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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Just Compare INFATION in 1991 with 2011. Inflation rooted in Neo Liberal Policies and Reforms! Fiscal Policy is based on EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing! How do you EXPECT to Tame INFLATION with Raising Rates only? The Extraconstitutional Elements in


Just Compare INFATION in 1991 with 2011. Inflation rooted in Neo Liberal Policies and Reforms! Fiscal Policy is based on EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing! How do you EXPECT to Tame INFLATION with Raising Rates only? The Extraconstitutional Elements in the India Incs Governance an Policy Making just showcase the Prosperity of the MICRO MINOROITY Market Dominating Zionist Brahaminical Eurasian Class and NOT Bothered at al with the Plight  of Majoriti Indigenous Aborigin Excluded Enslaved Masses! Thus,Further Indian interest rate increases are likely, the finance minister said on Wednesday and pledged support for the central bank'sbattle against inflation a day after a surprisingly sharp rate rise. Reservation is a hard reality, general category should understand it: SC
'Rajneeti' over 'Aarakshan' as politicians object to film!

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED  NINETY FOUR


Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/



http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Reservation is a hard reality, general category should understand it: SC

Just Compare INFATION in 1991 with 2011. Inflation rooted in Neo Liberal Policies and Reforms! Fiscal Policy is based on EXCLUSION and Ethnic Cleansing! How do you EXPECT to Tame INFLATION with Raising Rates only? The Extraconstitutional Elements in the India Incs Governance an Policy Making just showcase the Prosperity of the MICRO MINOROITY Market Dominating Zionist Brahaminical Eurasian Class and NOT Bothered at al with the Plight  of Majoriti Indigenous Aborigin Excluded Enslaved Masses! Thus,Further Indian interest rate increases are likely, the finance minister said on Wednesday and pledged support for the central bank'sbattle against inflation a day after a surprisingly sharp rate rise.

Meanwhile, theSupreme Court today saidreservation in educational institutions and jobs for the backward class is hard reality and students ofgeneral category should understand it.

"We know what students (of general category) feel. We understand their blood boils when they see students (of reserved class) having less marks are getting admission but they should know that reservation is the hard reality. They should understand it. We cannot treat unequals as equal," a bench of justicesR V Raveendran and A K Patnaik said.

The bench, which made the remarks, referred the matter to Chief Justice of IndiaS H Kapadia for constituting an appropriate bench to sort out the confusion on the use of term cut-off in the law which upheld the 27 per centquota for OBC in central educational institutions.

The remarks were made by the bench when a lawyer for anti-quota group pleaded that the standard of education will go down if the quota system is implemented blindly without any check on the quality of students admitted in the reserved category.

The court was hearing the issues pertaining to discrepancies in implementation of 27 per cent quota for OBC in central universities, the law for which was upheld by its constitution bench on April 10, 2008.

The two-judge bench was to sort out the confusion on the issue of cut-off marks to be adopted for admission of OBC candidates.

It was dwelling on whether the cut-off marks for OBC should be only 10 per cent less than the marks on which the admission closed for general category candidates or it should not be less than 10 per cent of the eligibility criteria.
Fiscal policy in India: past reforms and future challenges
This paper examines varies areas of India´s fiscal policy, in particular fiscal discipline, the structure of government spending, the tax system and fiscal federalism. It describes reforms over the past decades which, as part of the overall economic reform agenda, helped lifting the Indian economy to a higher growth path. It also discusses where further reforms are desirable to further reduce economic distortions and improve the provision of public services. It finds that after high fiscal deficits have often been recorded during the past two decades, after the adoption of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act in 2003, fiscal discipline has significantly improved. As to government spending, it argues that, given the large share which is used to subsidise commercial undertakings, agriculture and food distribution, there is much room to improve the quality of spending and to target it better to improving infrastructure and reducing poverty. It describes the tax system which has undergone major reforms since the early 1990s. Nonetheless, there are still many exemptions and loopholes which suggest that a broadening of the tax bases would allow further reductions in tax rates and make the system simpler, fairer and more efficient. The paper also suggests that reforms of indirect taxes should focus on creating a common market within India so that goods can move between states without border controls. Finally, on fiscal federalism it finds that India's federal structure has led to a well-developed system of tax-sharing and transfers, both through constitutionally empowered bodies and delivered through the annual budget. While overall, India´s fiscal federalism has worked well moving resources towards the poorest states, it has become very complex and there are still some features which weaken fiscal discipline of the states. Furthermore, a major drawback is the lack of an effective local government system, most notably in rural areas and strengthening the local level would be important for improving accountability and responsiveness to citizens' needs as three-quarters of the population live in states with over 50 million inhabitants.
This Working Paper relates to the 2007 OECD Economic Survey of India (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/india).
Moneycontrol » News » Markets » Expert & FII Outlook

Fiscal policy responsible for India's inflation: StanChart

Published on Fri, Mar 04, 2011 at 15:23 |  Source : CNBC-TV18
Updated at Wed, Mar 09, 2011 at 14:53  
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Gerard Lyons, chief economist and group head of global research at Standard Chartered Bank, in an interview on CNBC-TV18 speaks about the turmoil in West Asia and where Asian markets, including, India are headed on the back of the crisis.
He doesn't see crude going below the USD 100 a barrel and finds it highly unlikely to happen anytime soon. With the situation in Libya and neighbouring gulf countries becoming a heated topic, he believes oil prices will hover around current levels.
With the commencement of the Indian budget, he says he sees India growing at 8-8.5% with the fiscal policy adding to the country's inflation woes. He also sees a need for further montary tightening by the RBI.
Below is a verbatim transcript of his interview with CNBC-TV18's Latha Venkatesh and Sonia Shenoy. For the complete interview watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Given the political turmoil in West Asia, what's your estimate of crude prices? Post this UDS 100 that it has crossed do you see it sustaining there for an extended period of time?
A: The best way to think of crude oil prices is that they have a firm flow in a sense that oil prices look like they are well underpinned on the downside and they seem unlikely to fall anything significantly below USD 100. Risk premium has already pushed prices up by may be at least USD 10 but its possible that risk premium could push this up even higher.
The reality is we don't know because it is dependent on events that are unpredictable. Events in Libya appear serious. Libya is just on the 2% of global oil supply. The bigger issue though is whether problems there have an impact or spread to the gulf regions which are far more important in terms of oil production. We have seen stories about problems in Bahrain and Oman.
In some respect, those stories are exaggerated or taken out of context but the big issue of course is what happens to Saudi Arabia and to some of the other big oil producers. One should expect oil prices to remain at current levels for sometime now. The question for everyone is whether this pickup is temporary or permanent. The longer oil prices stay high, the bigger the problem for the world economy.
The world economy can cope with high oil prices if that's the result of strong demand because the flipside of strong demand is increase spend in higher activity, increased trades. In that respect, the markets and the economies tend to cope with higher oil prices. As of now, if we have oil prices pushed higher because of supply worries, in this case because of geopolitics, then that's really of no benefit to anyone apart form the countries that produce the oil. In that respect, there is no real benefit for oil importers or no real benefit for the world economy from supply driven high oil prices.
Q: Not just crude but how about commodity inflation in general. In the past two years there was a synchronized fiscal stimulus and monetary loosening around the world. That took rubber, cotton, coking coal, iron ore, copper, and a whole host of commodities to new highs. Now, an increasing number of countries have started tightening. Do we expect stable commodity prices in 2011 or even falling prices or we won't be that lucky?
A: It's difficult to say. The reality is that so-called experts in this area can't really predict or tell us why commodity prices really did rise so it's difficult to predict exactly as to where they will go from here. A key contributor to commodity prices was the policy environment but it wasn't the only one. What we saw when commodity prices went very high a few years ago was a lack of investment then in the supply driven regions of the world.
What we have is still a shortage of supply. For instance, Africa is still producing only a fraction of its potential. So that supply problem means that high commodity prices can stay for sometime. However, what we do have is there is a combination of factors that maybe driving prices higher than they can be sustained. When they start to come off remains to be seen.
I feel that low interest rates are here to stay for sometime in the West. In India and other emerging economies, monetary policy still needs to be tightened further. As long as US interest rates stay low then that will be a key contributing factor. So commodity prices will come off maybe abruptly at some stage but I don't think that will happen in the next few months. At some stage the worries about inflation will pass in some countries. I don't think inflation is the problem in the Western world. It's more of a challenge in economies like India and China where demand is strong.
Q: Specifically for India what is your take on inflation. Is the worst over or do you see non-food, non-fuel inflation getting worse from here?
A: There is a stubborn inflation in the system here in India. I won't call it an inflation problem but it is a challenge. I don't think it's a problem in the sense that the RBI has played its policy hands very well by withdrawing liquidity and by raising interest rates. However, there is a need for further policy tightening. The challenge is that the economy doesn't have the strong momentum in all the sectors that it needs. Growth this year, maybe somewhere between 8-8.5% and not 9% that the government seems to want or expect.
Policy on the monetary side will have to tighten further, wage growth still needs to be monitored, inflation expectations needs to be followed. What the RBI needs to avoid is the lethal combination of cheat money, liquidity and one way expectations. They are withdrawing the cheat money by tightening policy. They have already withdrawn lots of liquidity.
What they need to watch out for is the one way expectations that could return in terms of assets prices, less so maybe the stock market, more so maybe the property market. Further policy tightening is necessary in India to ensure that the inflation challenge doesn't become an inflation problem.
Q: Some economists have held that a large government deficit has also fueled inflation. The Indian government has promised to bring down the deficit to 4.6%. Are you convinced it will achieve this target?
A: The fiscal policy side was anyway responsible for the Indian inflation scene. The budget was a good budget but there are still further things that could be done. In terms of the 4.6% budget deficit, everyone seems skeptical about that figure and I understand why.
The revenue side in terms of tax revenue has been very buoyant but to achieve that 4.6% budget deficit requires growth being strong and requires government spending being kept more under control than it has been in recent years. It is possible that it could be achieved but it's not guaranteed. The aspects of the budget that still needs to be questioned are the composition.
I thought the 24% increase in education spending was very good. However, subsidies do need to be addressed that is fuel, food and fertilizers. There was focus on manufacturing and focus on infrastructure but maybe things could be a bit more proactive even in those areas. The figure that most of us are focusing on is, is the budget deficit number achievable? Yes, if growth is strong. Is it guaranteed, the answer is no.
Q: The FII flows in the past two months have been moving out of India, though not by much. What is your sense on how 2011 will shapeup?
A: This issue in terms of where flows are going, it is important to bear in mind expectations. A lot of good news has been discounted about India; a lot of bad news has been discounted about America and also about some other places. As a result, in an environment where suddenly India starts to tighten monetary policy and in an environment where America loosens monetary policy and gives another fiscal injection, what you have is flows and investors returning to the short-term dynamics driven by short-term tactics.
They are responding to the fact that suddenly the news coming out of the US is positive for markets on the monetary side and it's positive for the economy in terms of the feed through into the data. That could continue for a few months. Yes, the tactical money will come back into India, probably, when monetary policy tightening has run its course.
Many investors will come back in when interest rates are at their peak. Strategically, the investors I speak to who still have a long-term view of India, are looking to put money to work in India. What you are asking about and what's clearly a big influence are those funds that basically take profits or play tactically or just respond to the fact that lots of good news has been discounted in India, lots of bad news in the US and they are responding to how things are turning out in the short-term. So the tactical money will eventually come back to India. The strategic long-term money will continue to invest in India in the coming years.
Tags: Standard Chartered Bank, chief economist and group head of global research, Gerard Lyons, crude, Indian budget, montary tightening, Libya, oil prices, Asian markets, crude prices, inflation, FII flows

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fii-view/fiscal-policy-responsible-for-indias-inflation-stanchart_527596.html

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday shocked markets by lifting interest rates by 50 basis points, double what was expected, and kept up its hawkish stance.

"I don't think we have reached the end of tunnel,"Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the central bank's rate tightening cycle.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised rates 11 times since March 2010 to fight nearly double-digit inflation which has been fuelled in part by bottlenecks in the economy, government spending and borrowing.

The central bank's rate increases over the past year make it the most aggressive inflation fighter anywhere. Headline inflation in India was 9.44 percent in June and is expected to remain high in coming months.

Tuesday's rate rise sent bond yields and swap rates surging, battered stocks, drew criticism from companies worried about higher borrowing costs and prompted economists to cut their growth outlooks for Asia's third-largest economy.

On Wednesday, India's benchmark 10-year bond yield hit its highest level in almost three years after having risen 15 basis points on Tuesday, following the hefty rate increase. Indian stocks continued their slide, losing nearly 0.5 percent, and are down 10 percent in 2011.

Whereas officials in New Delhi once spoke of a return to double-digit growth, the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears to have become resigned to the need to control rising prices, which threaten to derail longer term growth.

"Appropriate measures will be taken," Mukherjee said, referring to government support of the central bank's policy action, without giving specifics.

A Reuters poll after Tuesday's rate rise found analysts expect another 50 basis points in rate rises by the end of 2011, which would put the repo rate at 8.50 percent, or half a point higher than had been expected last week.

Still, there is plenty of disagreement over the RBI's next moves, with Goldman Sachs among those predicting that the central bank will probably refrain from further near-term rate increases, a view supported by the inverted curve on Indian swap rates.

"The market is getting over the shock and trying to sense if there's more coming. Base case would be another 25 basis point hike, and then the assumption has to be that we are at the end of this cycle," said Hitendra Dave, head of global markets at HSBC India.

Standard Chartered cut its India GDP growth forecast for the fiscal year that ends in March to 7.7 percent from 8.1 percent following the rate hike. Kotak cut its growth forecast for the current fiscal year to 7.3 percent from 7.7 percent, among the lowest expectations in the market.
Disappointed over the Reserve Bank of India's decision to hike policy rates for the 11th time in 15 months,India Inc warned on Tuesday that the move might pull down economic growth below eight per cent.

"With the growth momentum already under pressure, this move will further hurt future prospects," said Rajiv Kumar, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"Even the projected growth rate of eight per cent for the year 2011-12 now looks difficult to achieve," he said.

In its latest economic outlook survey,FICCI has lowered the GDP growth projection for the current fiscal at 7.9 per cent. Official estimate puts the growth projection at nine per cent (plus/minus 0.25 per cent).

TheRBI Tuesday hiked key policy rates by 50 basis points in the 11th such exercise since January 2010 to tame inflation. The repurchase rate, the interest the country's central bank levies on short-term borrowing by commercial banks, has been hiked to 8 per cent from 7.5 per cent and reverse repurchase rate, or interest paid on short-term lending, raised to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent.

Kumar said the rate hike has come as a "major disappointment to the industry".

"In the trade-off between growth and inflation, the RBI has clearly decided to sacrifice growth. Thus, it may have been more consistent on RBI's part to lower the growth estimate to below 8 per cent rather than sticking to it," the FICCI secretary general said.

Reacting to the RBI move, director general of theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII)Chandrajit Banerjee said a more than expected increase in the policy rates would hurt business sentiments.

Most analysts and industry associations were expecting 25 basis points increase in repo and reverse repo rates. However, the Reserve Bank has acted more aggressively and hiked the rates by 50 basis points.

With 11 consecutive interest rate increases in the last 15 months, the RBI has emerged as the most aggressive central bank, Banerjee said.

"At a time when all available date indicates a clear slowdown in industrial and economic output, this is a matter of great concern since there could be a tipping point beyond which salvaging a downward spiral of growth could be an arduous task," said Banerjee.

Industry forums said the rate hike would not curb inflationary pressure as it was mainly because of a demand-supply mismatch.

"It is imperative now that non-monetary measures are rapidly deployed to deal with supply side issues, which continue to contribute to inflationary pressures," theCII director general said.

Inflation has remained stubbornly high despite an aggressive monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank. In March 2010, when the RBI started to raise policy rates in the current rate hike cycle, the headline inflation based on wholesale price index was 10.4 per cent.

It was almost in double digits in most part of last fiscal and stood at 9.4 per cent in June 2011, according to the latest official data released.

Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee on Wednesday cautioned that year-end inflation may not be less than 6-7 per cent even as the government and theRBI are making sustained efforts to fight price rise.

"We are fighting against inflation...increase in repo and reverse repo by the RBI yesterday conveys a strong signal... (but) we shall have to keep in mind that year-end inflation may not be less than 6-7 per cent," Mukherjee told reporters here.

The RBI yesterday gave a rude shock to the industry, market and borrowers by increasing sharply, the key interest rate by 50 basis points.

Expressing concern over 9.44 per cent headline inflation in June, he said, "though food inflation has softened as compared to 22 per cent in February 2010, "still 8 per cent food inflation is not acceptable".

While accepting that there are challenges before the Indian economy arising out of domestic and global factors, the Finance Minister said, he did not believe in despondency.

"...when going gets tough, tough gets going. I do not believe in despondency. Difficulties have to be overcome by ourselves, not by anybody else," a confident Mukherjee said.

While there was some deceleration in industrial production and slower growth in interest sensitive sectors, he expressed confidence "that Indian economy would be in a position to come back".

Referring to the burning issue of black money, the Finance Minister said the government was committed to tackle the menace.

"Effort against black money is relentless...both administrative and legal steps have been taken to fight against this menace," he said.

Poverty and Social Exclusion in India

by:  The World Bank
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Equity and development
English; Paperback; 188 pages; 6x9
Published April 12, 2011 by World Bank
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8690-3; SKU: 18690


Despite India's record of rapid economic growth and poverty reduction over recent decades, rising inequality in the country has been a subject of concern among policy makers, academics, and activists alike.
Poverty and Social Exclusion in India focuses on social exclusion, which has its roots in India's historical divisions along lines of caste, tribe, and the excluded sex, that is, women. These inequalities are more structural in nature and have kept entire groups trapped, unable to take advantage of opportunities that economic growth offers. Culturally rooted systems perpetuate inequality, and, rather than a culture of poverty that afflicts disadvantaged groups, it is, in fact, these inequality traps that prevent these groups from breaking out. Combining rigorous quantitative research with a discussion of these underlying processes, this book finds that exclusion can be explained by inequality in opportunities, inequality in access to markets, and inequality in voice and agency.
This report will be of interest to policy makers, development practitioners, social scientists, and academics working to foster equality in India.
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Law and Social Exclusion in India, 13-14 May 2011, Yale

Starting April 20, 2011 - Ending April 20, 2020

Workshop organized by the South Asian Studies Council at Yale in collaboration with the Just-India project.It will discuss the relationship of law to social exclusion in India in the last century, through an inter-disciplinary dialogue among anthropologists, legal scholars and practitioners, and historians.

Law and Social Exclusion in India

May 13th-14th, 2011, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven (Connecticut)

After independence India developed social and democratic constitutions that came to inform law making and the evolution of rights. A number of historically practiced forms of social exclusion based in economic, caste, and gender discrimination were identified and legally invalidated. Along with this aspect, and perhaps more recently, social movements inspired by rights-based conceptions of citizenship in India and associated social awareness across the region have rapidly increased.
However, the reformist agenda of the Government or of citizen's movements, and more generally the actual implementation of the law, have to co-exist with the realities of everyday relations of power. This is all the more important as some of the commitments that India has made both at national and international level may either create tension, conflicts or misunderstandings, whenever state commitment goes against local forms of relationships or local economic or political interests; or they can create reciprocal adjustments and adaptations whenever the state or society tries to seek alternative solutions or negotiations. The study of the process leading to a Judge's decision, and of the negotiations and interactions that take place inside and outside the Court, is crucial for understanding how law is informed by, and confronts, actual relations of power, and to which extent its entanglement in the conflicts of social transformation gives effective room for dealing with social exclusion.

