18 bn) by 2025.
    • The PLI Scheme on White Goods is designed to create complete component ecosystem for Air Conditioners and LED Lights Industry in India and make India an integral part of the global supply chains.
    • Only manufacturing of components of ACs and LED Lights will be incentivized under the Scheme.

    What is PLI Scheme?

    • As the name suggests, the scheme provides incentives to companies for enhancing their domestic manufacturing apart from focusing on reducing import bills and improving the cost competitiveness of local goods.
    • PLI scheme offers incentives on incremental sales for products manufactured in India.
    • The scheme for respective sectors has to be implemented by the concerned ministries and departments.

    Criteria laid for the scheme

    • Eligibility criteria for businesses under the PLI scheme vary based on the sector approved under the scheme.
    • For instance, the eligibility for telecom units is subject to the achievement of a minimum threshold of cumulative incremental investment and incremental sales of manufactured goods.
    • The minimum investment threshold for MSME is Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crores for others.
    • Under food processing, SMEs and others must hold over 50 per cent of the stock of their subsidiaries, if any.
    • On the other hand, for businesses under pharmaceuticals, the project has to be a greenfield project while the net worth of the company should not be less than 30 per cent of the total committed investment.

    What are the incentives offered?

    • An incentive of 4-6 per cent was offered last year on mobile and electronic components manufacturers such as resistors, transistors, diodes, etc.
    • Similarly, 10 percent incentives were offered for six years (FY22-27) of the scheme for the food processing industry.
    • For white goods too, the incentive of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of five years was offered to companies engaged in the manufacturing of air conditioners and LED lights.

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  • How not to deal with recession

    Context

    The Centre is facing a serious financial crisis because of the exigencies created by the pandemic and its own policies. However, monetising assets and cutting down funds to states could aggravate the crisis.

    3 Policies aggravating the crisis

    1) NMP and disinvestment

    • Union Finance Minister, while announcing the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), said that asset monetisation is based on the philosophy of creation through monetisation and is aimed at “tapping private sector investment for new infrastructure creation”.
    • Loss of dividend: Disinvestment of profitable Navratna companies will result in a loss of dividend, a major source of income for the Centre.
    • Loss due to tax exemptions: Tax exemptions to the investors will take away another major share of income.
    • Central funds will be squeezed and this, in turn, will have a bearing on state finances.
    • NMP will seriously hurt the interests of the country.

    2) Cutting down funds to States

    • Kerala’s case: The state was getting about 3.92 per cent from the divisible pool in the 1970s and 1980s.
    • It came down to 2.66 per cent and 2.34 per cent in the awards of the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions.
    • The 14th Finance Commission award increased it to 2.45 (2.50) per cent.
    • Now, the 15th Finance Commission has reduced it to 1.92 per cent.
    • This arbitrary cut is a result of the adoption of certain new yardsticks by the commission without considering the state government’s views
    • The 15th Finance Commission’s special grant (RD grant) of Rs 19,800 crore for this year will no longer be available in the coming years.
    • Karnataka and many other states have also suffered because of the policy to reduce the divisible pool share.

    3) Tax exemptions and surcharge

    • Exemptions amounting to Rs 99,842.06 crore were extended to corporate houses in 2019-20.
    • Many taxes on goods were reduced because of electoral compulsions. This reduced central revenues.
    • Along with such tax exemptions, the increased use of cesses and surcharges is responsible for the shrinking of the shareable pool.
    • The shareable resources with the Centre was around Rs 6.8 lakh crore in 2019-20 which has come down to Rs 5.5 lakh crore in 2020-21.
    • All the cesses and surcharges that are not shared with states come to about 20 per cent of the total revenues of the Centre.
    • States have been demanding that this money should be shared with them, particularly while fighting a pandemic.
    • States complaining for resources does not augur well for cooperative federalism.

    Way forward

    • Developing basic infrastructure and the production sector is the only way to face an economic crisis.
    • That should not be done by selling or handing over public assets to private individuals and corporations.
    • We need massive public investment that will help people to form cooperatives and collectives in agriculture and industrial production.
    • Parliament, the National Development Council and the GST Council should discuss this unprecedented situation.

    Conclusion

    We need to find a way out collectively. Handing over the rights on public properties to private individuals will take the country back to the colonial era. This must not be allowed.

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