A recent order passed by CIC in an appeal against the State Bank of India (SBI) has once again highlighted the issues with the Electoral Bond Scheme. The article deals with this issue.
Issues with the scheme
The scheme creates banking instruments for a donation of funds to political parties facilitated by the SBI.
It conceals the identity of the donors and donees as well as the amount of donation.
In effect, the scheme is not transparent, promotes arbitrariness, and is therefore illegal.
The scheme facilitates undisclosed quid pro quo arrangements between donors, who are likely to be corporates, and political parties.
The Supreme Court held that the freedom of speech and expression also contained the fundamental right of a voter to secure information about the candidates.
When the voter is permitted to know if an electoral candidate is facing any cases, she should be equally entitled to know who is financing the expenses of the party and its candidate.
CIC order and RTI Act
The CIC, in an earlier order, deemed political parties to be public authorities under the RTI Act.
In the present order, the CIC has upheld the contention of the SBI that it is not required to furnish the details of donors, donees, and donations, under the RTI Act.
In doing so, SBI has relied on two grounds provided under Section 8 of the RTI Act.
Section 8 exempts disclosure of information if it has been held in a fiduciary capacity and that there was no public interest involved in the application.
However, any exemption provided under Section 8 should be read-only in a very narrow sense.
Section 8(2) directs that when public interest outweighs any harm to protected interests, the information sought may be accessed.
Therefore, it overrides the grounds erroneously relied upon by the CIC.
The public interest in the present matter is indisputable.
Consider the question “What are the various provisions in the Electoral Bond Scheme? How some of its provisions could come in conflict with the RTI Act.”
Conclusion
By suppressing knowledge of political financing, we are breaking the basic bonds of democracy holding the country together. An unsettled law is as dangerous as bad law. The Court must conclusively settle the questions around the constitutionality of electoral bonds.
The article highlights the issues with the current climate policies which are centred on the inequality.
Inequality and climate change
Inequity is built into the climate treaty, which considers total emissions, size, and population, making India the fourth largest emitter.
According to the United Nations, the richest 1% of the global population emits more than two times the emissions of the bottom 50%.
.China, with four times the population of the U.S., accounts for 12% of cumulative emissions.
India, with a population close to that of China’s, for just 3% of cumulative emissions that lead to global warming.
In an urbanized world, two-thirds of emissions arise from the demand of the middle class for infrastructure, mobility, buildings, and diet.
Well-being in the urbanized world is reflected in saturation levels of infrastructure.
Growth in the developed countries is consumption-driven not production driven.
The vaguely worded ‘carbon neutrality’, balancing emitting carbon with absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in forests is a triple whammy for latecomers like India.
Such countries already have less energy-intensive pathways that will not encroach on others’ ecological space, a young population, and are growing fast to reach comparable levels of well-being with those already urbanized and in the middle class.
What changes are required in the policies
At present, the focus is on physical quantities which indicates effects on nature.
The solutions require analysis of drivers, trends, and patterns of resource use.
This anomaly explains why the link between well-being, energy use, and emissions is not on the global agenda.
Modifying unsustainable patterns of natural resource use and ensuring comparable levels of well-being are societal transformations.
New thinking must enable politics to acknowledge transformational social goals and the material boundaries of economic activity.
India’s unique national circumstances
India must highlight its unique national circumstances.
For example, the meat industry, especially beef, contributes to one-third of global emissions.
Indians eat just 4 kg of meat a year compared to those in the European Union who eat about 65 kg.
Also to be noted is the fact that the average American household wastes nearly one-third of its food.
Transport emissions account for a quarter of global emissions.
Transport emissions are the symbol of Western civilization and are not on the global agenda.
Rising Asia uses three-quarters of coal drives industry and supports the renewable energy push into cities.
India, with abundant reserves and per capita electricity use that is one-tenth that of the U.S., is under pressure to stop using coal.