Provisional Program:

Friday, May 13, 2011
Welcome & Opening Remarks
K. Sivaramakrishnan & Daniela Berti
Session 1 – PERSONAL LAW
Moderator & Discussant: Mrinal Satish
  • Srimati Basu: "We thought all this was a Hindu problem": Religion and Personal Law in the Family Court
  • While "Personal Laws" are located in parallel tracks within Indian legal codes, they are commonly worked out in practice in Indian Family Courts (and other venues of Family Law adjudication) through judges (and counselors) hearing all cases regardless of their own religion, or that of the litigants. Through an ethnographic examination of legal processes in Family Court, this article presents quotidian adjudications of Personal Law, particularly the ways in which religion is evoked in the context of distribution of assets and constraints of dissolving marriage. It provides a portrait of the politically interested spaces within which "Personal" law works, indicating the osmosis between 'religious,' cultural and legal realms. While marking some of the modes through which cultural alterities are constituted, it argues that structural vulnerabilities at the intersections of class, religion and gender are ultimately the most salient points of difference in the seeming equivalences of "Personal" law.
  • Jeff Redding: The Administration of Islamic Law in Contemporary India: Between State and Society
  • Personal law is a term that is widely used but rarely defined. In this paper, I will explore the inchoate frontiers of 'personal law' - both old and new - through a detailed examination of the many points of contact between a non-state Muslim system of family law adjudication and the state's system of courts. As I will discuss, many familiar tropes about personal law in India (and elsewhere) simply do not hold up to rigorous examination when one examines the various ways non-state and state systems of law interact in practice. This being the case, I will also explore how some of the familiar cliches about 'personal law' and the ostensible threat it poses to liberal values like equality and secularism also do not stand up under rigorous examination.
  • Narendra Subramanian: Nation and Family: Personal Law, Cultural Pluralism, and Gendered Citizenship
  • The recognition of difference in religious personal law is in tension with aims to reduce inequalities, promote individual liberties, limit and change the public roles of religion, and treat various religious groups similarly. Discourses salient among ruling elites (specifically, nationalist discourses, understandings of religious and other cultural traditions, and visions of the forms of modernity appropriate for a society) and features of state-society relations (the social bases that governing elites have and aim to build) influence how states address these tensions. The inclination of the majority of India's political elites to build broad social coalitions, and to modernize society in ways that accommodated the important roles of religion, ethnicity and the joint-family, led them to introduce gradual reforms in the various personal laws based on the relevant group's traditions and initiatives.
  • Policy-makers focused their visions of the modern Indian family on Hindu law alone as they equated the Hindu, the Indian, and the secular-modern. Visions of indigenous modernity shaped the changes in Hindu law, which had mixed implications for gender relations. The equation of the Muslim, minority difference and resistance to modernity led them not to change the minority laws until the 1970s, and to thereafter introduce more limited changes in these laws than group opinion and tradition enabled. The imagination of the nation, its constituent groups and cultures, and its deepest inequalities through asymmetric engagement with the various religious groups shaped other aspects of Indian multiculturalism as well, and weakened efforts to build inter-religious understanding and reduce durable inequalities.

Session 2 – LAW AND INEQUALITY
Moderator & Discussant: Muneer I. Ahmad
  • Chandan Gowda: Adjudicating Atrocity
  • This paper has two parts. Based on data from twelve Special Courts from six different Indian states, I examine how these courts, which were established under the Prevention of Atrocities (SCs/STs) Act, 1989, undermine the institutional effectiveness of the POA Act. Second, I critically examine an episode of atrocity that occurred in 2000 in Kambalapalli, a village in Karnataka, where seven Dalits were burnt alive by members of the locally dominant caste, to reconstruct the multi-layered socio-politico-judicial process that subverted the POA Act, which strives to secure Dalits and tribals against systemic social vulnerability.
  • Devika Bordia: The Spirit of Legal Procedure: Documents, Court Practices and the Production of Tribal Life in Western India
  • In the Bhil and Girassia tribal regions of Rajasthan, practices of creating and interpreting evidence contained in documents of a case file like the doctor's report and maps of crime scenes are mediated by histories of how tribals have been racially and civilizationally categorized as different from non-tribals. These documents reproduce truths about sociality, dispositions, mental abilities and bodies of tribals and these truths form a "spirit" of tribal life. This spirit also informs and motivates practices at the police station and district courts as police officers, lawyers and magistrates believe that Bhils are more effectively governed by non-state law and incapable of comprehending state law. Therefore they claim that irregular procedures at the court such as negotiations with tribal leaders, bribes, underhand deals and procuring false witnesses must be the norm. In this paper, I juxtapose assumptions about tribal life that are contained in evidence produced in a criminal case file, explanations and interpretations of legal procedure by police officers, lawyers and magistrates, and everyday practices at district courts. The paper draws on a conception of legal pluralism that examines how the articulation and mobilization of state law or non-state law in everyday legal practice is based on hierarchies that are contained in different conceptions of people and place and relationships of power between different actors.
  • Nicolas Jaoul: A contingent law: the uses of the Scheduled Castes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Uttar Pradesh.

Session 3 – LAW AND ENVIRONMENT
Moderator & Discussant: K. Sivaramakrishnan
  • Shalini Randeria: The Lion's Share: Juridification of Nature, Production of Rightlessness and the Cunning State
  • The new language and practices of globalized environmental governance have a complex colonial genealogy in which processes of nature-making and state-building are inextricably intertwined. Based on material from the Gir forest, the case study analyses continuities and shifts in regulatory and enforcement practices of biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection in Gujarat, western India. These arbitrary practices of post-colonial rule involve a complex interplay of state laws, World Bank credit conditionalities and oppposing sets of international norms advocated by conservationist NGOs and community-based human rights advocates. If my ethnography points to a fragmentation of sovereignty and citizenship rights, on the one hand, it also delineates divergent trajectories of the transnationalization of law, on the other. It explores the simultaneous processes of juridification (or what Habermas has termed „Verrechtlichung") of ever more areas of social life and the production of what Hannah Arendt called „rightlessness" (Entrechtung). Finally, the paper addresses the use of social action litigation (Baxi) to claim social rights and environmental justice while seeking to render the state responsible.
  • Sanjay Upadhyay: Missing the Tribal for the Trees! (the tiger and tribal debate in India)

Saturday, May 14, 2011
Session 4 – LAW AND GOVERNANCE
Moderator & Discussant: Gilles Tarabout
  • Daniela Berti: Relations of Power, Judicial Constraints and Government Practices in Shimla
  • Since Independence, the Indian State has shown a voluntarist policy which has led to the promulgation of a set of legal acts aimed at criminalizing relationships of exploitation, harassment or discrimination centered on caste, gender or religion. Though this voluntarist policy does not prevent relationships of dominance from subsisting at local level, it contributes to disseminating a legal culture even among the underprivileged classes of the population. Ethnographic data from Himachal Pradesh shows how a Scheduled Caste activist acts as mediator between the victims of caste abuse and different State institutions involved in the implementation of the Prevention for Atrocity Acts. The analysis of a court case filed by this activist about the rape of a Scheduled Caste child illustrates how social relations of power and economic pressure end up disrupting the evidence proceedings, thereby preventing the prosecutor from proving the case. The paper also focuses on the course of the case (and of similar cases) after the trial, when the evidence on record is reassessed by various legal officers who are called to argument or to adjudge the appeal. Informal interviews carried out with various representatives of the justice administration both at government and judiciary level illustrate how, for the State, the appeal process is both a way of compensating for the legal impossibility of proving a case and the outcome of routinised practices of governance.
  • Anuj Bhuwania: The Court and the city: 'Public Interest Litigation' in Delhi
  • If the Indian city is becoming bourgeois at last, as Partha Chatterjee has put it, one key mode of this transformation has been the appellate courts, especially the role they have assumed under the jurisdiction of 'Public Interest Litigation' (PIL). Nowhere in India has this phenomenon been as spectacular as Delhi. Right from the inception of PIL in the early 80s, but especially with its massive intensification in the last decade, the two appellate courts in Delhi have made their presence felt in the everyday life of the city. Spectacular, court-inspired moves include the closure of 'hazardous industries,' the forced move to CNG for public transport, the demolition of scores of basties to the sealing of properties under newly invoked land use laws, each of which affected lakhs of people. The PIL emerged as a media event par excellence with provocative pronouncements from the Bench invoking the image of urban collapse and projecting itself as the only agent that could ignore 'populist pressures'. The paper will foreground the changing material practices of adjudication introduced by PIL that became the juridical conditions of possibility for the city's media and the 'Residents Welfare Associations'(RWAs) to emerge as its ideal typical public.
  • Vinay Gidwani: Urban Need Economies and the Force of Law: The Changing Topography of Delhi's Non-Formal Waste Sector
  • There is increasing recognition of the importance of non-formal or "need" economies to urban livelihoods and urban living. Yet there is scant analysis of how non-formal economies and livelihoods depend on the ability to use urban space, and how the workings of law enable or constrain this. Indeed, law and other common forms of sovereign power (such as municipal ordinances) actively produce urban space and its conditions of access. Since most non-formal production hinges on being able to, both, circulate and sequester materials at different stages of the production cycle – and since production cycles themselves exhibit diverse spatio-temporalities based on the nature of what is being produced – varying capacities to tap into and navigate urban spaces can have enormous bearing on the economic viability of an activity. Using the case of urban solid waste, I examine how judgments handed down in two landmark PILs – B.L. Wadhera Vs the Union of India and Others (1996) and Almitra Patel Vs. the Union of India and Others (1996) – have impacted municipal solid waste management practices in Tier I Indian cities such as Delhi, altered their legal topographies, and undercut the already precarious livelihoods of those who work in non-formal waste economies. The predicament of non-formal waste economies is illustrative of the growing vulnerability of many other realms of non-formal production as the force of law, interleaving with other processes, transforms urban spaces in India, creating new forms of social exclusion.

Concluding Session
Moderators: K. Sivaramakrishnan & Gilles Tarabout


Anuj Bhuwania is a doctoral candidate in the department of Anthropology at Columbia University. He studied law in Bangalore and London, and was a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance,Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Chandan Gowda is presently Professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. After completing his dissertation on the politics of development in Old Mysore state at the Dept of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2007, he was a faculty member at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, National Law School of India, Bangalore. Besides academic writings, he has written for newspapers and published translations of Kannada fiction and non-fiction in English. His interests include social theory, ethnography of law, caste, Indian normative traditions, Kannada literature and the media, especially Kannada cinema.
Devika Bordia is a postdoctoral fellow with the ANR/CNRS Just-India Programme. She received a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University in 2009. Her research and teaching interests include: governance and development in post-independence India, the intersections of state law and non-state law in colonial and post-colonial India, and social movements and indigenous politics. She is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled The Spirit of Legal Procedure: Law, Custom and Tribal Politics in Western India.
Daniela Berti is a social anthropologist working on Northern India. She is a research fellow ("Chargée de recherche")at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, Paris) and is attached to the Centre for Himalayan Studies. She was a visiting scholar at the Mc Millan Center at Yale University during the fall of 2007 and 2008. Her earlier works deal with ritual linguistic interactions and with the persistence in today's political institutions of politico-ritual roles and practices formerly associated with kingship. She is currently working on a project on the anthropology of judiciary cases in Indian District Courts. This is part of a larger four-year programme she coordinates with Gilles Tarabout funded by the French National Agency and entitled Governance and Justice in Contemporary India. She is the author of La Parole des dieux. Rituels de possession en Himalaya indien, Paris, CNRS, 2001; (with Gilles Tarabout) of the edited volume Territory, Soil and Society in South Asia,Delhi, Manohar, 2009; and (with N. Jaoul and P. Kanungo) of the edited volume Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva: Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence, Delhi, Routledge, 2011.
Gilles Tarabout is a social anthropologist who has specialized in the study of society of Kerala. He is a Senior Research fellow (Directeur de recherche) at the CNRS. Until 2009, he was attached to the Centre for Indian and South Asian Studies, Paris, before joining and taking the direction of the Research Centre in Comparative Anthropology at University Paris West - Nanterre. For the past twenty years he has taught courses on Indian society and on the anthropology of religion in various French Universities and Institutes, as well as at the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University (2007; 2008).
Professor Jeff A. Redding teaches civil procedure and comparative law at Saint Louis University School of Law. Prior to joining the SLU LAW faculty, Professor Redding was an Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fellow in Law at Yale Law School. Prior to his time at Yale, he held research positions at Harvard Law School (Islamic Legal Studies Program) and Columbia Law School (Center for the Study of Law and Culture). He has also worked with various law-related organizations in Pakistan, India, and Egypt. Professor Redding earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Professor Redding's research interests are in the areas of comparative law and religion, comparative secularism, legal pluralism, and family law, and he is a participant in the transnational "JUST - India" research consortium concerning justice and governance in India and South Asia.
K. Sivaramakrishnan is Professor of Anthropology and Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He also serves as Chair of the South Asian Studies Council in the Macmillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. His areas of research expertise include: environmental history, political anthropology, cultural geography, development studies, and science studies, with a particular focus on the colonial and contemporary history and anthropology of forests and wildlife conservation in eastern India. His recent books include: The State in India after Liberalization: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (edited with Akhil Gupta, Routledge 2010); Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihoods, and Identities in South Asia (edited with Gunnel Cederlof, University of Washington Press, 2006); Regional Modernities: The Cultural Politics of Development in India (edited with Arun Agrawal, Stanford University Press, 2003) andModern Forests: Statemaking and Environmental Change in Colonial Eastern India (Stanford University Press, 1999.
Mrinal Satish works and teaches in the area of criminal law. He holds B.A., LL.B (Hons.) and LL.M degrees from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and a LL.M degree from Yale Law School. He has been a member of the faculty at the National Law School, Bangalore and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. Mrinal is currently a resident J.S.D. candidate at Yale Law School. His doctoral research focuses on sentencing in sexual offences in India.
Muneer Ahmad is a Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he co-teaches in the Transnational Development Clinic and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic (WIRAC). In WIRAC, he and his students represent individuals, groups and organizations in both litigation and non-litigation matters related to immigration, immigrants' rights, and labor, and intersections among them. He has represented immigrants in a range of labor, immigration, and trafficking cases, and for three years represented a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, and has written on these and related topics In the Transnational Development Clinic, Professor Ahmad and his students work on projects designed to identify productive sites for intervention for U.S.-based lawyers in global poverty work. This has included work regarding the rights of street vendors in India, the barriers faced my immigrant communities in sending remittances to their home countries, and advocacy on behalf of workers displaced by changes in trade policy. Previously he was Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. Prior to joining the faculty at American in 2001, he was a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles.
Narendra Subramanian studies the politics of nationalism, religion, ethnicity, gender and race, primarily in India. His work explores the role of identity politics in political mobilization, electoral competition, public culture, and public policy; the functioning of democracies amidst social inequalities with long histories; and different ways in which policy-makers and citizens attempt to resolve the tensions between official secularism and the significant presence of religion in public life. He is Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University. His book, Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization: Political Parties, Citizens and Democracy in South India (Oxford University Press, 1999), explored how mobilization behind language and caste banners strengthened democracy in parts of India. He is completing a book manuscript titled Nation and Family: Personal Law, Cultural Pluralism, and Gendered Citizenship in India, which examines the personal laws specific to religious group, as sites in which official nationalism, multiculturalism, secularism, and citizenship were formed. A new project of his compares the effects of enfranchisement on the socio-economic status of India's lower castes and African-Americans, focusing on two regions of particularly high ascriptive inequalities – the Kaveri delta in southern India and the Mississippi delta in the southern United States. Subramanian received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nicolas Jaoul is a researcher in Anthropology at the CNRS, attached to the Institut de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur les Enjeux Sociaux (IRIS, EHESS, Paris) and affiliated to the centre d'Etudes de l'Asie du Sud. In continuity with his doctoral thesis (EHESS, 2004) on the Ambedkarite movement in Uttar Pradesh, he further specialized on the ethnography of the underprivileged's relationship to Indian democracy.
Sanjay Upadhyay, Founder and Managing Partner of the India's first environmental law firm, has been practicing environmental law since 1993. An India Visiting Fellow at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (Fall 1996) and a legal intern to the Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, San Francisco, he started his professional career at the World Wide Fund for Nature– India at the Centre for Environmental Law. Sanjay has served as an environmental and development law expert to most well known International, Multilateral, national and state Institutions. He advises and holds key policy positions in national as well as state governments within India. The recent appointments include being the drafting Committee Member for two key legislations of Government of India; the Wildlife Protection Act and the much talked about Forest Rights Act as well the Rules. Most recently Sanjay has been commissioned to draft the Renewable Energy Law for India. Sanjay has also been a Member, with a rank of Minister of State for the Commission on Environment and Social Policies and Programs appointed by the Government of Sikkim. He is currently the member of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the North East India. Sanjay has also been instrumental in drafting the first Forest Sector Policy of the hill state of Himachal Pradesh.
His areas of expertise is environment and development law and more specifically the legal and policy dimensions of natural resource management, energy especially renewable energy, climate policy, environment impact assessment, integrated water resource management, decentralisation and tribal self rule , biodiversity, forestry, joint forest management, eco development, wildlife conservation, national parks and sanctuaries, marine and coastal ecosystems and environmentally sustainable residential/commercial housing in urban areas and financial sustainability of tiger reserves among others.
Shalini Randeriahas been Full Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Zurich since 2003. She is also a member of the scientific board of the University Priority Research Programme "Asia and Europe". She studied Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Universities of Delhi and Heidelberg and completed her PhD and habilitation at the Free University of Berlin. She was a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies Berlin, Max Weber Professor for Sociology at the University of Munich and Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology of the Central European University Budapest. In 2007 she was elected President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and Member of the International Sociological Association (ISA) Board of the Research Committee (RC 09) on Transformation and Sociology of Development. She is a member of the steering committees and scientific advisory boards of a number of European research networks and institutions both within and outside universities.
Srimati Basu is Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. Her research on women and inheritance has been published in She Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property and Propriety (SUNY Press, 1999). She is also the editor of the Dowry and Inheritance volume in the in the Issues in Indian Feminism series (2005), and has written on property, law, kinship, and violence. She is presently completing a manuscript entitled "Marital Repair: Family Law and Feminist Interventions in Contemporary India" based on fieldwork in family courts, police stations and mediation organizations.
Vinay Gidwani works on capitalist transformations of agriculture and agroecologies, and their inter-connections with cities through labor and capital flows. He is presently working on urban and regional circuits of waste, and the labor processes that emerged around these, in the growth of metropolitan Delhi post-1930. This study is part of a longer research project on the spatial histories, political uses, and contemporary global political economy of waste. Gidwani is the author, most recently, of Capital, Interrupted: Agrarian Development and the Politics of Work in India (Minnesota, 2008). He is Associate Professor of Geography and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota and Adjunct Associate Professor of Geography at The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

‹ Christophe Jaffrelot, Quelle justice pour les victimes du pogrome de 2002 au Gujarat?upRelated: Transition towards Democratic Society, Bonn, April 29-30

http://just-india.net/?q=node/184

  1. Identity Politics And Social Exclusion in India's ... - ManipurOnline…

  2. manipuronline.com › Papers - Cached

  3. 11 Jan 2011 – Abstract: This paper examines how various brands of identity politics since the colonial days have served to create the basis of exclusion ...

  4. [PDF]

  5. Brief No 5 – Inequality, Power and SocialExclusion in India 1 ...

  6. www.poverty-wellbeing.net/document.php?itemID=3073&langID=1

  7. File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View

  8. The state of affairs in India with regards to "inequality, power and social exclusion" is somewhat paradoxical. On the one hand, since its independence ...

  9. [PDF]

  10. ABSENTEEISM, REPETITION AND SILENTEXCLUSION IN INDIA

  11. www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/India_Policy_Brief_3.pdf

  12. File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View

  13. 3 Jan 2011 – silent exclusion in India and suggests policy recommendations. The analysis is based on CREATE research in three clusters in the states of ...

  14. [PDF]

  15. Caste, Social Exclusion and Poverty Linkages – Concept ...

  16. www.empowerpoor.org/downloads/castepovertypaper.pdf

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  18. by S Thorat - Cited by 2 - Related articles

  19. meanings and manifestations of the concept of social exclusion, and its applicability to caste and ethnicity-based exclusion in India. ...

  20. Absenteeism, Repetition and Silent Exclusion in India - DFID

  21. www.dfid.gov.uk › Home › Projects and Programmes - Cached

  22. Research for Development - Absenteeism, Repetition and SilentExclusion in India.

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    Fiscal policy

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    *

    This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)



    In economics, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection (taxation) to influence the economy.[1]
    Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the money supply. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government expenditure and taxation. Changes in the level and composition of taxation and government spending can impact on the following variables in the economy:
    • Aggregate demand and the level of economic activity;
    • The pattern of resource allocation;
    • The distribution of income.

    Fiscal policy refers to the use of the government budget to influence the first of these: economic activity.

    23. [edit]Stances of fiscal policy

    The three possible stances of fiscal policy are neutral, expansionary and contractionary. The simplest definitions of these stances are as follows:
    • A neutral stance of fiscal policy implies a balanced economy. This results in a large tax revenue. Government spending is fully funded by tax revenue and overall the budget outcome has a neutral effect on the level of economic activity.
    • An expansionary stance of fiscal policy involves government spending exceeding tax revenue.
    • A contractionary fiscal policy occurs when government spending is lower than tax revenue.

    However, these definitions can be misleading because, even with no changes in spending or tax laws at all, cyclical fluctuations of the economy cause cyclical fluctuations of tax revenues and of some types of government spending, altering the deficit situation; these are not considered to be policy changes. Therefore, for purposes of the above definitions, "government spending" and "tax revenue" are normally replaced by "cyclically adjusted government spending" and "cyclically adjusted tax revenue". Thus, for example, a government budget that is balanced over the course of the business cycle is considered to represent a neutral fiscal policy stance.

    [edit]Methods of funding

    Governments spend money on a wide variety of things, from the military and police to services like education and healthcare, as well astransfer payments such as welfare benefits. This expenditure can be funded in a number of different ways:
    • Taxation
    • Seigniorage, the benefit from printing money
    • Borrowing money from the population or from abroad
    • Consumption of fiscal reserves.
    • Sale of fixed assets (e.g., land).

    All of these except taxation are forms of deficit financing

    [edit]Borrowing

    A fiscal deficit is often funded by issuing bonds, like treasury bills or consols and gilt-edged securities. These pay interest, either for a fixed period or indefinitely. If the interest and capital repayments are too large, a nation may default on its debts, usually to foreign creditors.

    [edit]Consuming prior surpluses

    A fiscal surplus is often saved for future use, and may be invested in local (same currency) financial instruments, until needed. When income from taxation or other sources falls, as during an economic slump, reserves allow spending to continue at the same rate, without incurring additional debt.

    [edit]Economic effects of fiscal policy

    Governments use fiscal policy to influence the level of aggregate demand in the economy, in an effort to achieve economic objectives of price stability, full employment, and economic growth. Keynesian economics suggests that increasing government spending and decreasing tax rates are the best ways to stimulate aggregate demand. This can be used in times of recession or low economic activity as an essential tool for building the framework for strong economic growth and working towards full employment. In theory, the resulting deficits would be paid for by an expanded economy during the boom that would follow; this was the reasoning behind the New Deal.
    Governments can use a budget surplus to do two things: to slow the pace of strong economic growth, and to stabilize prices when inflation is too high. Keynesian theory posits that removing spending from the economy will reduce levels of aggregate demand and contract the economy, thus stabilizing prices.
    Economists debate the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus. The argument mostly centers on crowding out, a phenomenon where government borrowing leads to higher interest rates that offset the stimulative impact of spending. When the government runs a budget deficit, funds will need to come from public borrowing (the issue of government bonds), overseas borrowing, or monetizing the debt. When governments fund a deficit with the issuing of government bonds, interest rates can increase across the market, because government borrowing creates higher demand for credit in the financial markets. This causes a lower aggregate demand for goods and services, contrary to the objective of a fiscal stimulus. Neoclassical economists generally emphasize crowding out while Keynesians argue that fiscal policy can still be effective especially in a liquidity trap where, they argue, crowding out is minimal.
    Some classical and neoclassical economists argue that crowding out completely negates any fiscal stimulus; this is known as the Treasury View[citation needed], which Keynesian economics rejects. The Treasury View refers to the theoretical positions of classical economists in the British Treasury, who opposed Keynes' call in the 1930s for fiscal stimulus. The same general argument has been repeated by some neoclassical economists up to the present.
    In the classical view, the expansionary fiscal policy also decreases net exports, which has a mitigating effect on national output and income. When government borrowing increases interest rates it attracts foreign capital from foreign investors. This is because, all other things being equal, the bonds issued from a country executing expansionary fiscal policy now offer a higher rate of return. In other words, companies wanting to finance projects must compete with their government for capital so they offer higher rates of return. To purchase bonds originating from a certain country, foreign investors must obtain that country's currency. Therefore, when foreign capital flows into the country undergoing fiscal expansion, demand for that country's currency increases. The increased demand causes that country's currency to appreciate. Once the currency appreciates, goods originating from that country now cost more to foreigners than they did before and foreign goods now cost less than they did before. Consequently, exports decrease and imports increase.[2]
    Other possible problems with fiscal stimulus include the time lag between the implementation of the policy and detectable effects in the economy, and inflationary effects driven by increased demand. In theory, fiscal stimulus does not cause inflation when it uses resources that would have otherwise been idle. For instance, if a fiscal stimulus employs a worker who otherwise would have been unemployed, there is no inflationary effect; however, if the stimulus employs a worker who otherwise would have had a job, the stimulus is increasing labor demand while labor supply remains fixed, leading to wage inflation and therefore price inflation.

    [edit]Fiscal Straitjacket

    The concept of a fiscal straitjacket is a general economic principle that suggests strict constraints on government spending and public sector borrowing, to limit or regulate the budget deficit over a time period. The term probably originated from the definition of straitjacket: anything that severely confines, constricts, or hinders.[3] Various states in the United States have various forms of self-imposed fiscal straitjackets.

    [edit]See also


    [edit]References

    1. ^ Sullivan, arthur; Steven M. Sheffrin (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 387. ISBN 0-13-063085-3.
    2. ^ http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/FiscalPolicy.html
    3. ^ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/straitjacket

    [edit]Bibliography

    • Heyne, P. T., Boettke, P. J., Prychitko, D. L. (2002): The Economic Way of Thinking (10th ed). Prentice Hall.
    • Larch, M. and J. Nogueira Martins (2009): Fiscal Policy Making in the European Union - An Assessment of Current Practice and Challenges. Routledge.

    [edit]External links

    • Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
    • Using Fiscal Policy
    • Limitations of Fiscal Policy
    • What Is Fiscal Policy?
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      Categories: Fiscal policy | Public finance


    • Showing results for Ambedkar on exclusion.Search instead for the original terms: Anbedkar on exclusion.

      'Rajneeti' over 'Aarakshan' as politicians object to film
      MUMBAI: Prakash Jha's upcoming film 'Aarakshan', cleared by theCensor Board, is likely to face some political censorship with leaders expressing apprehension over its tone.

      The film is a socio-political drama based on caste-based reservations in government jobs and educational institutions and is scheduled for release on August 12.

      "If someone is trying to propagate against the concept of reservations, enshrined in the Constitution, then we will oppose the film," senior Maharashtra ministerChhagan Bhujbal said here today.

      Samata Parishad, a social outfit floated by him would oppose the release of the film, Bhujbal, senior NCP leader and PWD minister told reporters outside Vidhan Bhawan.

      "A lot of discussion has been going on the issue outside," Bhujbal said. "If the film propagates against reservations, then we will oppose it. We cannot allow someone to misue their freedom of expression to oppose concepts which have the protection of the Constitution," he said.

      RPI leader Ramdas Athawale has also expressed his objection to the film, saying his party would oppose Prakash Jha's film if its contents are detrimental to the interest of dalits and if it attempts to paint the upper-castes in good light.

      'Aarakshan' features Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone,Saif Ali Khan in lead roles.

      The National Commission for Scheduled Castes had recently dubbed 'Aarkashan' as "anti-dalit"

    • Ambedkar's Contributions to Indian Economics

       
      24mar07

      "Earlier I remarked that it was unfortunate for the economics profession that Ambedkar decided to 'changeover from economics to law and politics' as he remarked in the preface of the Indian edition of The Problem of the Rupee in 1947″, says Mr. S. Ambirajan

      I am deeply touched by the honour bestowed upon me by the University of Madras to give the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture. I must at once state that I accepted this invitation only after considerable hesitation because I am by no means an expert on Ambedkar's life, politics, legal and social writings, as well as his brilliant if chequered, career. However I have had some acquaintance with his writings in economics, and it is my intention to highlight a few aspects of his contributions to the study of Indian economics. Before I proceed, I wish to remark on one aspect of Ambedkar's present status with which many of you may not agree. I am somewhat distressed to see that he is portrayed as a leader of the 'dalit' community and nothing else. Partly it is the fault of the Indian political leadership in the post-independent era. It succeeded in its effort to marginalise him politically. But equally it is the fault of the community itself for having projected him exclusively as its own leader. This led to the repercussion of other much inferior people propelled as leaders of other communities, and the result was that Ambedkar got equated on a politico-intellectual plane with regional pygmies devoid of any significant national presence. It is my conviction that in reality we have had only two major personalities who could be considered the founding fathers of modern India. Vallabhbhai Patel unified and organised whatever bits and pieces left of a brutally partitioned geographical entity into a nation state. Ambedkar provided the cementing framework in the form of a Constitution that gave the newly born state a measure of feasibility and stability. All the remaining leaders were mere bit-players in this great story of the building of our sovereign democratic republic. I may be wrong, but there is enough ground for suspicion that the present Indian political class which seeks to honour Ambedkar by awarding posthumous titles, instituting fellowships and other memorials, is doing all this, not for genuinely honouring the departed leader but with the very utilitarian-selfish motive of securing the votes of those in whom he tried to instill a sense of self-respect. I must also make another melancholy reflection that in these days when the minority communities are claiming affinity with dalits – no doubt with the intention of strengthening their electoral clout – it would be worthwhile to remember that they treated dalits as no better than the caste Hindus. Ambedkar wrote of his experiences: Although on conversion to Christianity, the husband had become liberal in thought "the wife had remained orthodox in her ways and would not have consented to harbour an untouchable in her house…I learnt that a person who is an untouchable to a Hindu is also an untouchable to a Parsi…a person who is an untouchable to a Hindu is also an untouchable to a Mohammedan" (XII, 677, 678, 685). There must be something in the Indian soil and ethos that despite the lofty ideals of all religions, in the social and human sphere, much barbarism prevails.

      While Ambedkar achieved great things in life, especially in the national-political arena, it is a matter of regret that he did not pursue economics which was his main interest during his early career. Ambedkar was among the first set of Indians who were trained in economics systematically and practised it professionally. India has had a hoary tradition of economic studies in ancient times as classics like Arthasastra, Sukraniti, and Tirukkural will attest. However the study of economics untainted by these texts and receiving its inspiration from the largely western (Judeo-Grecian-enlightenment) tradition for analytic study began in the middle of the 19th century. Those who studied economics and wrote economic treatises were not strictly speaking professional economists. They used economics as a political tool. Thus the distinct contributions of Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahadev Govinda Ranade, G V Joshi and numerous other thinker-activists remain polemical writings notwithstanding solid and substantial analytical content. With the 20th century dawning, and universities coming to be established, a professional academic economic community began to evolve. A number of Indians went abroad during the first quarter of this century to get advanced training in the discipline of economics to become professional economists, and they set the tone of economics studies in India until the 1960s. In this first group of foreign trained professional economists we can name C N Vakil, P N Banerjea, Jehangir Coyajee, Gyan Chand, D R Gadgil, P S Lokanathan, J P Niyogi, P J Thomas, P P Pillai, John Mathai, Radhakamal Mukherjea to name a few. Ambedkar belonged to this group to receive education abroad under some of the most eminent economists of the time, but unfortunately he left the pursuit of academic professional economics very soon after coming to India having served for a brief period as professor of political economy at the Sydenham College of Commerce, Bombay. Our main interest today is to examine his solid contributions to the subject before he left the discipline and also see whether anything of the deep understanding of economics he had acquired during the early years, surfaced later.

      The first thing that strikes us is that Ambedkar had studied under the foremost authorities of the time both at the Columbia University in the US and at the University of London. He came under the influence of the outstanding American philosopher of the time, John Dewey who was among Ambedkar's teachers at the Columbia University. Dewey had forsaken the then dominant Hegelian theory of ideas, and formulated an instrumentalist theory of knowledge, which conceived ideas as instruments to solve social problems. Ambedkar internalised Dewey's message, which considered philosophy, in its essentials, as criticism involving reconstruction. He could also have been influenced by one of the leading anthropologists of the US, A A Goldenweiser in whose seminar, Ambedkar was encouraged to present a paper on castes in India which was later published in the Indian Antiquary (May 1917). What was most fortuitous was Ambedkar's teacher of public finance, Edwin R A Seligman who was then the McVickar professor of political economy at Columbia, and firmly placed among the most outstanding students of public finance and history of economic thought at that time. You will know that he edited the monumental Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences published in the 1930s. Subsequently, when Ambedkar went to London, his teacher was an equally eminent economist, Edwin Cannan who was also an acknowledged authority on the history of economic thought. It is worth remembering that Cannan's edition of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was the most used edition until very recently when the Glasgow edition replaced it.

      Ambedkar's major writings are easily listed because after the late 1920s, he seems to have written almost nothing, though he has made some extremely insightful comments here and there one of which I shall elaborate at the end. The major economics publications are The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution (P S King and Son Ltd, London 1923), and The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India – A Study in the Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance (P S King and Son Ltd, London 1925). There is one significant academic paper he wrote in 1918, 'Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies' in Journal of the Indian Economic Society, Vol I, 1918. Besides these, there is his unpublished MA thesis, Administration and Finance of the East India Company (Columbia University, 1915). Apart from these academic economic writings, there are his Memoranda and evidence given to various government commissions, speeches in the different legislative bodies, and book reviews which all have some economic content. All of these have been brought together by the government of Maharashtra in a multi-volumed complete edition, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches. It is a matter of some regret that while much devotion and dedication has gone into the production of this edition, adequate attention to proper editing and scholarly annotating has not been tendered.

      Earlier I remarked that it was unfortunate for the economics profession that Ambedkar decided to "changeover from economics to law and politics" as he remarked in the preface of the Indian edition of The Problem of the Rupee in 1947. It would appear that even at that stage, he hoped to come back to the subject by bringing the financial history from 1923 onwards in a second volume, and wrote "I can give them (readers) an assurance that they will not have to wait long for volume two. I am determined to bring it out with the least possible delay" (VI, p 323). But alas! within two months of writing this, India became free, and Ambedkar was caught once more in the world of law and politics, and he could not keep this promise.

      I shall now examine four broad themes that Ambedkar concerned himself in his professional writings. Firstly, the policies examined by Ambedkar in his The Problem of the Rupee mainly, and elsewhere, deal with monetary standards as they had evolved during the previous few decades. The basic Indian currency unit, the rupee, has had a long history. Until 1893, it was based on a silver standard which means that the Indian rupee was based on the value of the silver content in it. From 1841 onwards gold coins also became legal tender at one mohur as equal to 15 silver rupees. Owing to vast gold discoveries in Australia and US, gold value fell, and from 1853 onwards gold coins ceased to be legal tender. Though many suggestions were made to introduce gold coinage especially after 1872, these were not heeded despite from 1873 onwards, due to enormous silver discoveries, the price of silver fell and hence the price of rupee slipped in terms of gold. From 1872 to 1893, this acted as a continued devaluation of the Indian currency which while was good for Indian exports, was not good for the Indian economy, it had to produce more rupees to remit expenses undertaken in England by India which were in sterling (i e, gold) terms. In 1893, the government stopped coining silver rupees though agreed to coin rupees in exchange of gold at a ratio of one pound four pence per rupee. It became managed currency with the government reserving the right to coin rupees whenever it was found necessary. The idea was to introduce eventually a gold standard with gold currency replacing the existing (managed) silver standard. In 1899, at the suggestion of the currency committee headed by H H Fowler, Indian mints were thrown open to issue gold coins. Gold was sought to be used widely, but it also recommended the silver rupee to remain unlimited legal tender. This was mistaken because under gold currency, rupee should have been token coin. From now on, many events took place till the gold exchange standard came to be established in 1906. According to this system, silver rupee was guaranteed convertibility into sterling pounds (based on gold value) at a fixed price, and make it available without any limit. The accumulated gold in India, instead of supporting a gold standard with gold currency in India, was kept in London to maintain the stability of the rate of exchange. However the system broke down in 1916 with the enormous rise in the value of the silver. Silver rupee more or less ceased to be merely token, and the system effectively became silver standard. Ambedkar's writings took all this and argued stridently for a proper gold standard with gold currency as he was highly critical of the gold exchange standard though the latter received powerful theoretical support from all the then leading authorities including John Maynard Keynes. Ambedkar's main thrust was to criticise the "reckless issue of rupee currency" made possible by the gold exchange standard. He highlighted the perversity of the system because gold reserves which were supposed to guard a run on the currency, depend actually upon adding to the currency stock. In general by removing the automaticity of the currency supply within the country, this system vests the government enormous power to bloat the money supply. The excessive importance given to maintain the stability of exchange as against internal stability of the value of currency was not a proper policy for India, he contended. Neither was Ambedkar a votary of deliberate lowering of the exchange rate whether planned or unplanned. Low exchange rate increases exports and boosts internal prices. This benefits the trading classes at the expense of the poorer people at home.

      In a gold exchange standard, the coinage is manipulated by the government to keep it at par with the value of gold. Ambedkar asked: Was the job of currency management only important for the amount of gold it will procure in the external market? Obviously not, because "what really concerns those who use money is not how much gold that money is worth, but how much of things in general (of which gold is an infinitesimal part) that money is worth. Everywhere, therefore, the attempt is to keep money stable in terms of commodities in general, and that is but proper, for what ministers to the welfare of people is not so much the precious metals as commodities and services of more direct utility" (VI, p 563). Ambedkar's commitment was internal stability, and he was convinced that only an automatic system based on gold standard with gold currency could achieve this desirable end. Like every economist of his generation, he was a believer in the quantity theory of money and was afraid that governments will tend to artificially increase money in circulation. In his memorandum given to the Hilton Young Commission in 1925 he pointed out: "a managed currency is to be altogether avoided when the management is to be in the hands of the government". While there is less risk with monetary management by a private bank because "the penalty for imprudent issue, or mismanagement is visited by disaster directly upon the property of the issuer". In the case of the government "the chance of mismanagement is greater" because the issue of money "is authorised and conducted by men who are never under any present responsibility for private loss in case of bad judgment or mismanagement" (VI, p 627). In short, Ambedkar's conclusion is clearly towards price stability through conservative and automatic monetary management. This is of such current relevance that in these days of burgeoning budget deficits and their automatic monetisation, it would appear that we could do with an effective restraint on liquidity creation through an automatic mechanism.

      The second theme that Ambedkar discussed in his academic publication The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India (1925) relates to public finances. Ambedkar draws his main conclusions from his study of the Indian system which are probably even more relevant now than it was at the time he wrote. What arrangements can be made in a public fiscal system that will enable it to be "administratively workable"? The main objective according to him was: "To make administrative polities independent by requiring them to finance themselves entirely out of their own respective resources without having to depend upon one another must always be regarded as a very important end to be kept in view in devising a new financial arrangement". This is not always possible because of "several concurrent or overlapping tax jurisdiction". The two methods to solve the problem, i e, 'system of divided heads' and 'contributions' both have advantages and disadvantages.