Way forward
India has the credibility and legitimacy to push an alternate 2050 goal for countries currently with per capita emissions below the global average.
These goals should include well-being within ecological limits, the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as multilateral technological knowledge cooperation around electric vehicles, energy efficiency, building insulation, and a less wasteful diet.
Conclusion
Emissions are the symptom, not the cause of the problem. India, in the UN Security Council, must push new ideas based on its civilizational and long-standing alternate values for the transition to sustainability.
When assembly lines are heavily dependent on supplies from one country, the impact on importing nations could be crippling if that source stops production intentionally (economic sanction) or unintentionally (natural disaster)
Example: Japan imported $169 billion worth from China, accounting for 24% of its total imports. Japan’s imports from China fell by half in February 2020 that impacted Japan’s economic activity.
In the context of international trade, supply chain resilience is an approach that helps a country to ensure that it has diversified its supply risk across a clutch of supplying nations instead of being dependent on just one or a few
Recent incidents that led to supply chain disruption
Disruptions in supply chains can be natural or man-made.
When the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out, it had an immediate and telling effect on supply chains emanating from China.
In Japan’s case, a nuclear disaster (Fukushima Daiichi) caused a sharp drop in Japanese automobile exports to the United States.
Terrorist drone attacks on oil refineries in Saudi Arabia in September 2019 resulted in a drop of 5.7 million barrels of oil per day.
That attack triggered a steep plunge in Saudi Arabia’s stock market and a sharp spike in global oil prices.
Tensions with China led the United States government to impose restrictions on the export of microchips to China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer SMIC.
Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI)
Geo-politics and geo-economics can never be truly separated.
Also, there is a growing trend of weaponization of trade and technology.
China had imposed sanctions on its key exports of grain, beef, wine, coal, etc to Australia for demanding an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and advocating a robust Indo-Pacific vision.
It is against this backdrop that India, Japan, and Australia initiated the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).
It focuses on automobiles and parts, petroleum, steel, textiles, financial services, and IT sectors.
The SCRI may be strengthened by the future involvement of France.
Kingdom has also shown interest in the SCRI.
“China plus one” strategy
For many Japanese companies, global performance and profits are linked to manufacturing facilities and supply chains in China.
Yet, they have shown an early capacity for risk mitigation through the “China Plus One” business strategy.
The “China plus one” strategy aims at diversification of investments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), India, and Bangladesh.
Japan announced a 2.2 billion Relocation Package.
Of the companies that availed this package, 57 relocated to Japan, 30 to Southeast Asia, and two to India.
India’s vulnerability to supply chain disruptions
India can ill-afford the shocks of disruption in supply chains.
For instance, the pandemic caused a breakdown in global supply chains in the automotive sector.
For India, which imports 27% of its requirement of automotive parts from China, this quandary was a wake-up call.
It is t is noteworthy is that despite being the fourth largest market in Asia for medical devices, India has an import dependency of 80%.
Given the renewed thrust in the health-care sector, this is the right time to fill gaps through local manufacturing.
India increasing its presence in global supply chains
1) Electronic industry
India’s electronics industry was worth $120 billion in 2018-2019 and is forecast to grow to $400 billion by 2025.
India is enhancing its presence in the global supply chains by attracting investments in the semiconductor components and packaging industry.
The Indian electronics sector is gradually shifting away from completely knocked down (CKD) assembly to high-value addition.
2) Defence sector
Defence is among the key pillars of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy.
The government is providing a big boost to defence manufacturing under the ‘Make in India’ program.
It has identified a negative import list of 101 items.
There is a tremendous opportunity for foreign companies to enter into tie-ups with reputed Indian defence manufacturers to tap into the growing defence market in India.
Consider the question “Pandemic has demonstrated the damage vulnerable supply chains can cause. It also underscored the importance of resilient supply chains. In light of this, examine the importance of diversification of supply chains.”