      Ambedkar looked at some of the consequences of the Montague-Chelmsford reforms in provincial finances. What he cites from the despatch of the secretary of state could have been written now: "If the financial stability of the Provinces is not to be undermined, with ultimate jeopardy to the Government of India itself, it is impossible to contemplate the continuance of a series of Provincial deficits financed by borrowing either direct from the public or from the Central Government". The similarity does not end. The provinces proposed an increase in their resources by revising the financial arrangements enunciated in the Act. What the secretary of state said in 1922, might have been said by Yashwant Sinha today: "Equilibrium can only be achieved by reduction of expenditure and the adoption of measures which will lead to an increase in revenue". Ambedkar of course is scathing towards what he calls the "very unreasonable attitude" of the provinces, and points out how they have all failed their duty. Years later in 1939, he was to remark that "patriotism vanishes when you touch a man's pocket and I am sure that the States representatives will prefer their own financial interest to the necessities of a common front" (I, p 347). He squarely blames the governments for lacking political will to achieve efficient and equitable economic administration: "National prosperity may be great and growing and the increase of national wealth may be proceeding unchecked. If under such circumstances enough revenue is not obtained the fault does not lie with the social income. Rather it is a fault of the government which must be said to have failed to organise and marshal the national resources for fiscal purposes. The same is to some extent true of the Indian government. As for the base of taxation, Ambedkar considered income from land as the most likely source to augment state revenue, but he was vehemently opposed to the "pernicious effect of the system which bases the tax on a unit land held" (VI, 302ff). Ambedkar knew the problem clearly of tax proposals. Under the diarchy, when the government is run by a ministry recruited from the elected members of the provincial legislature, it would be futile to expect tax increases. More generally he said that if "nomination was the general mode of obtaining a seat in the Legislature", it was not necessary to "mind the prejudices of the electors". If however, the "seat is in the gift of the elector a candidate to the Legislature who proposes to touch his pocket has a small chance of success, even though the new taxes are to result in more than proportionate benefit". In any case a political party which "has won power from a bureaucracy by accusing it of heavy taxation cannot easily disgrace itself by continuing the same policy". But can they reduce public expenditure by enforcing administrative economies? Not likely because under diarchy, the governor in council will not allow retrenchment as he has no particular interest in effecting economies in public expenditure. The result was that "the chances of an early equilibrium in Provincial finance are very small". One wonders whether Ambedkar was talking of state finances in India in 1999?

      Ambedkar's criticism of diarchy has a modern ring to it. Again in Ambedkar's words: "if there is no sound finance in the Provinces it is because diarchy is not a good form of government. Now, why is diarchy not a good form of government apart from its basic undemocratic character? The answer …. is very simple….it is opposed to the principle of collective responsibility". If an administration has to work smoothly, "it must recognise the principle of impartibility of governmental work and a collective responsibility of the administrators in the execution thereof". It is not easily understood that government work by nature is invisible because in practice "the functions of government can be and commonly are partitioned, as they are between local bodies and between departments" (VI, p 303). This does not mean that there is no "common thread that runs through them all: that no function of government acts in vacuo; that each reacts on some other function, and that the various functions cannot act at all produce orderly progress unless there is some force to harmonise them". Collective responsibility is this harmonising force. The conclusion is unmistakable: "Hybrid executives, divided responsibility, division of functions, reservation of powers, cannot make for a good system of government, and where there is no good system of government, there can be little hope for a sound system of finance" (VI, p 307). There is some discussion on public expenditure. The main point he makes is that an alien government cannot be expected to use the funds it has to the betterment of the people. As he made it clear: "if the Executive in India did not do certain things most conducive to progress it was because by reason of its being impersonal and also by reason of its character, motives and interests it could not sympathise with the living forces operating in the Indian Society, was not charged with its wants, its pains, its cravings and its desires, was inimical to its aspirations, did not advance education, disfavoured Swadeshi or snapped at anything that smacked of nationalism, it was because all these things went against its grain". In other words, the government "not being of the people could not feel the pulse of the people". One would have expected that Ambedkar would have given detailed treatment to problems of taxation and expenditure having been a student of Seligman, but as his concerns were different, he did not give much importance. But his interest surfaced on these issues when dealing with the Indian Constitution almost at the fag end of his professional career.

      This leads me to the third theme of Ambedkarian economics. One has heard of the famous canons of taxation enunciated by Adam Smith more than 200-years ago, but has there been any similar canons regarding public expenditure? Nothing so pithy and pointed came my way in my not necessarily exhaustive studies of public finance literature until I happened to notice recently such canons in a most unlikely place. B R Ambedkar while discussing the functions of the Comptroller and Auditor General said in 1949 during the framing of our Constitution that governments should spend the resources garnered from the public not only as per rules, laws and regulations, but also to see that "faithfulness, wisdom and economy" have gone into the acts of expenditure by public authorities. Firstly, the question of faithfulness. Faith in this context as defined by the dictionary is "duty or commitment to fulfil a trust, promise …" A main reason for the existence of public finance is that human beings living in society require certain things like roads, law and order, etc. that cannot be enjoyed exclusively. As the costs and benefits of such items cannot be internalised, they will not be supplied through the free market mechanism. Governments exist to provide these common requirements. Citizens in democratic forms of government are promised by their representatives to improve their welfare by judicious provision of such public goods and services, and they place their trust in the government by delegating authority to take taxation and expenditure decisions. How the individual acts of public spending results in the augmentation of social welfare may not always be obvious because of spillover effects and long gestation periods. When the citizens are thus not in a position to comprehend clearly the consequences of government action, it is so easy to mislead them by false claims. Hence it becomes all the more necessary for the government to be faithful to the original intentions. For example, if a certain sum is allotted to a centre for higher education to improve its facilities without specifying the item of expenditure, a more faithful way of spending would be on libraries, laboratories and other items of teaching and research rather than on frivolous things such as statues of past professors or air conditioned limousine for its vice chancellor. The fidelity to the original intention must be tempered by 'wisdom'. For example, the original intention of the policy may be to spread appropriate information through expenditure on the activities of the DAVP or information departments. But such a policy when executed may be faithful to the intentions but may not be wise. In other words, expenditure should transcend the personal, the ephemeral and the showy, but must be done with circumspection and understanding of the deeper issues involved. While sagacity, prudence and common sense are the hallmarks of a just and wise ruler, he should also possess experience and knowledge that can be applied critically and practically in specific areas. In the context of a just utilisation of public funds, economic wisdom becomes a paramount necessity. But mere apparent faithfulness to the original intentions and wisdom are not sufficient in themselves for public expenditure to achieve social well-being. The importance of the third canon of public expenditure takes a special meaning here. 'Economy' in public expenditure does not simply mean a low level of public spending, but it is the intelligent use of funds so that every paise fetches the most benefit. Those in charge of public funds must strive to evaluate alternative methods of achieving the objectives and see to it that leakages do not occur. The remarkable thing about Ambedkar's canons is that they are ism-neutral. One can follow a policy of a large or a small public sector and yet the principles behind these canons are applicable. The canons are sufficiently flexible so that expenditure decisions can be related to the state of the economy. For example, what may be economic wisdom in undertaking a particular item of expenditure in one country may be economic stupidity at other times and other places. The canons emphasise that the expenditure decisions should closely relate to the specified objectives and the available resources besides ensuring economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of government decisions. While the determination of the aggregate level of expenditure is a matter of overall policy based on the democratic will of the people, allocation of that total among competing demands and the manner of utilisation fall within the domain of these canons. Following the canons scrupulously in individual items of expenditure cannot always eliminate problems arising out of the broader economic policy pursued by the government. But they can mitigate the harmful effects of ill-considered policies of our governments. In the present context of high fiscal deficits, a rigorous application of the Ambedkar canons can help reduce the quantum of public expenditure.

      The last theme I wish to discuss relates to his ideas on agrarian economy. In his paper 'Small holdings in India and their remedies' (I, 453ff) published in 1918, he takes on a problem that is still haunting Indian agrarian system. At that time, British administrators and academics in India who were used to their own country where large agricultural land holdings was the norm, were appalled at the low productivity of Indian land. This they ascribed to the minuscule size of the farm land cultivated by Indian peasants. A number of suggestions emanated from sympathetic observers like H S Jevons of Allahabad University, Harold Mann and G F Keatinge of Bombay, and the committee appointed to make proposals on the consolidation of small and scattered holdings in the Baroda State (1917). They all proposed to consolidate and/or enlarge the holdings in the hands of individual farmers through interesting administrative measures. Ambedkar made a critical examination of the above, and in the process arrived at some very advanced conclusions. To begin with, he struck at the very root of the proposals by arguing that there can be no such thing as a correct size of agricultural holding. As he argued, land is only one of the many factors of production and the productivity of one factor of production is dependent upon the proportion in which the other factors of production are combined. In his words: "the chief object of an efficient production consists in making every factor in the concern contribute its highest; and it can do that only when it can co-operate with its fellow of the required capacity. Thus, there is an ideal of proportions that ought to subsist among the various factors combined, though the ideal will vary with the changes in proportions". From this he proceeds to say that if agriculture "is to be treated as an economic enterprise, then, by itself, there could be no such thing as a large or small holding". If this is so, what is the problem? Certainly it is not due to a want of efficiency in utilising whatever the peasant has. Ambedkar cites with approval an English civil servant: "The ryots have a keen eye to the results of a good system of farming as exhibited on model farms". Ambedkar's answer rests on the inadequacy of other factors of production. The insufficiency of capital which is needed for acquiring "agricultural stock and implements" arises from savings. But as Ambedkar remarks "that saving is possible where there is surplus is a common place of political economy". Even this is a surface reason, the ultimate cause being "the parent evil of the mal-adjustment in her social economy". This is partly defined as the non-availability of sufficient land in India to give her prosperity through the means of agriculture alone. There is almost a prophetic statement made by him long before modern theorists of development systematised notions of disguised unemployment or under-employment: "A large agricultural population with the lowest proportion of land in actual cultivation means that a large part of the agricultural population is superfluous and idle." Even if the lands are consolidated and enlarged and cultivated through capitalistic enterprise, it will not solve the problem as it will only aggravate "the evils by adding to our stock of idle labour". The only way out of this impasse is to take people away from land. This will automatically "lessen and destroy the premium that at present weighs heavily on land in India" and large "economic holding will force itself upon us as a pure gain". He concludes that "Industrialisation of India is the soundest remedy for the agricultural problems of India". This can generate adequate surplus that will also eventually benefit the agricultural sector. Indeed a shift from primary industry to secondary industry is vital and it must be attempted seriously to prevent the present enlargement of the rural population that was being witnessed and remedies based on what he calls "faulty political economy" were being advocated.

      What can we conclude from this brief foray into the various economic themes with which Ambedkar was concerned? To begin, his main purpose in the pursuit of the discipline was normative. In other words, he hoped that his study of economics will lead to useful policy conclusions. Thus policy oriented welfare issues interested him more than studying the technical aspects of the discipline to demonstrate economic theorems. This however does not mean that he did not show any regard for theoretical conclusions derived by others. Indeed it is significant that his knowledge of economic theory was amazingly up-to-date. Not only was his reading of contemporary economic literature wide and deep, he applied whatever that was in the cutting edge of the discipline to concrete situations, very imaginatively. Just to give an example, in a paper he wrote in 1918, he refers to the contributions that appeared in the American Economic Review issued a few months earlier. Another example of his penchant for using received economic theory to critically examine arguments is in an obscure review written in 1918 of Bertrand Russell's book Principles of Social Reconstruction. Ambedkar takes him on the question of the 'Love of money' leading to human beings to "mutilate their own nature from a mistaken theory of what constitutes success" with the consequence of promoting a dead uniformity of "character and purpose, a diminution in the joy of life, and a stress and strain which leaves whole communities weary, discouraged and disillusioned". Ambedkar tears into this argument of the 'moralists' against 'love of money' showing that this philosophy is connected to a particular economic circumstances, and not of universal validity. In any case, money is required for something, and it is the purpose for which money is loved "will endow it with credit or cover it with shame" (I, 483ff). He brings the heavy artillery of neo-classical theory of marginal utility developed by as he says "Cournot, Gossen, Walras, Menger and Jevons" to counter Russell's position that it is all due to individual preference, and that people will give up things as soon as they have too much of anything. His books and papers are full of appropriate citations from the great contemporary economists, Irving Fisher, Alfred Marshall, Richard Ely, Alfred Kemmerer, Allyn Young, and John Maynard Keynes to name a few.

      Ambedkar was not content with the current corpus of thought because he had a tremendous historical sense because he was fully aware that present situations wear the scars of the past. In almost all his academic works, he employed the historical method. Whether it is the currency conundrums or public finance, Ambedkar digs deep in the bowels of history to understand the significance the events he was currently analysing. It was analytical rather than the dialectical method he used though occasionally one does find a dialectical approach in his writings. Thus dealing with the need for legal solutions to social problems, he said: "Society is always conservative. It does not change unless it is compelled to and that too very slowly. When change begins, there is always a struggle between the old and the new, and the new is always in danger of being eliminated in the struggle for survival unless it is supported" (XII, p 115). However dialectics as a method of approaching any subject is absent in Ambedkar's work.

      In many areas of Indian economic history, he was truly a pioneer and he faced all the problems that a pioneer faces as he pointed out in the preface of his The Evolution of Provincial Finance. Like Karl Marx some decades earlier, Ambedkar too pored over voluminous government reports and blue books to arrive at firm conclusions. Arising from his conscious use of history, was his use of statistical data. Notwithstanding the various lacunae of the official data, he skillfully marshalled the available data and used whatever statistical techniques that were available at that time. The value of his conclusions are substantial precisely because his analysis was based on sound empirical and historical foundations.

      Thanks to Ambedkar's study under Cannan and Seligman, he was deeply read in the history of economic thought which came in most useful in all his writing. Apart from that he was widely read in history, jurisprudence, literature and classics. All this shows in the remarkable clarity and style one sees in his books, papers, speeches and so on.

      One cannot but marvel at the amount of writing he had accomplished and that too in pioneer areas and difficult subjects. And all these before he had crossed his 30 years. The range too is remarkable, from a disquisition on ancient Indian commerce to the current problems faced by the Indian rural population. In all his academic writings – as indeed in his later political life – he was never overawed by authority. If something warranted criticism, he did not hesitate to voice his opinion even if it meant going against the most acclaimed author of the age or his own teacher as in the case of Edwin Cannan. The criticism was always based on sound judgment, and never used in a spirit of bellicosity.

      Ambedkar firmly belonged to the Judeo-Greek-enlightenment tradition and was an uncompromising modernist. This shows in his approach to economics, politics, law, society and everything else including the matter of sartorial habits. He himself was always impeccably dressed in western clothes, and chastised Mahatma Gandhi for going to the Round Table Conference in London to discuss political settlement "as though he was going to a Vaishnava shrine singing Narsi Mehta's Songs" (I, p 351). His preference for a modernist approach comes most clearly when he compared Ranade and Gandhi: "In the age of Ranade the leaders struggled to modernise India. In the age of Gandhi the leaders are making her a living specimen of antiquity. In the age of Ranade leaders depended upon experience as a corrective method of their thought and their deeds. The leaders of the present age depend upon their inner voice as their guide. Not only is there a difference in their mental make up, there is a difference even in their viewpoint regarding external appearance. The leaders of the old age took care to be well clad while the leaders of the present age take pride in being half-clad" (I, p 352). But more importantly he believed in material progress, constitutional approach to solving problems, rule of law, right to property, civil liberties, democracy based on the liberty, equality and fraternity principles enunciated by the French Revolution. His extensive critique of the caste system is also based on enlightenment principles of economic efficiency through private initiative, individual liberties and human equality.

      It is possible to construe from his later – especially in the 1940s – that he moved away from the strict mainstream economic theoretical position. It is no doubt true that he moved towards an economy based on state socialism where he proposed "state ownership in agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation", state ownership of industry, nationalisation of insurance and so on. It was probably more due to functional reasons than any fundamental change in his enlightenment economic ideology, because he felt that private sector had not achieved growth and his rational mind told him that we should "put an obligation on the state to plan the economic life of the people on lines which would lead to highest point of productivity without closing every avenue to private enterprise, and also provide for the equitable distribution of wealth" (I, p 408). We must recollect that Ambedkar placed much value on democracy and individual liberty which he thought could be preserved by judicious state action. In a sense this conforms to the classic Smithian position. The causal chain that Adam Smith envisaged was that economic and social freedom/equality will propel the society towards political equality/freedom. And this is long lasting than the other way round where first you get political freedom and strive to achieve economic and social equality/freedom. In almost all his writings, Ambedkar while fighting for political emancipation, does not forget the need for social and economic reforms. Again it was Ambedkar's strong belief in the primacy of rationally directed social and economic development that he advocated centralisation of economic activities. Whether it is his signal achievements in formulating a coherent national water policy (done during his membership of Viceroy's Council 1942-1946) as elaborated in a recent book Ambedkar's Role in Economic Planning and Water Policy by Sukhadeo Thorat, or his helping to give a unitary bias to the Indian Constitution, Ambedkar's anxiety was to promote economic and social development of the Indian nation as quickly as possible. Indian Constitution is more unitary than federal which in a sense is a reflection of Ambedkar's long standing bias as he said in 1939 at the Gokhale School of Politics while delivering Kale Memorial Lecture: "I am not opposed to a Federal Form of Government. I confess I have a partiality for a Unitary form of Government. I think India needs it" (I, p 353).

      This is not a place to involve myself in a controversy especially about Ambedkar's writings after 1925. But frequently mention is made about Buddhism and Marx while discussing Ambedkar's ideas. Obviously he was appreciative of the humanitarian and anti-exploitative sentiments that are in Buddhist and Marxian thought, but there is no evidence of them in his academic works. Even in later years when he did study Buddhism deeply in order to convert to that religion, his reading of Buddhist economics is at variance with that of others especially Schumacher, who in his Small Is Beautiful writes a substantial essay on Buddhist economics. There is more in common with the anti-modernist Mahatma Gandhi rather than with the modernist Ambedkar.

      The four themes from the early writings of Ambedkar that I have sketched here shows in ample measure his keen economic mind and there is every possibility that he might have achieved substantial success in academic economics had he chosen to continue in the groves of academe. But he must have been touched by what the great enlightenment Scottish philosopher, Adam Ferguson stated in 1767 in his monumental An Essay on the History of Civil Society: "Where power is already established, where the strong are unwilling to suffer restraint, or the weak unable to find a protection, the defects of law are marks of the most perfect corruption". This could have led him to the study of law and jurisprudence so that he could reform the legal system to make it more equitable and civilised. But law and economics are very much intertwined and though he might have exiled himself from the academic pursuit of economics, the practice of that discipline was not totally absent in his legal and political career. We can end our tribute to this great son of India no better than what the unfortunate Pope Gregory VII, the great reforming Head of the Catholic Church of the 11th century said: Dilexi justitiam et odi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exilion (I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile).

      [I am grateful to Professor Kuppuswamy, Ambedkar Professor at the Madras University not only for inviting me to deliver this lecture but also for providing me with necessary books and other materials. References in the brackets refer to the volume and page of Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches brought out by the Government of Maharashtra.]

      Source: EPW

      http://atrocitynews.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/ambedkars-contributions-to-indian-economics/

      Ambedkar my father in Economics: Dr Amartya Sen

       
      05may07

      Prof.Sen ,6th Indian to get Prestigious Nobel Prize has recently claimed in a lecture session :

      "Ambedkar is my Father in Economics. He is true celebrated champion of the underprivileged.He deserves more than what he has achieved today. However he was highly controversial figure in his home country,though it was not the reality. His contribution in the field of economics is marvelous and will be remembered forever..!"

      .

      Read further :'An interview with Dr. Amartya Sen'

      The celebrated economist, Professor Amartya Sen, is the sixth Indian to get a Nobel, and the first Asian winner of the economics prize. Professor Sen is presently in India to deliver this year's Sir Dorab Tata Memorial Lecture in Mumbai and Delhi. His research has covered many areas in economics and philosophy. His contributions range from the axiomatic theory of social choice to the development of welfare and poverty indicators and further, to empirical studies of famine, all of which focus on issues of income   distribution, particularly with reference to the most impoverished members of society.

      Source: BuddhistCircle

      His early works laid the micro-theoretic foundations for development economics. In the second phase, he was involved in studying capital theory and growth. He moved on to social choice, where he opposed the much-acclaimed conditions of Pareto optimality and its total imposition on economic theory. He also started focusing on income inequality and constructed a new measure of poverty widely known as the 'Sen index'. He also continued his work on the empirical realms of development economics and started working on famines.

      In his celebrated works on poverty and famines, he showed why and how famines are caused by a collapse of economic entitlement rather than any decline in food availability (which may or may not occur).

      The wide gamut of his work includes diverse topics such as rationality of choice in moral and political philosophy. More recently, his concerns have included the interrelation between social, political and economic rights.