Conclusion
India has the capacity and the potential to become one of the world’s largest destinations for investments, and one of the world’s largest manufacturing hubs, in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“In an economy that is overleveraged to historic proportions, economic stimuli may not do the trick.”
– Kenneth Eade
Another topic to look into this mains season is the effect of covid on various other systems like financial, health, and social. Recap one of the relationship of covid with economics.
What is a Fiscal Stimulus?
A ‘stimulus’ is an attempt by policymakers to kick-start a sluggish economy through a package of measures. A monetary stimulus will see the central bank expanding money supply or reducing the cost of money (interest rates), to spur consumer spending. A fiscal stimulus entails the Government spending more from its own coffers or slashing tax rates to put more money in the hands of consumers.
Need for a fiscal stimulus
With monetary policy, both conventional and unconventional, having reached the limits of its effectiveness in most of the advanced industrial countries, the only instrument left for boosting demand is fiscal policy. There are calls for a government stimulus package to revitalize the economy.
(1) Powering the Demand
When demand in an economy stays weak for long, businesses stop investing in new projects, unemployment rises, income shrinks and consumer confidence wanes. This prompts consumers to retreat further.
A stimulus could shot to consumer spending; it revives business confidence, restarts projects, creates jobs and sets off a virtuous cycle of feel-good, demand and growth.
(2) Boosting the Employment
Many people have lost their jobs or seen their incomes cut due to the coronavirus crisis.
Unemployment rates have increased across major economies as a result.
(3) Risking away the recession
The IMF says that the global economy will shrink by 3% this year. It described the decline as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
If the economy has to grow, it generally means more wealth and more new jobs and more spending, which is difficult without a stimulus package.
(4) Business resumption
The COVID-19 pandemic came as a major blow to almost every sector of our economy and has created a credit-crunch. With most business permanently shut, others are crippled and reluctant to resume their business.
Almost all manufacturing industries were affected by the crisis. Pharma was actually identified as one of the very few “winners”, while motor vehicles were (and continues to be) one of the biggest “losers”.
Precautions necessary before ANY stimulus decision
Today’s stimulus measures have understandably been rolled out in haste — almost in a panic — to contain the economic fallout from the pandemic. Bad policies can contribute to inequality, sow instability, and undermine political support for the government precisely when it is needed to prevent the economy from falling.
(1) Fear of liquidity trap
During periods of deep uncertainty, precautionary savings typically rise as households and businesses hold on to cash for fear of what lies ahead.
A liquidity trap is a situation in which, “after the rate of interest has fallen to a certain level, liquidity preference may become virtually absolute in the sense that almost everyone prefers holding cash.
Without a massive injection of emergency liquidity, there probably would have been widespread bankruptcies, losses of organisational capital, and an even steeper path to recovery.
(2) Inflationary outcomes
The fiscal response is driven by the need to arrest a major slowdown in economic growth. However, there could be medium-term risks to the future inflation path, in the absence of timely fiscal consolidation.
A sudden spike in demand is highly inflationary in nature.
(3) Strain on the exchequer
Fiscal stimulus is warranted especially expenditures on health, food and income support for vulnerable households, and support for businesses.
This is likely to have a considerable impact on the government exchequer and the overall expenditure of the government on key sectors.
(4) Deterioration of public finances
India’s fiscal deficit in 2019-20 stood at around Rs 7.7 lakh crore, i.e. 3.8% of GDP. Hence, India’s fiscal room to opt for a massive stimulus appears much more limited.
Any aggressive stimulus spending will not only result in a surge in India’s gross public debt but will also negatively impact its credit ratings, highlighting the country’s fiscal conundrum.
India’s response to pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare our pre-existing fault lines and exposed the country to an unprecedented crisis. This situation has led to bold policy measures by governments at all tiers.
The Indian fiscal response is thus much weaker than what has been seen in advanced economies, but it is broadly in line with the average for emerging markets.
Repo rate and Reverse Repo rate reduced to 4.4% and 4% respectively on March 27 in an effort to boost liquidity into the system.
Direct food, cooking gas and cash transfers to selected sections of the lower-income households.
Liquidity measures worth Rs 3.7 trillion via Long Term Repo Operations (LTRO) and a reduction of 100bps in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR).
Insurance coverage for workers in the healthcare sector and wage support to low wage workers in terms of benefits for those currently working, as well as those who might lose their jobs.
Provided relief to customers and lenders by granting a 3-month moratorium on loan repayments. SEBI has also relaxed its norms related to debt default on rated instruments.
Additional Rs 150 billion (roughly 0.1% of GDP) to be devoted to health infrastructure. Several measures to ease tax burden, including postponing compliance deadlines.
Second round of measures which include Rs 50,000 crore liquidity for NBFCs and MFIs via TLTRO 2.0, Reverse Repo rate reduced to 3.75% to kickstart investments, WMA limit for state governments increased.
PM also announced Rs. 20 lakh crore packages for farmers, cottage industry, MSMEs, labourers, middle class etc., titled the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in various tranches. These measures contain both fiscal and monetary measures combined into a single package.
International experience with the stimulus
India has surpassed almost all others in the stringency of its containment measures. However in terms of expenditure, India’s response isn’t that promising.
India’s fiscal stimulus to date, estimated at ₹1.7 trillion, is less than 1% of the country’s GDP, which is paltry compared to the magnitude of stimulus injections undertaken by many East Asian countries such as Japan (20%), Malaysia (16.2%) and Singapore (12.2%).
Even, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt, all while averaging less stringent measures than those in India, have announced stimulus measures that are as large or more substantial, as a share of GDP.
Countries have also significantly expanded coverage of their cash transfer programmes from pre-COVID-19 levels; Bangladesh and Indonesia have increased the number of beneficiaries by 163% and 111%, respectively. Indonesia’s cash schemes now cover more than 158 million people (or 60% of the population).
Developing countries are resorting to drastic means to finance COVID-19 responses. Actions so far include the amendment of legal budget limits and the enhanced issuance of bonds — including a ‘pandemic bond’ by Indonesia.
Many developing countries have a dual strategy of providing immediate aid to workers who have been laid off and feeding poor families, while also trying to keep firms afloat. Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China have all announced tax relief — in the form of deferments or reductions — for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in hard-hit regions.
Brazil has also created a $10 billion (₹760 bn) programme to allow businesses affected by COVID-19 to reduce workers’ salaries and hours by up to 70%, with the government partially compensating workers for up to three months.
One important omission from the Indian response is such direct wage support for micro, small, and medium enterprises, which account for the bulk of employment.
While we might not be able to match these advanced economies in terms of financial resources, we can implement policies on a similar scale.
“It is important that we note the weaknesses in our financial system, and work toward implementing solutions before the next crisis roars.”
Analysis of India’s response
The whole world is commending India’s efforts and bold initiatives that have prioritized “life over livelihood”. Based on the figures, it is safe to say that India has spent a lot less, especially on the fiscal front in terms of stimulus packages introduced by governments, as compared to other countries.
One might argue that these responses cannot be compared to each other due to two main reasons.
First, the number of cases as well as the rate at which they are increasing is much less in India due to the early implementation of lockdown.
And second, India’s economy is much more different than the ones whose data has been mentioned above, so it is not at all necessary for the same measures to be effective for our country as well.
However, the economic crises faced by all these countries do share some common ground. Here’s what we can derive from this data:
1) Sectors like small businesses and MSMEs have been adversely affected by this crisis in all countries irrespective of how developed they are. India is yet to address their issues directly; hence, a strong assumption is that we will soon see measures from the government’s side to provide them with some relief.
2) India’s healthcare system is hardly as developed and advanced as in the above-mentioned countries. And yet, the amount these countries have allocated to this sector is much higher.