      In an interview with Christabelle Noronha, Professor Sen discusses his work and some of his concerns.

      tata.com: Most of your research is centered around the human face of economics, what made you decide on this aspect?
      Amartya Sen: I think the human face of economics is important for my work though I don't think that most of my research is centered around it. In some ways of course all economics involves human behaviour and as such it is not possible to study economics without encountering the human face, directly or indirectly, in terms of dealing with human lives, human capabilities, human freedom and human rights. I think that a part of my work focuses on that area though most of my work has not. It's not the part that I've spent most of my life working on.

      My research focused a lot on social choice, in which I used a broad framework in a variety of applied problems, such as: to assess poverty, to evaluate inequality, to clarify the nature of relative deprivation, to develop distribution-adjusted national income measures, to clarify the penalty of unemployment, to investigate the working and consequences of democracy, to analyse violations of personal liberties and basic rights and to characterise gender disparities and women's relative disadvantage.

      I think the specifics of human issues often tend to get neglected in economics because it's much easier to deal with human behaviour in a stylised form, seen in terms of profit maximisation only. In such analyses you tend to lose certain aspects of social relations. There are other aspects that one has to look into — human behaviour and its complexity, human freedom and human rights — which have implications on public policy.

      The first time that any central government in this country was voted out of office was the Indira Gandhi government because of the imposition of  the emergency. The issue of political and civil liberty particularly upset people; it was not only about poverty, but about human and civil rights and, most importantly, the suppression of human rights.

      Also, in emphasising the importance of human freedom we have to ask whether the standard criteria for economic welfare were adequate They are not. Of course human well-being is important but so is freedom in general and freedom to pursue well-being in particular and to pursue other objectives as well.

      tata.com: It is fifty years since India has become a republic, with not much economic progress; is there need to take a fresh look at our constitution, in terms of an economic model, so that there is equality of income?
      AS: I think the Indian Constitution is a marvelous constitution in many ways. It may need a little tinkering here and there but I think it's got the basic structure right. The constitution focuses on equality, specially in the section called Directive Principles. It deals with equity in a variety of spaces — it considers inequality of income to be bad, but it is also concerned with inequality of educational opportunities, inequality of healthcare and of life in general. I think we get a lot of guidance there about distributional issues.

      Inequality of income is not the only kind of inequality that matters. Furthermore, the inequality of income often arises because of inequality in other spheres. For example, inequality in educational opportunities is sometimes the principal cause of inequality of income.

      The constitution is focused on a number of issues that are central but which have been neglected and continue to be neglected. I would be more supportive of the idea of making the constitution more effective than the question of reviewing it, by giving the Directive Principles more importance. Inequality of income to a great extent relates to a lack of opportunities that some people have compared to others.

      I would be in favour of implementing constitutional provisions, elevating some of the Directive Principles, and bringing public policy in line with the constitution's concern about equality and I think there is a lot to be done in that direction. I do not feel there is any need to seriously change the constitution. Some of the things that the constitution guarantees are secularism, protecting minority rights, which is particularly important when there is a danger of intolerance from majority communities. The constitution provides protection to religious minorities, their culture and concerns.

      I think the constitution continues to provide a good backdrop for India because it is pro-equality, pro-freedom, pro-opportunity. In all these respects we have much to be grateful to the makers of the Indian Constitution, in particular to Dr. Ambedkar.

      tata.com: Your subject of concern in recent years seems to be the right of people to improve the quality of their lives. In such a scenario, what about the moral aspect of human behaviour? Will it not lead to a Machiavellian society?
      AS: Well I think the expansion of human freedom and quality of human life need not have the effect of making people selfish. It may in fact have the opposite effect. We seek freedom not only to improve our own lives but also to do those things that we value and many of the things we value involve other people, and as such, there is no particular reason to think that improving our own freedom or our own quality of life will have the effect of making us less concerned about the lives of others.

      Indeed improving the quality of life and expanding human freedom should have exactly the opposite effect. Because of poverty, illiteracy, lack of healthcare, people are bothered constantly by illnesses, bereavement in families and so on. We are then not able to help others. So anything that makes life more secure more stable and less precarious enhances our ability to help each other. That's the direction we expect to go.

      Machiavelli was a great political thinker who had a great deal of sympathy for the underdogs. He was concerned about how to improve and increase the ability of those who were powerless to have more power in a society where power is heavily concentrated. If by Machiavellian you mean being selfish, I don't really see that improving the quality of people's lives will have the effect of making people more self centered and less concerned. There is no empirical evidence in this direction.

      tata.com: What are your views on the relationship between health and education and productivity?
      AS: I think these are very interesting and important issues to think about because the limitation of educational opportunity and healthcare has been one of the major sources of underdevelopment in India and continues to be. On the eve of Independence, one of the things that Pandit Nehru outlined and emphasised in his famous speech 'Tryst with destiny" was opportunities for education and healthcare. This has not happened. Inequality in education and healthcare has increased. Not that everything has been negative — overall educational opportunities have increased and healthcare has generally improved — but inequality has certainly gone up with opportunity at the higher level having expanded relatively much more.

      You have several technical institutes offering higher education — the IITs and other places that have done extremely well. The Indian software industry and generally IT has been very successful within the country as well as abroad. This shows how important education is, but if you take care of education only at the higher level and ignore the basic level, you are missing out the opportunities that less advantaged people have to improve their living conditions as well as to participate more fully in social life, or to raise their productivity and thereby increase their levels of income.

      I think expanding school education is one of the central questions facing us today. In addition to quantity, the quality of education in Indian schools is also very low, though it varies in different states. For instance, Kerala has better and more accessible education than most of the other Indian states. UP, Bihar and Rajasthan have very limited educational opportunities, especially for women, and it does make a difference that opportunity be created in terms of more accessible and better run schools. In instances of teacher absenteeism, the education of children gets neglected. Schools must be managed well. I think that requires a change in public policy, a much more extensive public policy on education.

      I've been arguing that for several years without a great deal of success. It will make a dramatic difference, like it has to successful economies such as those of  Japan, South Korea and China. Education can be very powerful in improving the economic conditions of people.

      A lot of low productivity in India comes from poor healthcare, poor nutrition, under-nourishment. Little has been done for improving public health, and tackling illiteracy and poverty. The effort has to be to reach benefits of a liberalised economy to the socially deprived. In certain parts of the country, land reforms, primary education and health issues have been tackled well, for instance, land reforms in West Bengal, education in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh and public health in Kerala are applaudable. But the need is for the development to happen all over India at the same time.

      So, I return to my basic theme which is that even impoverished societies can improve the well-being of their least advantaged members. Societies that attend to the poorest of the poor can save their lives, promote their longevity and increase their opportunities through education and productive work.

      tata.com: What role do you see for the government and corporate sector in the area of education and healthcare?
      AS: Obviously the public sector has a major role here but the corporate sector is also important as are individuals who can contribute to public healthcare and education Both areas can be expanded with the help of private corporations, especially in urban areas, and through cooperation among individuals who can make the systems of delivery more efficient. I mentioned earlier how school children suffer from teacher absenteeism. In general schools are very badly run. There could be more parental control over schools and that is in a way a cooperative action. I would say yes, the public sector has a big role but so has the rest of society — varying from individuals at one end to the corporate sector at the other end.

      tata.com: What are your views on the concept of  trusts?
      AS: I think trusts are extremely important as a way of human cooperation. The advantage of a trust is that it has flexibility in a way that a politics-driven public policy may not have. It gives greater scope for philantrophic intervention. In a small way, I've been a beneficiary myself in being able to set up a trust when the Nobel Prize money came my way. It also gave me an opportunity to do something immediate and practical about my old obsession. The Pratichi Trust which I have set up in India and Bangladesh with the help of some of the prize money, looks at literacy, basic healthcare and gender equity. It is, of course, a small effort compared with the magnitude of these problems. But it is nice to re-experience something of the old excitement of running evening schools, more than fifty years ago in villages near Santiniketan

      Source: BuddhistCircle

      http://atrocitynews.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/ambedkar-my-father-in-economics-dr-amartya-sen/

      Ambedkar conversion led to Dalit metamorphosis

      Ambedkar argued that the caste system reduces the mobility of labour as well as capital

      Origin of change | Narendra Jadhav

      Today is a very special day for millions of former untouchables in India. It was exactly 53 years ago on this very day i.e., on 14 October 1956, that Babasaheb Ambedkar ceremoniously led his 500,000 followers assembled in Nagpur to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. This historic initiative was unique. History is of course replete with episodes of mass conversion. Yet, this was probably the only one that took place without any threat or promise of material gain. This conversion from the Hindu religion to Buddhism was based entirely on their unswerving faith in Ambedkar as a saviour and it changed the lives of millions of erstwhile untouchables forever.

      Since I was barely three years old when my parents embraced Buddhism in that ceremony, I became a Buddhist at that tender age and grew up as a Buddhist. On this day of the anniversary of the conversion to Buddhism, I would like to share some thoughts on how millions of Ambedkarites like me feel looking back at this momentous transition.

      To my mind, Ambedkar's historic initiative must be seen in the broader context of his role as the leading champion of human rights and his mission to ensure human dignity and social justice to the millions of the oppressed at the bottom of the caste hierarchy.

      Also See BSP and Dalit politics (Graphics)

      To fully appreciate the context, one must make a distinction between two issues: Why did Ambedkar decide to shun Hinduism—which he announced in 1935—and then why did he choose Buddhism and get himself and his followers converted in 1956.

      In a conference held in Yeola, a small town near Nashik, in October 1935, Ambedkar described to his followers how their struggle over the preceding decade to secure basic human rights and equal human status within Hindu society had failed. He was referring to the first public agitation of untouchables demanding to drink water from a public reservoir and denouncing Manusmruti in 1927 (Mahad, Konkan region of Maharashtra) and the Temple Entry Agitation at Kala Ram Temple in Nashik (1930-35).

      For the first decade or so of his public life, Ambedkar had chosen to reform the Hindu religion by fighting it from within. He had tried to create a legitimate place for Dalits in Hindu society, but the upper castes had not budged. Out of sheer frustration, he said he was contemplating a change of religion. "Would it not be better to give up Hinduism and embrace another faith that would unreservedly give Dalits an equal status," he asked. A moment later, he came out with his famous assertion: "Unfortunately, I was born a Hindu untouchable—there was nothing I could do to prevent it. However, it is well within my power to refuse to live under ignoble and humiliating conditions. I solemnly assure you that I will not die a Hindu."

      Ambedkar exhorted his followers to stop wasting their energy on fruitless endeavours, such as fighting for entry into Hindu temples, and redirect their efforts toward securing respect, independence, and equality with others through education.

      His speech sent shock waves throughout the country. Some called it a bluff and a political stunt. Others, who knew the strength of his character, could not doubt his determination. Some called him a messiah; others felt it was a suicidal step.

      All eyes were on Mahatma Gandhi for his reaction, which was not long in coming: "Religion is not like a house or a clock which can be changed at will. It is an integral part of one's own self, rather than of the body. I am convinced that a change of faith will not serve the cause which they have at heart." Gandhi also predicted that the millions of illiterate and unsophisticated Dalits would not renounce their faith, for they were concerned with day-to-day survival rather than Babasaheb's "attention-seeking stunts".

      Gandhi's pronouncements, however, did not convince other religious minorities such as the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. They saw this as a great opportunity to convert Dalits and gain strength for their own faith. Whereas most of them waxed eloquent about the reasons their religion was superior, some offered tangible rewards.

      Ambedkar's attack on the caste system was not merely aimed at challenging the hegemony of the so-called upper castes, but had a broader connotation of economic growth and development.

      Ambedkar argued that the caste system reduces the mobility of labour as well as capital. He said, "Social and individual efficiency requires us to develop the capacity of an individual to the point of competency to choose and to make his own career. This principle is violated in the caste system insofar as it involves an attempt to appoint tasks to individuals in advance, selected not on the basis of trained original capacities, but on that of the social status of the parents."

      Ambedkar's philosophy was couched in social, religious and moral considerations. The focal point of this philosophy was the oppressed and the depressed. This economic philosophy underscored liberty, equality and fraternity in connotations. The philosophy aimed at giving life to those who are disowned, at elevating those who are suppressed, at ennobling those who are downtrodden and at granting liberty, equality and justice to all, irrespective of their caste and creed. The establishment of a casteless democratic society based on pradnya (intellect), sheel (character) and karuna(compassion) is the essence of this philosophy. Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism was thus, the logical culmination of his vision for an egalitarian society.

      Within two months after the conversion ceremony, Ambedkar passed away. However, the religious movement that he set in motion has thrived, and it now includes around four million Buddhists.

      What have Dalits gained from the conversion? In my view, we have gained a new identity and self dignity. It is important to note that there were two distinct aspects to the problem of untouchability. One, of course, was that others looked down on them. This phenomenon took place for so long that Dalits had begun looking down on themselves—a sort of collective inferiority complex.

      What Ambedkar achieved through the conversion is no less than a complete metamorphosis. A large and growing educated Dalit middle class that has now emerged is no longer apologetic about their caste origins and they are working shoulder to shoulder with others to carve out a life of dignity for themselves and in the process, contributing to the re-emerging India today.

      Do I consider myself a Buddhist? Yes, of course. By law I am a Buddhist. In what ways do I practice Buddhism? Well, when I married a so-called high caste Hindu woman, I insisted—despite a lot of opposition—that the marriage must take place according to Buddhist rites.

      At home and in vihars, we regularly hold Buddhist prayers. How much do I follow Buddhism? I think Buddhism is essentially a religion of good ethical behaviour. Frankly, even if I were not a Buddhist, I would have followed the broader notions of Buddhism.

      Narendra Jadhav, an Indian national (born in 1953) is a leading educationist, eminent economist and policymaker, well-known social scientist and a best-selling author. He is currently a member of the Planning Commission.

      Respond to this column at feedback@livemint.com

      Graphics by Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint

      http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/13213716/Ambedkar-conversion-led-to-Dal.html

      B. R. Ambedkar, the economist

      R. C. Rajamani

      AS THE nation observers his 49th death anniversary today (December 6), it may surprise many to know that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, celebrated as the "Father of Indian Constitution," found economics closest to his heart and got his doctorate for a thesis on "The Problem of the Rupee". He was a Professor of Economics in Bombay's Sydenham College in the early 1930s. A keen student of economics, Ambedkar's M.A. thesis was on `Ancient Indian Commerce' and the M.Sc (London) thesis on `The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India'.

      Ambedkar strongly believed that the fundamental cause of India's backward economy was the delay in changing the land system. The remedy was democratic collectivism that entailed economic efficiency, productivity and overhauling the village economy, he wrote.

      This, he said, would wipe out elements of economic exploitation and social injustice. He did not want landlords, tenants, or landless labour. His idea of economic realism sought both freedom and welfare.

      The essential feature of his approach to economic problems was the condemnation of such extreme views as laissez-faireand scientific socialism. Mixed economy was the cornerstone of his economic ideas. He advocated an end to the glaring social and economic inequalities produced by the capitalist system.

      His evidence before the Hilton-Young Commission was an important contribution to the discussion of currency problems in India. He gave expression to his thoughts on such issues as small-holdings, collective farming, land revenue and abolition of landlordism. It covered nearly four important decades — 1917 to 1956, and touched on all major political and economic events.

      He realised that the solution to the problem of the untouchable landless labourers depended upon the solution to Indian agricultural problems or, more broadly, economic problems. He focussed on the injustice in basing the assessment of land revenue on income and advocated that land revenue be brought under the income-tax.

      His work "The Problem of the Rupee" was considered an instructive treatise. He wrote that closing of the Mints would prevent inflation and disturbances in the internal price level.

      He advocated that the standard of value should be gold and the elasticity of currency should come from this source. That great scholarship and hard work had gone into this book is evidenced by the rave reviews Ambedkar received from the British Press.

      The Times (London) described the book as an, "excellent piece of work. English style is easy; and his knowledge of his subject obviously very full... "

      The Economist (London): "It is a clear and ably written book. Certainly, none of the other numerous works on one or the other aspect of the monetary problem have anything like the readability of this tract."

      Financier: "Ambedkar deals with the problem in a very lucid and praiseworthy manner and puts forward not merely its origin, but also valuable proposals for a solution, which should be studied by bankers and those merchants whose business depends upon the exchange."

      A versatile personality, Ambedkar's hunger for knowledge, his passion for books and his erudition were unique. He was a voracious reader and knew seven languages. He described his obsession with books thus: "For a man like me, who was socially boycotted, these books took me to their hearts."'

      His love for the printed word naturally led him to extensive writing on a variety of subjects with depth and vision. Ambedkar's book Pakistan drew the attention of many thinkers and politicians. Historians agree that in that book he first clearly spelt out the difference between the community and the nation. Mohammed Ali Jinnah read the books and recommended for reading to Gandhiji. The Mahatma admitted: "It is ably written" but, remarked, "It carried no conviction to him."

      On December 5, 1956, he completed writing his book Buddhathe next morning his servant found him dead when he went in his room to serve him tea. Like a blessed soul, he truly "slept in God". His death came peacefully in his sleep.

      Dr Ambedkar was conferred posthumously the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour, on his 99th birth anniversary in 1990. It was rightly seen as a fitting, though belated, tribute to one of the builders of Modern India.

      (The author, a former Deputy Editor with PTI, is a New Delhi-based freelance writer.)

      Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

      http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2005/12/06/stories/2005120601420900.htm

      Dr.Ambedkar- A Greatest Economist – By R C Rajamani

      It may surprise many to know that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, celebrated as the "Father of Indian Constitution," found economics closest to his heart and got his doctorate for a thesis on "The Problem of the Rupee". He was a Professor of Economics in Mumbai's Sydenham College in the early 1930s.

      Ambedkar strongly believed that the fundamental cause of India's backward economy was the delay in changing the land system. The remedy was democratic collectivism that entailed economic efficiency, productivity and overhauling the village economy, he wrote.
       
      This, he said, would wipe out elements of economic exploitation and social injustice. He did not want landlords, tenants, or landless labour. His idea of economic realism sought both freedom and welfare.

      The essential feature of his approach to economic problems was the condemnation of such extreme views as laissez-faire and scientific socialism. Mixed economy was the cornerstone of his economic ideas. He advocated an end to the glaring social and economic inequalities produced by the capitalist system.

      Ambedkar was a keen student of economics. He got his MA for his thesis on 'Ancient Indian Commerce' and MSc (London) for his thesis on 'The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India' and DSc for his thesis on 'The Problem of the Rupee'.
       
      His evidence before the Hilton-Young Commission was an important contribution to the discussion of currency problems in India. He gave expression to his thoughts on such issues as small-holdings, collective farming, land revenue and abolition of landlordism. It covered nearly four important decades — 1917 to 1956, and touched on all major political and economic events.

      He realised that the solution to the problem of the untouchable landless labourers depended upon the solution to Indian agricultural problems or, more broadly, economic problems. He focussed on the injustice in basing the assessment of land revenue on income and advocated that land revenue be
      brought under the income-tax.

      His work "The Problem of the Rupee" was considered an instructive treatise. He wrote that closing of the Mints would prevent inflation and disturbances in the internal price level.
       
      He advocated that the standard of value should be gold and the elasticity of currency should come from this source. That great scholarship and hard work had gone into this book is evidenced by the rave reviews Ambedkar received from the British Press.
       
      The Times (London) described the book as an, "excellent piece of work. English style is easy; and his knowledge of his subject obviously very full… "

      The Economist (London): "It is a clear and ably written book. Certainly, none of the other numerous works on one or the other aspect of the monetary problem have anything like the readability of this tract."

      Financier: "Ambedkar deals with the problem in a very lucid and praiseworthy manner and puts forward not merely its origin, but also valuable proposals for a solution, which should be studied by bankers and those merchants whose business depends upon the exchange."
       
      A versatile personality, Ambedkar's hunger for knowledge, his passion for books and his erudition were unique. He was a voracious reader and knew seven languages. He described his obsession with books thus: "For a man like me, who was socially boycotted, these books took me to their hearts."

      His love for the printed word naturally led him to extensive writing on a variety of subjects with depth and vision. Ambedkar's book 'Pakistan' drew the attention of many thinkers and politicians. Historians agree that in that book he first clearly spelt out the difference between the community and the nation. Mohammed Ali Jinnah read the books and recommended for reading to Gandhiji. The Mahatma admitted: "It is ably written" but, remarked, "It carried no conviction to him."