3) Unemployment is on the rise everywhere. A report by the ILO said that more than 40 crore Indian workers in the unorganised sector are expected to lose their jobs. Hence, printing more money in order to give it directly to people in these times as income, something which is already being done in countries like the US and UK, is worth considering for India as well.
4) Special focus has been given to worst affected industries like airlines, travel and e-commerce in these countries. We are yet to see something similar in India.
Moving ahead: India needs to spend more
Under the ambit of fiscal policy, first, the government should front-load its $250 billion spending plan under the National Infrastructure Pipeline.
Second, it should announce a sizeable package to compensate, at least partially, the irrecoverable loss of income suffered by the Indian industry, be it big, small, or medium.
Third, this is an opportunity for India to position itself as the next global manufacturing hub in sectors such as textiles, food processing, pharma, and metals (particularly steel). Trade, tax and investment policies should be calibrated accordingly to achieve this.
Under the ambit of monetary policy, following steps can amplify the impact of fiscal measures.
First, banks must extend term loans and working capital to Indian industry with a government backstop for the first loss up to 25%. The government needs to provide credit protection to the banking system.
Second, banks should have discretion and flexibility to undertake loan restructuring aimed at ensuring the stability of operations across several sectors.
Third, a sharp reduction in lending rates is imperative. While the policy rate has fallen by 210 basis points, transmission to industry has been less than 60 basis points.
Fourth, banks must defer loan and interest payments by at least one year, as industry needs time to generate free cash flows.
Three T’s for optimum impact
To have the greatest impact with the least long-run cost, the stimulus should be timely, temporary, and targeted.
Timely, so that its effects are felt while economic activity is still below potential; when the economy has recovered, the stimulus becomes counterproductive
Temporary, to avoid raising inflation and to minimize the adverse long-term effects of a larger budget deficit, and
Well-targeted, to provide resources to the people who most need them and will spend them: for fiscal stimulus to work, it is essential that the funds be spent, not saved.
We can hope that the above steps are taken expeditiously and translated into action on the ground to reboot the Indian economy at the earliest.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ongoing debate might be a misleading factor to judge our response to this crisis. And it definitely doesn’t mean what we’re doing is enough. This crisis happens to be an uncertain and unprecedented one; holding back on spending clearly doesn’t seem to be an option for the Indian government right now.
Maintaining the overall fiscal discipline, the government must not worry about the fiscal deficit, as reviving the economy is the need of the hour, even if it comes at the cost of high inflation, though such an outcome is unlikely.
Prime Minister has inaugurated a 351-km section between Khurja and Bhaupur in Uttar Pradesh for commercial operations of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).
There is another concept named Dedicated Passenger Corridors (DPCs). Can you guess the idea behind?
Background of DFCs
The concept of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was mooted in 2006 to generate substantial capacity for freight traffic by developing separate tracks on identified routes.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) was incorporated as a separate company under the Ministry of Railways.
What is the DFC?
Under the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–12), Railways started constructing a new DFC in two long routes, namely the Eastern and Western freight corridors.
The section recently launched is part of the 1,839-km Eastern DFC that starts at Sohnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
The other arm is the around 1,500-km Western DFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to JNPT in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
There is also a section under construction between Dadri and Khurja to connect the Eastern and Western arms.
Why is it important?
Around 70% of the freight trains currently running on the Indian Railway network are slated to shift to the freight corridors, leaving the paths open for more passenger trains.
Tracks on DFC are designed to carry heavier loads than most of the Indian Railways.
DFC will get track access charge from the parent Indian Railways, and also generate its own freight business.
What trains will use the new section?
Freight trains plying on this section from now on will help decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line of Indian Railways, which currently handles trains at 150% of its line capacity.
The new section means on the Indian Railway mainline, more passenger trains can be pumped in and those trains can, in turn, achieve better punctuality.
Foodgrain and fertilizers from the northern region are transported to the eastern and Northeast regions.
From East and Northeast, coal, iron ore, jute, and petroleum products are transported North and West.
Union Health Minister has been nominated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as a member of the GAVI Board.
Q.The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the limitations of global cooperation. Critically analyse.
GAVI
GAVI is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.
GAVI has been praised for being innovative, effective, and less bureaucratic than multilateral government institutions like the WHO.
Members: the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among others.
GAVI programs can often produce quantified, politically appealing, easy-to-explain results within an election cycle, which is appealing to parties locked in an election cycle.
Its function
It currently supports the immunization of almost half the world’s children, giving it the power to negotiate better prices for the world’s poorest countries and remove the commercial risks of manufacturers.
It also provides funding to strengthen health systems and train health workers across the developing world.
Significance of India’s membership
The GAVI Board is responsible for the strategic direction and policymaking oversees the operations of the Vaccine Alliance and monitors program implementation.
With membership drawn from a range of partner organizations, as well as experts from the private sector, the Board provides a forum for balanced strategic decision making, innovation, and partner collaboration.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has inaugurated the web-based application “Digital Ocean” developed by INCOIS.
Digital Ocean
Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
The platform will be promoted as a platform for capacity building on Ocean Data Management for all Indian Ocean Rim countries.
It would help share ocean knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, the academic community, and the maritime industry and policymakers.
It also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
It will play a central role in the sustainable management of our oceans and expanding ‘Blue Economy’ initiatives.
Its’ features
It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
It facilitates:
Online interactive web-based environment for data integration,
3D and 4D (3D in space with time animation) data visualization,
Data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features,
Data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing, and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean.
The Sea of Galilee, well-known in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic lore, has swelled up due to recent rains, according to reports in the Israeli media.
Do you know?
The Sea of Galilee Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake).
Sea of Galilee
The lake lies in northern Israel, between the occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee region. It is fed by underground springs but its major source is the Jordan River.
The lake has risen to 209.905 meters below sea level due to heavy rainfall in the surrounding areas.
The Jordan flows into the lake and then exits it before ending in the Dead Sea, the saltiest and the lowest point on the planet.
Water is not extracted from the Sea of Galilee. But it is considered to be an important barometer of the water situation in Israel.
Union Minister of Education laid the foundation stone of ‘TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’, India’s first Testbed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).
TiHAN is an acronym for Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, RoVs, etc.).
It is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad.
It would focus on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications.
Why need TiHAN?
One major requirement to make unmanned and connected vehicles more acceptable to the consumer society is to demonstrate its performance in real-life scenarios.
However, it may become dangerous. Especially in terms of safety, to directly use the operational roadway facilities as experimental test tracks for unmanned and connected vehicles.
In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components.
Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment.
The Health Ministry has released the report Action Agenda for an AtmaNirbhar Bharat (AAAN) prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).
Q.‘Doubling Farmer’s Income’ and ‘USD 5 trillion economy’ seems more like slogans today in wake of COVID pandemic. Comment on the statement with keeping in view the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan of the government.
AAAN Report
The report AAAN is a consequential follow-up of the TIFAC’s White Paper on Focused Interventions for ‘Make in India’: post-COVID -19 which was released earlier this year.
The White Paper highlighted five thrust sectors namely, Healthcare, Machinery, ICT, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Electronics that would be critical for India’s economic growth post-COVID.
This AAAN action plan has been structured with reference to timeline, highlighting short/medium and long term interventions in various identified sectors.
Why need such an agenda?
The World is experiencing unprecedented health and economic crisis. A widespread deep global recession has been bolstered, undermining global cooperation and multilateralism.
The most outward global economies have turned inwards and are designing enhanced measures for rebooting and resilience of the economy.
The document also specifically defines overarching policy recommendations with reference to technological inputs, focusing towards Local to Global.
It would thereby revive the Indian economy, in identified domains of Innovation and Technology Development, Technology Adoption/Diffusion, Boosting up Manufacturing and Productivity, Trade and Globalization etc.