      On December 5, 1956, he completed writing his book 'Buddha' the next morning his servant found him dead when he went in his room to serve him tea. His death came peacefully in his sleep.

      Dr Ambedkar was conferred posthumously the Bharat Ratna, the nation's highest civilian honour, on his 99th birth anniversary in 1990. It was rightly seen as a fitting, though belated, tribute to one of the builders of Modern India.

      *"I also take refuge in the words of the Buddha to be your own guide. Take refuge in your own reason. Do not listen to the advice of others. Do not succumb to others. Be truthful and take refuge in the truth. Never surrender to anything. If you keep in mind this message of Lord Buddha at this juncture, I am sure, your decision will not be wrong."-Dr. B. R. Ambedkar*
      "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." – Martin Luther King Jr.

      http://mulnivasiorganiser.bamcef.org/?p=445

      India marks 20 years of Manmohanomics
      By Raja Murthy 

      "As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, India stands at the cross-roads. The decisions we take and do not take, at this juncture, will determine the shape of things to come for quite some time." 
      - Manmohan Singh, July 24, 1991. 

      MUMBAI - With the above words, Manmohan presented his first budget to parliament after 32 days as finance minister of a near bankrupt India. Twenty years later, he is prime minister of country that has changed into Asia's third largest and the world's fastest-growing democratic economy, and that budget speech of 1991 is recognized as a watershed moment in the nation's history. 

      The decisions taken and not taken since July 24, 1991, have given India of July 2011 remarkable contradictions and contrasts: a US$1.6 trillion economy that may be the world's largest by

        
      2050, home to one-third of all malnourished children in the world and to the most Fortune 500-listed billionaires in Asia; where an average villager spends the equivalent of 33 US cents for surviving a day, while in capital New Delhi, a car rental company spent $5.6 million in one day this July to buy 90 new gold-tinged C-class Mercedes Benz luxury cars, each costing $63,000. 

      Inevitably, the "anniversary" week starting July 24 has released a babble of evaluations of the economic "revolution" of the past two decades - with the words "anniversary" and "revolution" in the safe custody of quotation marks since no consensus has appeared on whether this is an anniversary or whether there was a revolution. 

      Is Manmohan, now prime minister for two successive five-year terms, the original architect of liberating reforms that opened India's economy to the world, freeing entrepreneurs from governmental control, and letting them compete with the best of the world? 

      Was Manmohan then as finance minister in 1991 merely starting to repair an economy that had stagnated during Congress party rule in 52 of India's 63 years of post-independence history? Or was he moving up economic gears of the largely state-controlled but substantial industrialized foundation laid out by India's first, longest-serving and most popular prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, from 1947 to 1964? 

      Or is Manmohan merely a medium of subtle, powerful forces of cause and effect, of individuals and nations paying the price of pocketing profits, of positive or non-positive deeds. 

      In 1991, when Manmohan took over India's economic reins, British physicist Tim Berners-Lee revealed his idea of the World Wide Web, and something called the Internet started becoming an essential part of daily living for millions; the US-led "Operation Desert Storm" repelled the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and on the last day of 1991, the Soviet Union officially became extinct. 

      Manmohan's budget of 1991 showed extraordinary confidence in a nation, considering the intensive care state of its economy. India was in crisis. On the night of May 21, 1991, charismatic Rajiv Gandhi, the man expected to be prime minister in the newly elected parliament that heard the budget speech two months later, was assassinated by a suicide bomber belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from Sri Lanka. 

      In July that year, India's governmental piggy bank had foreign exchange reserves of $354 million (inflation adjusted for 25 billion rupees in 1991), barely enough to buy two weeks of imports. Money was raised by pawning 67 tons of gold in June 1991 to the Bank of England and the Union Bank of Switzerland. 

      "Neither the government nor the economy can live beyond its means year after year," said Manmohan in his debut budget speech. "The room for maneuver, to live on borrowed money or time, does not exist anymore." 

      Twenty years later, as of July 15, 2011, India stacks forex reserves of $282.3 billion, with $24.67 billion in gold. 

      In that budget speech of 20 years ago, Manmohan explained why he proposed to open India to foreign investment to an unprecedented extent:
      After four decades of planning for industrialization, we have now reached a stage of development where we should welcome, rather than fear, foreign investment. Our entrepreneurs are second to none. Our industry has come of age. Direct foreign investment would provide access to capital, technology and markets. It would expose our industrial sector to competition from abroad in a phased manner. Cost, efficiency, and quality would begin to receive the attention they deserve.
      His confidence was borne out when he anticipated the rise of India's software industry in 1991 - 20 years later Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is Asia's largest information technology services company - with revenues of $8.2 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. 

      "Our software industry has still a vast unexploited potential for growth ... ," Manmohan said in his 1991 budget speech. "... I propose to extend the tax concession under section 80HHC of the Income-tax Act to export of software. With this concession, the exports of this [software] industry should register rapid growth." It did a bit, growing from a turnover of $150 million in 1991-92 to $76 billion in 2010-11. 

      Not all see the glitter though. Debt-ridden farmers continue to commit suicide, as thousands have done in the past decade; 519 cases of suicide were reported in Bundelkhand in central India in the past five months, and five farmers took their own lives in the past week in Maharashtra. Double-digit inflation was rampant in 1991, and so too 20 years later. Food price inflation at 9.6% is now the highest in 16 years. Much has changed, and much has not. 

      Manmohan has been accused of delivering more lip-service than sustained action to support his declaration on July 24, 1991, "In the ultimate analysis, all wealth is a social product. Those who create it and own it have to hold it as a trust and use it in the interest of the society, and particularly of those who are under-privileged and without means." 

      For instance, the proposed new National Food Security legislation to constitutionally guarantee food to the needy, has been criticized for the government stripping off its most beneficial parts, such as emergency food relief, child nutrition and maternity benefits. 

      Priorities seemed a bit mixed too. Manmohan's core economic thinkers, like Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, found no trouble finding over $8 billion to sponsor a hopelessly dud and corruption-marred event like the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. But the government rejected calls to increase education subsidies for children aged six to 14, in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that became law in April 2010. 

      Others sneer at the idea of Manmohan masterminding India's economic growth. Swaminathan Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant and leading anti-corruption investigative journalist, wrote in Business Line on July 12 that core strategies of economic reforms were imported in parts from the United States and re-assembled in 1991 by then prime minister Narasimha Rao, Manmohan and Montek Singh Ahlulwalia. 

      Gurumurthy, who waged fierce anti-corruption campaigns as a journalist in the Indian Express against corporate giants like the Ambani Group, says it is a myth that India's recent growth is due to foreign investment and exports. The actual reason for India's economic "revolution", he says, was an increase in domestic production and markets, both choked from growth by earlier Congress governments with their "socialist" policies. 

      "This undoing of 'deforms' caused by socialist pranks was however popularized as reforms in 1990s," says Gurumurthy. "The guilty deformers became heroes as 'reformers'! " 

      Marking 20 years of economic "deforms" or reforms, India's industry leaders from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India have called for a "second phase of reforms" - with greater funding in education, agriculture and healthcare to ensure more benefits for economically weaker sections of society. 

      Which means India is standing at another cross-roads, 20 years after that evening of significance on July 24, 1991 - with much in the coming decades, and Manmohan Singh's true report card, depending on decisions taken and not taken now on how India invests in new growth and prosperity to reduce suffering and poverty. 

      (Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)


      India's oil-price folly 
      (Jun 1, '11)

      India gives ground on inflation targeting (May 11, '11)


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      3. Setback for Rajapaksa's reconciliation

      4. Split personalities revealed in Cambodia

      5. Speedy growth lays tracks of China's tears

      6. Iran draws the line with Turkey on Syria

      7. A time to be silent and mourn

      8. Al-Qaeda's Christian mirror

      9. South Vietnam's unlikely leader dies

      10. Pakistan revenues fudge deepens IMF loan doubts

      (24 hours to 11:59pm ET, Jul 26, 2011)
       
       


      India, US need to combat terror financing jointly: US official
      MUMBAI: India plays a very important role in combating global terrorist financing and there is need for New Delhi and the US to share the best practices in this regard to curb the menace, a top American official said today.

      "Both India and US understand the importance of a strong financial system. But we must also keep in mind the potential risk from illicit financing. The need to recognise this and how it is used in financing terrorist activities has become a critical part of the relationship between the two countries," US Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist FinancingDaniel L Glaser said here.

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      He was addressing the concluding session of a two-day USIndia Private Financial Sector Dialogue organised by theConfederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the US-India Business Council (USIBC) here.

      The event discussed critical issues, including combating illicit terrorist financing and new payment technologies for financial inclusion.

      "India and the US need to share the best practices to combat terrorist financing. India plays a very important role in combating global terrorist financing. It is important that the two countries consult and share crucial financial intelligence for a safer world," he added.

      Glaser said India and the US are "natural allies" who share their democratic principles and have to rely on each other to protect and safeguard one another.
      http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/India-US-need-to-combat-terror-financing-jointly-US-official/articleshow/9387318.cms

      RIL-BP's USD 7.2 bn deal - biggest FDI into India ahead of Posco, Arcelor Mittal investments

      EDITORS PICK

      Reliance Industries Ltd.

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      Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries' $7.2 billion deal with British giantBP Plc, cleared by the government on Friday, is seen as the biggestforeign direct investment into India.

      The mega transaction, announced in February, was cleared by theCabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)).

      RIL-BP's $7.2 billion deal is seen as the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) after Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo's buyout ofRanbaxy Laboratories for $4.5 billion in 2008.

      Even though there are other bigger-size proposals, most of them are yet to materialise. For instance, South Korean group Posco's $12 billion investment for a steel plant in Orissa is yet to take off.

      Similar is the case with ArcelorMittal's around $30 billion investment plans across India.

      Another mega transaction worth $11 billion was between Vodafone and Hutchison-Essar. However, there was no direct participation of any domestic firm, as the deal was between two foreign firms.

      The latest RIL-BP deal, one of the biggest in the Indian energy space, would seeMukesh Ambani firm selling 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks to British entity.

      "This is the single largest FDI in the history of India,"RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani had said earlier.

      Interestingly, Reliance Industries' failed attempt in 2010 to take control of petrochemicals major LyondellBasell, was valued at over $14 billion. If the transaction had materialised, it would have been the largest ever by an Indian entity.

      Going by estimates, last year alone saw the announcement of over 290 inbound transactions worth over $22 billion.

      Among them were Vedanta Resources' planned $9.6 billion acquisition of a majority stake inCairn India.

      Abbott Laboratories' takeover of health care solutions business of Piramal Healthcare in a $3.7 billion deal and Japanese entity JFE Steel Corp's $1 billion investment inJSW Steel were among other big transactions.

      The NTT DOCOMO-Tata Teleservices joint venture worth $2.70 billion also brought in significant FDI inflows into India.

      Among the top deals involving Indian entities are $10.7-billion Bharti-Zain transaction and Tata's $12 billion-buyout of Corus.

      Other major transactions involving Indian entities are Hindalco's buyout of Novelis for $6 billion andONGC -Imperial's $2.80 billion deal.
      http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/oil-gas/RIL-BPs-USD-72-bn-deal--biggest-FDI-into-India-ahead-of-Posco-Arcelor-Mittal-investments/articleshow/9325968.cms

      26 JUL, 2011, 11.22AM IST, ECONOMICTIMES.COM

      RBI raises key policy rates by 50 bps; loans to get costlier

      NEW DELHI: TheReserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday raisedrepo rate by 50 basis points to 8 per cent and reverse repo to 7 per cent in its policy meet to arrest rising inflation in Asia's third largest economy while the MSF rate stands at 9 per cent.

      The central bank also raised inflation forecast to 7 per cent from 6 per cent earlier. To make sure there is not much of liquidity crunch the bank leftCRR and savings banks rates unchanged. The central bank also cuts FY12 bank credit growth projection to 18 per cent from 19 per cent earlier.

      "Considering the overall growth and inflation scenario, there is a need to persevere with the anti-inflationary stance," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao wrote in his quarterly policy review.

      "A change in stance will be motivated by signs of a sustainable downturn in inflation," he said.

      Inflation for the month of June surged to 9.44 per cent from 9.06 per cent in the month of May on the back of higher prices for manufactured goods and fuel.

      However in the month of July, inflation showed some signs of cooling off as food inflation for the week ended July 9 came in at 7.58 per cent as against 8.31 per cent the previous week while the fuel price index remained unchanged at 11.89 per cent.

      The Reserve Bank of India is amongst the most active Central Banks' in the world to fight against surging inflation which has become a major dampener to a country's growth.

      The RBI projects inflation will moderate to 6 percent by end-March 2012. The central bank has raised its key rates for the 11th times since March 2010 whereby it has pushed up the repo and reverse repo rates today to 8% and 7% respectively.

      Subbarao said policy actions are expected to "maintain the credibility of the commitment ofmonetary policy to controlling inflation."

      The measures are also expected to "reinforce the point that in the absence of complementary policy responses on both demand and supply sides, stronger monetary policy actions are required," Subbarao said in his report.

      Most analysts' expect that the policy tightening cycle will end this year to support India's growth story which was forecasted 9 per cent earlier by the government.

      However with inflation shooting off the roof for the government and below expectation industrial output numbers, the government officially pared gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2011-12 to 8.6% from the earlier 9%

      In terms of industries, 14 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth in May compared with the year earlier. Textiles and wood products showed the most negative growth at 6.6% each.

      While capital goods continued to fluctuate, growing at 5.9%, intermediate goods saw a sharp slowdown to 0.9%, while basic goods led by steel were up 7.2%. Consumer goods were up 5.4%, led by non-durables (up 5.6%) while growth in durables continued to decelerate to 5.2%.

      "We actually expect India's growth rate to be slightly less than 8 per cent and will miss the government's target", says Tomo Kinoshito, Chief Economist-Asia, Nomura, in an interview with ET Now. "The basic reason is that India is constrained with the insufficient infrastructure growing problem of land acquisition and shortage of labour force", adds Tomo Kinoshito.

      "Those factors are really important and if the economy tries to grow more than the potential rate of growth, this would create the inflation pressures, which prompts the authorities to tighten the monetary policy further", he adds

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      Loans to become costlier as RBI hikes repo rate

      EDITORS PICK

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      India's growth story took a hit recently on back of surging inflation, higher cost of credit, rising global commodity prices and rising raw material costs have all contributed to the fall.

      "We see a slower growth for the year 2011-2012 for India and a bit of consolidation among certain balance sheets", saysPhilip Wyatt, India Economist, UBS in an interview with ET Now. "We are looking for about 7.5% growth rate, down by 1 per cent from last year's growth rate of 8.5-8.6 per cent", adds Philip.

      He further adds, this is predicated on a return in confidence and expeditious moves by the government to try and ramp up infrastructure spending",

      The BSE Sensex is among the world's worst performers in 2011, down about 10 percent this year, and according to some analysts it's not one of the cheapest markets.

      However some analysts feel that all is not all over for Indian investors and the benchmark has the required fuel to take it to levels above 20,000 by this year-end.

      "I am expecting 8% growth for India along withChina. So, India is on a solid growth path for the next two-three years and we have a firm conviction that the Sensex should hit around 22000 to 23000 levels by the end of the current fiscal", says G Chokkalingam, Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer, Centrum Wealth Management in an interview with ET Now.
      http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/RBI-raises-key-policy-rates-by-50-bps-loans-to-get-costlier/articleshow/9368538.cms
    • 27/07/2011

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      New Delhi: India's ambitious economic reforms agenda, that was set exactly 20 years ago, is on track and much of it just requires legislative action, which can take time due to the process involved, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said.

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      However, he seemed to throw up his hands on the issue of curbing inflation that had so hurt the common man, saying the government couldnt tame the "volatility in the global commodity prices" that had set it off.

      Seeking to allay widespread concerns over possible pause in the liberalisation process, that was started July 24, 1991 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his famous budget speech as then finance minister, Mukherjee said the reality was diametrically opposite.

      "Already, in the last session of parliament, I introduced a number of important reforms measures that are to be implemented through legislative route," the finance minister told select reporters on the finance beat at his North Block office.

      "We have also taken certain important administrative measures, finalising some important legislations," he said, alluding that for these reform-oriented measures to take shape, the cooperation of the opposition was necessary.

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      In the hour-long interaction, that covered a host of subjects -- from inflation that is refusing to moderate and fiscal deficit to the politically-sensitive issue of black money -- Mukherjee's message was: Things could be better, but India is better off.

      He said the bills pending before parliament were in important areas such as insurance, pension, banking, goods and services tax, while administrative action had already been completed to table bills on food security and mining sector development and regulation.

      "I do hope some of the recommendations will be available during the monsoon session of parliament (beginning Aug 1) and when we get these recommendations, it would be possible for us to get some of these bills passed," he said.

      "But I cannot tell exactly which bill -- what would be the number. Because it depends on the availability of recommendations from the standing committee," he said, while also admitting candidly that a new law on acquiring farmland for industry may take time.

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      Mukherjee's remarks come less than a month after Manmohan Singh's comment, accusing the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing politics in blocking some key legislations, particularly on a unified goods and services tax.

      During the interaction, he also said fiscal deficit targets would be met, despite concerns expressed by some quarters, including the Reserve Bank of India and the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.

      Mukherjee in fact began the interaction with the proverb: "When going gets tough, the tough get going", and said the growth in direct tax mop-up in the first quarter was 26 percent and in indirect taxes it was higher at 30 percent.

      "There is all-round revenue buoyancy," Mukherjee said, adding: "An important point to be recognised is that service tax growth is encouraging and I welcome this because services have been contributing substantially to the overall gross domestic product."

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      In its monetary policy update Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had said the the federal government's revenue and fiscal deficit in the first two months of 2011-12 were higher than the levels in the corresponding period of the previous year.

      He also spoke about black money stashed away by Indians in tax havens abroad, estimated at between $450 billion and $1.4 trillion unofficially, and said the process to get this ill-gotten back to the country was a continuous effort of his government

      "We can get information based on two legal instrumentalities," Mukherjee said, adding one was to entering into bilateral double taxation avoidance agreements and the other was to exchange information on such matters with other countries.

      "Let me say this, our effort tackle back black money is relentless."

      Reforms on track, inflation a problem: Mukherjee

      According to him, negotiations had been initiated with 97 countries and jurisdictions -- 75 for double taxation avoidance pacts and 22 others for sharing of tax information. Of these, negotiations had concluded with 58 nations and underway with 29 others.

      "We have also signed 16 agreements."

      If there was one concern, which Mukherjee was uncomfortable about, it was inflation and hoped the recent policy intervention by the central bank, which hiked key rates sharply to curb money supply and rein in inflationary expectations, will eventually work.

      "The rate hikes will send a strong signal," he said, also seeking to make a point that some issues were beyond the control of policy-makers. "I don't know how to overcome the volatility in the global commodity prices."

      Source: IANS

      27/07/2011

      India slips to 14th spot in global FDI inflows

      India slipped six notches to the 14th spot in global rankings of countries that attracted highest foreign direct investment, says a United Nations report.

      India slips to 14th spot in global FDI inflows

      The FDI inflow dropped from $36billion to $25billion over the period, according to the UNCTAD's World Investment Report, 2011. Analysts blamed it on negative sentiments created by the tax mess that Vodafone got into after coming to India in 2007.

      India attracted less than one-fourth the FDI of China in 2010, said the report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Tuesday.

      China attracted higher FDI in 2010 compared to $95 billion a year ago. It also retained the second position after the United States, which attracted $228 billion in 2010 compared to $153 dollars in 2009.

      "Investors are wary post Vodafone and the overturn of land-related deals is also instilling fear among investors," said policy analyst Premila Nazareth.

      Vodafone got into dispute with Indian authorities over capital gains tax after the London-based company acquired stake in Hutchison.

      India slips to 14th spot in global FDI inflows

      Despite slowing of labour-intensive manufacturing, China drew high FDI in high-technology industries and services. Half of the top 20 host economies for FDI were developing and transition economies.

      Fall in FDI outflow notwithstanding, Japan's net flows turned negative in 2010 to $1.25 bn. China pipped Japan in terms of FDI outflows. China improved its ranking from sixth to fifth, while Japan fell from fourth to seventh.

      FDI outflows saw India make it to the top 20 investors list in 2010, compared to 21st position in 2009. The outflow increased from $15bn in 2009 to $16bn in 2010. The report, however, suggested that India should focus on non-equity mode (NEM) of foreign investment as well.

      In terms of outflow through this route, India's Piramal Healthcare figures among the top five players in contract manufacturing of services outsourcing in 2009, and Jubilant Life sciences appears in the top 10 list. Among IT-BPO, Tata Consultancy Services is at the 11th position and Wipro at 13th.

      Global FDI inflows rose five per cent to $1.24 trillion in 2010, but were still 37 per cent below the 2007 peak and 15 per cent below the pre-crisis average.

      UNCTAD, however, predicted that the recovery of FDI flows will continue in 2011 reaching a total of $1.4-$1.6 trillion, making a comeback to the pre-crisis average due to investment opportunities in emerging economies.

      The sovereign debt crisis, fiscal and financial imbalances in some developed countries and rising inflation and signs of overheating in major emerging economies could derail the FDI recovery, it warned.

      Source: Business Standard


      Social exclusion

      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      Social exclusion is a concept used in many parts of the world to characterise contemporary forms of social disadvantage. Dr. Lynn Todman, director of the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, suggests that social exclusion refers to processes in which individuals and entire communities of people are systematically blocked from rights, opportunities and resources (e.g. housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation and due process) that are normally available to members of society and which are key to social integration.[1]
      The outcome of multiple deprivations that prevent individuals or groups from participating fully in the economic, social, and political life of the society in which they live.
      Another definition of this sociological term is as follows:
      Social exclusion is a multidimensional process of progressive social rupture, detaching groups and individuals from social relations and institutions and preventing them from full participation in the normal, normatively prescribed activities of the society in which they live.[2]
      An inherent problem with the term, however, is the tendency of its use by practitioners who define it to fit their argument.[3] It is a term used widely in the United Kingdom and Europe, and was first utilized inFrance.[4] It is used across disciplines including education, sociology, psychology, politics andeconomics.
      In social excluding communities, weak social networking limits the circulation of information about jobs, political activities, and community events.
      Many social workers believe that exclusion in the countryside is as great as, if not greater than, that in cities. In rural areas there is less access to goods, services and facilities, making life difficult in many respects.[citation needed]
      Social exclusion relates to the alienation or disenfranchisement of certain people within a society. It is often connected to a person's social class, educational status, relationships in childhood[5] and living standards and how these might affect access to various opportunities. It also applies to some degree to people with a disability, to minority men and women of all races, of all sexual orientations and gender identities (the LGBT community), to the elderly, and to youth (Youth Exclusion). Anyone who deviates in any perceived way from the norm of a population may become subject to coarse or subtle forms of social exclusion. Additionally, communities may self-exclude by removing themselves physically from the larger community, for example, in the gated community model.
      Most of the characteristics listed in the following paragraphs are present together in studies of social exclusion, due to exclusion's multidimensionality. One of the best descriptions of social exclusion and social inclusion are that they are on a continuum on a vertical plane below and above the 'social horizon'; they have a ten-phase modulating ("phase" because they increase and decrease [modulate] with time) social structure: race, geographic location, class structure, globalization, social issues, personal habits and appearance, education, religion,economics and politics.[citation needed]

    [edit]Juridical concept

    There are countries, Italy for example, that have a legal concept of social exclusion. In Italy, "esclusione sociale" is defined as povertycombined with social alienation, by the statute n. 328 (11-8-2000), that instituted a state investigation commission named "Commissione di indagine sull'Esclusione Sociale" (CIES) to make an annual report to the government on legally expected issues of social exclusion.[citation needed]
    The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, a document on international human rights instruments affirms that "extreme poverty and social exclusion constitute a violation of human dignity and that urgent steps are necessary to achieve better knowledge of extreme poverty and its causes, including those related to the programm of development, in order to promote the human rights of the poorest, and to put an end to extreme poverty and social exclusion and promote the enjoyment of the fruits of social progress. It is essential for States to foster participation by the poorest people in the decision making process by the community in which they live, the promotion of human rights and efforts to combat extreme poverty."[6]

    [edit]Causes

    [edit]Unemployment

    Whilst recognising the multi-dimensionality of exclusion, policy work undertaken at European Union level focuses on unemployment as a key cause of, or at least correlating with, social exclusion. This is because in modern societies, paid work is not only the principal source of income with which to buy services, but is also the fount of individuals' identity and feeling of self-worth. Most people's social networks and sense of embeddedness in society also revolve around their work. Many of the indicators of extreme social exclusion, such as poverty and homelessness, depend on monetary income which is normally derived from work. Much policy to reduce exclusion thus focuses on the labour market:
    • On the one hand, to make individuals at risk of exclusion more attractive to employers, i.e. more "employable".
    • On the other hand, to encourage (and/or oblige) employers to be more inclusive in their employment policies.

    The EU's EQUAL Community Initiative investigated ways to increase the inclusiveness of the labour market. Work on social exclusion more broadly is carried out through the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) among the Member State governments.

    [edit]Transportation

    In some circumstances, transport may be a factor in social exclusion - for instance, if lack of access to public transport or a vehicle prevents a person from getting to a job, training course, job centre or doctor's surgery, entertainment venues. Some schemes therefore promoteaccessibility, for instance:
    • By ensuring public transport is available.
    • By subsidising the purchase of a scooter, which is relevant to young people living in rural areas, or a car, or a bicycle, etc.

    [edit]Quotations

    "Social exclusion is about the inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we expect as a society...[or] to realise their full potential."[7]
    "Whatever the content and criteria of social membership, socially excluded groups and individuals lack capacity or access to social opportunity.[8]
    To be "excluded from society" can take various relative senses, but social exclusion is usually defined as more than a simple economicphenomenon: it also has consequences on the social, symbolic field.
    "Women of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Caribbean descent [in Britain] are doing well in schools but are still being penalised in the workplace...80-89% of 16-year-olds from those ethnic groups wanted to work full-time...but they were up to four times more likely to bejobless."[9]
    Philosopher Axel Honneth thus speaks of a "struggle for recognition", which he attempts to theorize through Hegel's philosophy. In this sense, to be socially excluded is to be deprived from social recognition and social value. In the sphere of politics, social recognition is obtained by full citizenship; in the economic sphere (in capitalism) it means being paid enough to be able to participate fully in the life of the community.
    This concept can be gleaned from considering examples of the "social integration crisis: poverty, professional exclusion or marginalization, social and civic disenfranchisement, absence or weakening of support networks, frequent inter-cultural conflicts",[10] These relate not only to gender, race and disability, but also to crime:
    "Social exclusion is a major cause of crime and re-offending. Removing the right to vote increases social exclusion by signalling to serving prisoners that, at least for the duration of their sentence, they are dead to society. The additional punishment of disenfranchisement is not a deterrent. There is no evidence to suggest that criminals are deterred from offending behaviour by the threat of losing the right to vote.....(and) the notion of civic death for sentenced prisoners isolates still further those who are already on the margins of society and encourages them to be seen as alien to the communities to which they will return on release".[11]

    [edit]Links between exclusion and other issues

    The problem of social exclusion is usually tied to that of equal opportunity, as some people are more subject to such exclusion than others.Marginalisation of certain groups is a problem even in many economically more developed countries, including the United Kingdom and theUnited States, where the majority of the population enjoys considerable economic and social opportunities.
    Since social exclusion may lead to one being deprived of one's citizenship, some authors (Philippe Van Parijs, Jean-Marc Ferry, Alain Caillé,André Gorz and Axel Wolz) have proposed a basic income, which would impede exclusion from citizenship. The concept of a Universal Unconditional Income, or social salary, has been disseminated notably by the Green movement in Germany.
    In the last few years, there has been research focused on possible connections between exclusion and brain function. Studies published by the University of Georgia and San Diego State University found that exclusion can lead to diminished brain functioning and poor decision making. Such studies corroborate with earlier beliefs of sociologists. The effect of exclusion may likely correlate with such things as substance abuse and crime.

    [edit]Social inclusion

    Social inclusion, the converse of social exclusion, is affirmative action to change the circumstances and habits that lead to (or have led to) social exclusion.

    [edit]Crime

    Sociologists see strong links between crime and social exclusion in industrialized societies such as the United States. Growing crime rates may reflect the fact that a growing number of people do not feel valued in the societies in which they live. The socially excluded population cannot meet the standards of economic status and consumption that are promoted within society. Therefore legitimate means are bypassed in favor of illegal ones. Crime is favored over the political system or community organization. Young people increasingly grow up without guidance and support from the adult population. Young people also face diminishing job opportunities to sustain a livelihood. This can cause a sense of willingness to turn to illegitimate means of sustaining a desired lifestyle.[citation needed]

    [edit]See also


    [edit]References

    1. ^ Adler School of Professional Psychology
    2. ^ Hilary Silver, "Social Exclusion: Comparative Analysis of Europe and Middle East Youth," Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper (September 2007), p. 15
    3. ^ Understanding Social Exclusion, ed. Hills, Le Grand & Piachaud 2002, Oxford University Press)
    4. ^ Hilary Silver, "Social Exclusion and Social Solidarity." International Labour Review 133, nos. 5-6 (1994): 531-78.
    5. ^ The Salvation Army: The Seeds of Exclusion (2008)
    6. ^ Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Part I, paragraph 25
    7. ^ http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514268539/html/x2692.html Social exclusion in the UK
    8. ^ http://www.shababinclusion.org/content/document/detail/558/1 Hilary Silver, "Social Exclusion: Comparative Analysis of Europe and Middle East Youth," Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper (September 2007)
    9. ^ BBC NEWS | UK | Career worries for minority women
    10. ^ http://urbact.eu/document-library/virtual-files/childhood/france/situation-of-single-parent-households-headed-by-wo.html Situation of single parent households headed by women
    11. ^ Barred from Voting: the Right to Vote for Sentenced Prisoners[dead link]

    1. Power, A., Wilson, W.J., 2000, Social Exclusion and the Future of Cities, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, London School of Economics, London

    [edit]Bibliography


    University of Georgia (2006, November 9). Social Exclusion Changes Brain Function And Can Lead To Poor Decision-making. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 29, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2006/11/061108154256.htm
    Giddens, Anthony, and Anthony Giddens. Introduction to Sociology. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2009. Print.
    • Applebaum, Richard P., Carr, deborah, Duneier, Mitchell, Giddens, Anthony. "Introduction to Sociology Seventh Edition" 2009.

    [edit]External links


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    Categories: Poverty | Social issues | Social philosophy | Political philosophy | Sociology | Urban decay
    India marks 20 years of Manmohanomics
    By Raja Murthy 

    "As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, India stands at the cross-roads. The decisions we take and do not take, at this juncture, will determine the shape of things to come for quite some time." 
    - Manmohan Singh, July 24, 1991. 

    MUMBAI - With the above words, Manmohan presented his first budget to parliament after 32 days as finance minister of a near bankrupt India. Twenty years later, he is prime minister of country that has changed into Asia's third largest and the world's fastest-growing democratic economy, and that budget speech of 1991 is recognized as a watershed moment in the nation's history. 

    The decisions taken and not taken since July 24, 1991, have given India of July 2011 remarkable contradictions and contrasts: a US$1.6 trillion economy that may be the world's largest by

      
    2050, home to one-third of all malnourished children in the world and to the most Fortune 500-listed billionaires in Asia; where an average villager spends the equivalent of 33 US cents for surviving a day, while in capital New Delhi, a car rental company spent $5.6 million in one day this July to buy 90 new gold-tinged C-class Mercedes Benz luxury cars, each costing $63,000. 

    Inevitably, the "anniversary" week starting July 24 has released a babble of evaluations of the economic "revolution" of the past two decades - with the words "anniversary" and "revolution" in the safe custody of quotation marks since no consensus has appeared on whether this is an anniversary or whether there was a revolution. 

    Is Manmohan, now prime minister for two successive five-year terms, the original architect of liberating reforms that opened India's economy to the world, freeing entrepreneurs from governmental control, and letting them compete with the best of the world? 

    Was Manmohan then as finance minister in 1991 merely starting to repair an economy that had stagnated during Congress party rule in 52 of India's 63 years of post-independence history? Or was he moving up economic gears of the largely state-controlled but substantial industrialized foundation laid out by India's first, longest-serving and most popular prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, from 1947 to 1964? 

    Or is Manmohan merely a medium of subtle, powerful forces of cause and effect, of individuals and nations paying the price of pocketing profits, of positive or non-positive deeds. 

    In 1991, when Manmohan took over India's economic reins, British physicist Tim Berners-Lee revealed his idea of the World Wide Web, and something called the Internet started becoming an essential part of daily living for millions; the US-led "Operation Desert Storm" repelled the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and on the last day of 1991, the Soviet Union officially became extinct. 

    Manmohan's budget of 1991 showed extraordinary confidence in a nation, considering the intensive care state of its economy. India was in crisis. On the night of May 21, 1991, charismatic Rajiv Gandhi, the man expected to be prime minister in the newly elected parliament that heard the budget speech two months later, was assassinated by a suicide bomber belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from Sri Lanka. 

    In July that year, India's governmental piggy bank had foreign exchange reserves of $354 million (inflation adjusted for 25 billion rupees in 1991), barely enough to buy two weeks of imports. Money was raised by pawning 67 tons of gold in June 1991 to the Bank of England and the Union Bank of Switzerland. 

    "Neither the government nor the economy can live beyond its means year after year," said Manmohan in his debut budget speech. "The room for maneuver, to live on borrowed money or time, does not exist anymore." 

    Twenty years later, as of July 15, 2011, India stacks forex reserves of $282.3 billion, with $24.67 billion in gold. 

    In that budget speech of 20 years ago, Manmohan explained why he proposed to open India to foreign investment to an unprecedented extent:
    After four decades of planning for industrialization, we have now reached a stage of development where we should welcome, rather than fear, foreign investment. Our entrepreneurs are second to none. Our industry has come of age. Direct foreign investment would provide access to capital, technology and markets. It would expose our industrial sector to competition from abroad in a phased manner. Cost, efficiency, and quality would begin to receive the attention they deserve.
    His confidence was borne out when he anticipated the rise of India's software industry in 1991 - 20 years later Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is Asia's largest information technology services company - with revenues of $8.2 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. 

    "Our software industry has still a vast unexploited potential for growth ... ," Manmohan said in his 1991 budget speech. "... I propose to extend the tax concession under section 80HHC of the Income-tax Act to export of software. With this concession, the exports of this [software] industry should register rapid growth." It did a bit, growing from a turnover of $150 million in 1991-92 to $76 billion in 2010-11. 

    Not all see the glitter though. Debt-ridden farmers continue to commit suicide, as thousands have done in the past decade; 519 cases of suicide were reported in Bundelkhand in central India in the past five months, and five farmers took their own lives in the past week in Maharashtra. Double-digit inflation was rampant in 1991, and so too 20 years later. Food price inflation at 9.6% is now the highest in 16 years. Much has changed, and much has not. 

    Manmohan has been accused of delivering more lip-service than sustained action to support his declaration on July 24, 1991, "In the ultimate analysis, all wealth is a social product. Those who create it and own it have to hold it as a trust and use it in the interest of the society, and particularly of those who are under-privileged and without means." 

    For instance, the proposed new National Food Security legislation to constitutionally guarantee food to the needy, has been criticized for the government stripping off its most beneficial parts, such as emergency food relief, child nutrition and maternity benefits. 

    Priorities seemed a bit mixed too. Manmohan's core economic thinkers, like Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, found no trouble finding over $8 billion to sponsor a hopelessly dud and corruption-marred event like the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. But the government rejected calls to increase education subsidies for children aged six to 14, in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that became law in April 2010. 

    Others sneer at the idea of Manmohan masterminding India's economic growth. Swaminathan Gurumurthy, a chartered accountant and leading anti-corruption investigative journalist, wrote in Business Line on July 12 that core strategies of economic reforms were imported in parts from the United States and re-assembled in 1991 by then prime minister Narasimha Rao, Manmohan and Montek Singh Ahlulwalia. 

    Gurumurthy, who waged fierce anti-corruption campaigns as a journalist in the Indian Express against corporate giants like the Ambani Group, says it is a myth that India's recent growth is due to foreign investment and exports. The actual reason for India's economic "revolution", he says, was an increase in domestic production and markets, both choked from growth by earlier Congress governments with their "socialist" policies. 

    "This undoing of 'deforms' caused by socialist pranks was however popularized as reforms in 1990s," says Gurumurthy. "The guilty deformers became heroes as 'reformers'! " 

    Marking 20 years of economic "deforms" or reforms, India's industry leaders from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India have called for a "second phase of reforms" - with greater funding in education, agriculture and healthcare to ensure more benefits for economically weaker sections of society. 

    Which means India is standing at another cross-roads, 20 years after that evening of significance on July 24, 1991 - with much in the coming decades, and Manmohan Singh's true report card, depending on decisions taken and not taken now on how India invests in new growth and prosperity to reduce suffering and poverty. 

    (Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

    http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MG28Df01.html

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    Economists & industry officials on rate hike
    MUMBAI:RBI raised interest rates by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points on Tuesday, stepping up its fight against persistently high inflation despite slowing growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased the repo rate , at which it lends to banks, to 8 per cent, exceeding market expectations that it would raise rates by 25 basis points.

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    The rate increase is its 11th since March 2010, making the RBI one of the most aggressive inflation fighters among central banks.

    Economist view on RBI rate hike

    RADHIKA RAO, ECONOMIST, FORECAST PTE, SINGAPORE: "The RBI provided the 'shock-factor' by raising the repo rate by bigger-than-expected 50 bps.Sensex lost ground soon after the decision, briefly sending USD/INR lower.

    "Post-decision comments signal little change in the central bank's hawkish leaning and will prod the markets to factor in more hikes before end of the year. We expect rates to remain on uptrend until clear signs of fiscal prudence accompanied by slip in the headline WPI to sub-8 percent region, which is unlikely to occur before next year."

    RUPA REGE NITSURE, CHIEF ECONOMIST,BANK OF BARODA, MUMBAI: "It requires tremendous courage and strength of conviction to take the aggressive but most relevant policy action despite mounting pressures from different lobbies and vested interests. Today's RBI action is a reflection of the fact that they consider chronic inflation as the real enemy of growth and not the elevated interest rates.

    "I expect them to continue with a tightening bias till inflation starts showing signs of coming close to 7 percent. Today's rate action will lead to a strong transmission as I expect many banks to increase lending rates, so how many more rate hikes are necessary cannot be said at this point."

    RAMYA SURYANARAYANAN, ECONOMIST AT DBS BANK IN SINGAPORE: "Quite a surprise. Clearly they are quite worried about inflation and the risk is they don't stop with this rate hike. Our rate forecast is under review -- we had forecasted 8 percent on the repo rate as the peak by end-October 2011.

    "We think further rate hikes are going to slow growth considerably, below the RBI's forecast of 8 percent. Our forecast is 7.5 percent and such persistent rate hikes point to further downside risk to growth."

    Sajjid Chinoy, India Economist, JP Morgan

    The market is going to be surprised and is surprised by the nature of the 50 basis point hike. But if we step back for a second and just assess where we are, this is not surprising at the highest level. Let's think of where we currently are. Inflation is running for all effective purposes above 10%.

    So given the state of circumstances, given that we are just unable to come below the stubbornly high rates of inflation, it almost seems warranted that the RBI is being consistent in its message and tone, it has said in the last policy review their stance is firmly anti-inflationary. Since then inflation has accelerated, the risk factored upside, we still have not seen the full impact of the diesel price impact on headline and core inflation. So at the highest level, this move by the RBI is perhaps warranted by the economic fundamentals even though it may have surprised the market today.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/economists-industry-officials-on-rate-hike/articleshow/9368866.cms
    27 JUL, 2011, 03.25PM IST, REUTERS

    Real interest rates are positive: RBI

    MUMBAI: Real interest rates inIndia are positive if the headline inflation, lending rates and deposit rates are taken into consideration, a deputy governor said Tuesday.

    The central bank does not see any significant benefit in using theCash Reserve Ratio (CRR) as a monetary tool as liquidity has been in deficit,Subir Gokarn said in a teleconference with analysts on Wednesday.

    On Tuesday, the central bank stunned investors by raising interest rates 50 basis points, showing unexpected resolve in fighting persistently high inflation despite slowing growth in Asia's third-largest economy and uncertain global demand.

    27 JUL, 2011, 02.44PM IST, REUTERS

    RBI deputy says inflation to ease from Nov-Dec

    MUMBAI: Inflation will start to ease from November-December helped by the cumulative impact of past rate actions,Subir Gokarn, a deputy governor of the central bank said in a teleconference with analysts on Wednesday.

    On Tuesday, the central bank stunned investors by raising interest rates 50 basis points, showing unexpected resolve in fighting persistently high inflation despite slowing growth in Asia's third-largest economy and uncertain global demand.
    Highlights of RBI's monetary policy

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    MUMBAI: Following are the highlights ofmonetary policy update conducted byReserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao that saw key rates hiked by a steep 50 basis points Tuesday:


    Repurchase rate, or short-term lending rate, hiked to 8 percent from 7.5 percent


    Reverse repurchase rate, or short-term borrowing rate, hiked to 7 percent from 6.5 percent


    Cash reserve ratio retained at 6 percent


    Statutory liquidity ration retained at 24 percent


    Bank rate untouched at 6 percent


    Inflation expected to remain elevated for few more months


    Moderation in inflation seen toward latter part of year


    Projection on annual inflation for year-end at 7 percent, against 9.4 percent now


    Projection on growth left unchanged at 8 percent for current fiscal


    Intention to maintain interest rate environment that moderates inflation


    Policy also tuned to manage risk of falling growth


    Measures to manage liquidity without undue stress on financial system


    Outlook for global crude oil prices uncertain in the near future


    High global commodity prices may also exert pressure on domestic inflation


    High global crude prices, domestic fuel subsidies will impact inflation


    This year's monsoon may impact yields of grains, pulses, oilseeds and cotton


    Inadequate supplies may keep prices of eggs, meat, fish, milk and pulses high


    Government's fiscal deficit target of 4.6 percent now a major challenge


    Real estate markets have remained firm


    Next mid-quarter review of monetary policy Sep 16


    Second quarter review of monetary policy Oct 25

    Home, auto loans to cost more as RBI tightens policy: Bankers
    MUMBAI: Reserve Bank's decision to raise key rates for the third time in the current fiscal would make home, auto and corporate loans expensive by up to 50 basis points, burning another hole in the pocket of the consumer already burdened with high inflation.

    "The hike is more than expected and it will push interest rates (lending and deposits) up by upto 50 basis points," Oriental Bank of Commerce Executive Director S C Sinha told reporter.

    Within an hour of the monetary action by RBI, private sector YES bank raised base rate or minimum lending rate by 50 basis points.

    TheRBI has raised the short-term lending (repo) rate by 50 basis points to 8 per cent and the short-term borrowing (reverse repo) rate will move up by a similar margin to 7 per cent.

    Subsequently, the interest rate under the Marginal Standing Facility, an additional borrowing window, has gone up to 9 per cent from the earlier level of 8.5 per cent.

    This is the 11th time since March, 2010, that the RBI has raised the interest rate to check inflation, which is currently ruling at over 9 per cent.

    RBI's action is in a direction which creates persistent pressure on credit demand. ALCO (Asset Liability Committee)) needs to review on the transmission mechanism and timing, saidBank of BarodaExecutive Director R K Bakshi.

    The rate hike by the RBI will definitely slowdown credit demand, Bakshi added.

    According toIndian Overseas Bank Executive Director A K Bansal, sooner than later, both lending and deposit rates will go up.

    Banks would take a call on interest rates in their respective ALCO in the next few days, Bansal said.
    27 JUL, 2011, 10.35AM IST, NEW YORK TIMES
    Billionaires like Adani, Tata essential for country's success

    MUNDRA: On a recent wind-whipped morning, a steel-hulled behemoth arrived at a desolate stretch of India's western coast groaning with enough coal to power a city of 1 million people for more than two weeks.

    The ship, the Vanshi, was carrying coal from Indonesia, a two-week trip across the Indian Ocean. India has its own abundant reserves of coal, which raises a question: Why did India need to go so far to get something it already had?

    For Gautam Adani, the power mogul, the answer was simple: The easiest and most profitable way to meet India's rising demand for electricity is to avoid the hassles, divisive political confrontations and practical inefficiencies of India. In the spirit of the workaround ethos typical of India's private sector, Adani is working around the subcontinent itself.

    He owns the Indonesian coal mine, the Korean-made cargo ship (named for his niece Vanshi), the Indian power plant and, most important, the private Mundra port. He owns coal mines and a major port in Australia, and has built his own private railroad spur in India. His business plan is to do as much as possible without relying on the creaky infrastructure of the Indian state.

    "He is able to do so well partly because he is very entrepreneurial and has found the right opportunity," said Eswar Prasad, an economic adviser to India's finance minister. "But it's a symptom of a dysfunctional state. He is able to deliver something more effectively than the state."

    Today, India is increasingly turning to the private sector to deliver the electricity needed to maintain rapid economic growth into the future. India's economy is growing at more than 8 percent annually, but is badly constrained by an inadequate power supply after years in which the government dominated the power sector and failed to keep up with growing demand.

    The rise of Adani attests to a broader shift, as the private sector is playing a greater role in areas once controlled by the state such as telecommunications, ports, airports, banks and infrastructure. At a global level, this contrasts sharply with China, where huge state-owned enterprises dominate strategic industries and lead the country's global expansion. Adani recently had to outbid the Chinese for his Australian port.

    Within India, though, the success of private tycoons has created a paradox: India's moguls are essential to the country's success and admired for their ability to get results. Yet their staggering wealth is made possible in part by their coziness with powerful politicians who help arrange environmental clearances, land use rights and other thorny issues. That raises accusations of crony capitalism.

    India in the 21st century is now often compared to the United States during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, when robber barons dominated the U.S. economy. The country has 55 billionaires whose aggregate wealth of $250 billion is equivalent to almost a sixthof the nation's annual economic output.

    "No question, there is an oligarchy developing that has an enormous amount of influence," said Arvind Subramanian, an economic adviser to the government of India. "That is a matter of great concern. But in India, these are also the guys who are performing. In some cases, they may be gaming the system, but they are also performing despite how bad the system is."
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    * * * * * * *



    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/billionaires-like-adani-tata-essential-for-countrys-success/articleshow/9380541.cms

    24 JUL, 2011, 05.56AM IST, ET BUREAU

    How the Indian economy changed in 1991-2011

    Manmohan Singh is not a renowned orator. He delivers his public speeches in a monotonous undertone that one associates with college lecturers and bankers - and India's prime minister has been both. But one of Singh's speeches, made exactly twenty years ago, will go down in the annals of Indian history as the one that changed India.

    *


    In his maiden budget speech as the finance minister of India, Singh presented the finances of a country that was nearly bankrupt and slayed the licence raj, thereby changing the lives of not just India's 84 crore citizens then but those of another 36 crore citizens who have been born since.

    *


    How much has India changed since then? Since 1991, India's GDP has quadrupled, its forex reserves have surged from $5.8 billion to $279 billion, and exports from $18 billion to $178 billion.


    But these are just numbers. The change in our lives and lifestyles is a lot more fascinating. Back in 1991, owning a Maruti 800 (Rs 1.48 lakh in Delhi) was a middle- class status symbol.

    *


    Scooters like Bajaj Chetak and Lambretta accounted for more than half of the two-wheelers sold in the country. A bottle of soft drink, be it desi versions like Gold Spot or Thums Up, cost just Rs 4.50.


    More stories from this edition of Sunday ET



    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/how-the-indian-economy-changed-in-1991-2011/articleshow/9339258.cms
    24 JUL, 2011, 02.43PM IST, PTI

    RBI likely to raise policy rates by 25 basis points: Bankers

    NEW DELHI: Faced with inflation much above the comfort level, the Reserve Bank is likely to raise key interest rates by another 25 basis points in its first quarterly review of monetary policy 2011-12 on July 26.

    "There is a general perception that (policy) rates are going to go up by 25 basis points,"Canara BankExecutive Director Archana S Bhargava said.

    Banks would respond to policy action as they have been doing it in the past, she added.

    The headline inflation for June at 9.44 per cent is much above the comfort zone of 5-6 per cent.

    In its fight against price rise, theRBI has hiked key policy rates 10 times, or 275 basis points, since March, 2010. It has clearly articulated that it is ready to sacrifice growth in the short-term.

    Inflation has reached such a level that RBI cannot but hike the rate by 25 basis points, saidKotak Mahindra Bank Group CFO Jaimin Bhatt.

    Echoing similar views, HSBC India CEO Stuart Davis said the RBI is expected to raise rate by 25 basis points.

    YES Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Rana Kapoor said the market has factored in a 25 basis points increase in repo rate by the RBI.

    "The RBI rate action will continue to be driven somewhat mechanically by the inflation data that remain way above its comfort zone. Thus, a 25 basis points hike in the policy rate seems almost certain,"HDFC Bank chief economist Abheek Barua said in his report.

    The central bank faces a challenging task of managing the inflationary pressure at a time when the industrial growth has started showing signs of moderation.

    The factory output growth rate, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)), dipped to 9-month low of 5.6 per cent in May.

    It is to be noted that the government has already lowered India's GDP projection for 2011-12 to 8.6 per cent from the earlier estimate of about 9 per cent on account of slowdown in industry output.

    Taking into consideration all these issues and slackening of credit growth, bankers have suggested the RBI to hold the rates at the current levels and sought a clearer picture on the future interest rates and inflation scenario.

    Endorsing the view,SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri earlier this month had said that the RBI is unlikely to hike the rate further in its upcoming review.

    "As of now, in our view is it (the rate hike by RBI) will come with a lag... with a gap," Chaudhuri said, adding that he would be surprised if the RBI indeed raised the rates on July 26.

    27 JUL, 2011, 03.12PM IST, REUTERS

    Parliament may not pass Land Acquisition bill in next session: Pranab Mukherjee

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    NEW DELHI:Parliament may not pass a landmarkland acquisition bill in the session that begins on Monday, Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday, citing the legislative procedures involved in the process.

    The bill seeks to overhaul a colonial era law and offer farmers market or better rates for land taken over for industrial projects, and is expected to blunt protests that have hobbled several multi-billion dollar investments into India.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/parliament-may-not-pass-land-acquisition-bill-in-next-session-pranab-mukherjee/articleshow/9383053.cms

    Our effort to tackle black money relentless: Mukherjee
    NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said all possible steps were being taken to bring back black money stashed away overseas by Indians and that relevant negotiations were on in this regard with as many as 97 countries.

    "We can get information based on two legal instrumentalities," Mukherjee told reporters, speaking about the steps being taken to address the issue of black money in tax havens abroad, unofficially estimated at between $450 billion and $1.4 trillion.

    He said the government was pursuing both options: Entering into bilateral double taxation avoidance agreements and exchanging information on such matters with other countries through relevamt forums.

    "Let me say this, our effort tackle back black money is relentless," Mukherjee said.

    According to him, negotiations had been initiated with 97 countries and jurisdictions -- 75 for double taxation avoidance pacts and 22 others for sharing of tax information. Of these, negotiations had concluded with 58 nations and underway with 29 others.

    "We have also signed 16 agreements."

    27 JUL, 2011, 02.54AM IST, ET BUREAU

    Financial Stability and Development Council to take stock of economy today

    NEW DELHI: TheFinancial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) will take stock of country's overall economic situation in the backdrop of global and domestic developments, on Wednesday.


    The meeting follows aggressive rate increase by the RBI and the central bank expressing concern over high fiscal deficit feeding demand. Finance ministerPranab Mukherjee is expected to discuss the post-policy scenario with regulators at the FSDC.

    RELATED ARTICLES




    India's sovereign rating and measures being undertaken by the government will also figure in the discussions.


    The finance ministry had set up an internal committee to look at ways to improve country's sovereign rating as an upgrade can make overseas borrowings cheaper for Indian companies as also bolster investments into the country. Standard & Poor has assigned India BBB- rating with a stable outlook, lower than rating enjoyed by countries such as Spain and Ireland facing debt troubles.


    The meeting will be attended by all financial sector regulators besides the RBI.


    The FSDC is high level body for coordination among regulators, which is to look at financial sector development, financial literacy, financial inclusion and macro-prudential supervision of the economy, including the functioning of large financial conglomerates

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/financial-stability-and-development-council-to-take-stock-of-economy-today/articleshow/9377655.cms


    27 JUL, 2011, 01.00AM IST, SUGATA GHOSH,ET BUREAU

    RBI rate hike: What made Subbarao take the plunge?


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    MUMBAI: Close to the end of his term and, perhaps at the beginning of a new innings,Duvvuri Subbarao has picked up a sledge hammer to attack inflation. His move is decisive, tone is hawkish and language is unsparing when he blames New Delhi for doing little to bring down food prices. He comes across as a man in a hurry, who is unimpressed by Corporate India's familiar clamour: "give growth a chance". Growth, he feels, will take care on its own. What needs to be fixed is spiralling prices; more importantly, the wage-price spiral.

    It's a fear that has troubled central bankers down generations, across the globe. When higherinflation is matched by higher salaries, small doses of rate increases fail to pull down demand, particularly among the urban consumers. As people learn to live with high prices, almost unknowingly they prepare themselves for a higher inflation in future. And then one day, inflation spins out of control.

    For a central bank governor though, few things in life can be scarier. No central bank chief wants to be remembered for not having done enough on the price front when realtors hold on to ridiculous property prices, commodity speculators laugh their way to banks, and easy money is sloshing around international financial markets.

    Chances are Subbarao has New Delhi on his side. During times when food prices have eroded the purchasing power in villages and land-grabbing has sowed the seeds of discontent, it's only logical that the powers that be will pick inflation over growth. Perhaps, the presence of a hardcore monetarist like Chakravarthy Rangarajan in the government made Subbarao's job a little easier.

    But it's time India Inc and Dalal Street made a mental note of a simple truth: RBI's far more worried about inflation than they think. If companies can no longer pass on the higher cost to consumers, they should be ready to take a hit and reconcile with lower margins and stock prices. It's a price that all have to pay. And, as always, home buyers, small investors and the salaried will bear the brunt of a malaise they are clueless about.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/rbi-rate-hike-what-made-subbarao-take-the-plunge/articleshow/9376849.cms
    26 JUL, 2011, 09.28PM IST, REUTERS

    India ready for impact of possible US debt default: RBI

    MUMBAI: India has sufficient liquidity to manage a possible debt default by the United States, and theReserve Bank of India is prepared for any resulting repercussions in the financial markets, Governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Tuesday.

    The country has scheduled bilateral consultation with the United States on the debt situation, but the central bank is not a part of the talks, Subbarao said at the post policy press conference.

    Earlier on Tuesday, the central bank raisedinterest rates by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points, its 11th since March 2010, stepping up its fight against persistently high inflation despite slowing growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

    26 JUL, 2011, 11.09AM IST, IANS

    No impact of political controversies on investment: Mukherjee

    LONDON: On the day former telecom minister A. Raja sought to drag Prime MinisterManmohan Singh into the second generation (2G) spectrum case, Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee said political storms had no impact on India's investment climate.

    "The ground reality is in the pact three months,India has received more than $7.9 billion foreign direct investment -- almost double the amount it recorded during the corresponding period of last year," Mukherjee said here Monday evening.

    "It speaks of our investment climate," the finance minister said during a joint press conference with British Chancellor of ExchequerGeorge Osborne after holding the Indo-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue here.

    Earlier, addressing the dialogue, Mukherjee said every effort was being made to make the norms for foreign direct investment simpler for overseas investors, including addressing issues such as payments on transfer of technology, trademarks and royalty.

    "Discussions are currently underway to build consensus on further liberalisation of our foreign investment policy in retail and defence sectors," said the minister, hinting at opening up of multi-brand retailing to global giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour.

    "We also intend to double exports from India in the next three years to reach a level of $500 billion. We are in the process of finalising a national manufacturing policy to increase the share of manufacturing from 16 percent to 25 percent of GDP."

    He said while India was the third largest investor in Britain with over 600 Indian companies here, Britain was the fourth largest investor in India with significant investments in oil and gas, ports, electronics and services.

    "Our efforts are towards making India the preferred destination for your businesses."

    On the domestic front, he said, the Indian economy was on a path of robust recovery since the global slowdown, with growth estimated at 8.5 percent in 2010-11, following 8 percent in the previous fiscal.

    "We have recorded one of the fastest growth rates in the world and are nearly back to our pre-crisis growth levels."

    Osborne plans to unveil 1 bn pound in commercial deals with India
    LONDON: Britain's Chancellor of ExchequerGeorge Osborne plans to unveil 1 billion pounds worth of commercial deals with India on the first day of trade talks between the two countries here today.

    Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee will have extensive talks with Osborne today.

    The talks follow the visit of a trade delegation to India last year, which was led by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

    In a statement before today's meeting, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said: "Britain is now making the largest foreign investment in India. It shows that British companies are competing with the best in the world, despite some sceptical voices, and is good for growth in Britain."

    The deals include approval for BP to invest 4.4 billion pounds in India'sReliance Industries, which will be the biggest single foreign investment in the sub-continent.

    According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, BP's investment, which is being made in Reliance's oil and gas blocks, could grow to be worth as much as USD 20 billion (12.2 billion pounds), according to the Treasury.

    The Treasury says trade between the two countries has grown by 20 per cent since Cameron's trip to India.
    MAINSTREAM, VOL XLVI, NO 19

    Cultural Heterogeneity and Exclusion in India

    Vivek Kumar
    For some politicians it is difficult to understand India's diversity and appreciate it too. The lesson taught in our school days that there exists 'unity in diversity' in Indian society is taught even today in our schools and colleges. Although the slogan emerged at a particular point in time yet it is as relevant as it used to be in the past. However, very few know the basis of this 'unity of diversity' contained in this slogan, which was coined by British historian Vincent Smith and later on popularised by our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The basis of unity is unique because it did not emerge out of similarity. Unity in this slogan does not mean uniformity. This unity is organic in nature, because this emerges from differences. Very much like the unity of different organs of the human body. As in an organism, although the organs of the body are different in their shape, size and function yet they contribute to the maintenance of the body; similarly in Indian society, there are so many social groups which are of different shape, size and perform different functions but they all contribute to the main-tenance of the Indian society.
    Each group has contributed in its own capacity since time immemorial to running the country's economy, polity and society. For instance, a very small religious group like the Parsis has contributed in a significant way to the development of the country's economy and science and technology. This helped India to maintain its scientific capability. Who can forget the labour of the Sikhs of Punjab for producing tonnes to wheat to feed the country, of course with the help of the migrant Bihar and Uttar Pradeshi labour. The Dalits and tribals have contributed their labour, acting as landless agricultural and industrial labourers, in running the economy and polity of this country. Moreover, what is known as Indian art and culture today comprises Buddhist, Jain, Mughal and British architecture as well as Madhubani and tribal paintings. Can we forget the role of Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana and Raskhan in popularising the Hindi language? If Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj have enriched the Indian classical singing the Dagar Brothers popularised the Dhrupad style of singing which starts with Sanskrit shlokas. The jugalbandi of Ustad Bismillha Khan's shehnai and tabla of Ustad Zakir Hussain take Indianmusic to different heights. This list can be unending but I think these examples are enough to make the point that it is the collective effort of Indians which runs the country.
    HOWEVER, diversity is the reality of Indian society. But what we have to understand is that no one community has deliberately created this diversity. Rather, it is natural in nature. The Indian diversity has evolved through eight interrelarted and interconnected epochs. If we take the Indus valley civilisation as the starting point, then the first epoch of the Indian society starts with the advent of the Aryans, which created a hierarchical social order and hence the diversity. The second epoch comprises Jain and Buddhist revolutions. The advent of Islam both through Sufism, that is, through peaceful means, and the 'kings' conquests' is the fourth epoch. The coming of the Europeans, the British victory and the establishment of colonial rule mark the beginning of the fifth epoch in making India more diverse culturally and religion-wise. The trauma of partition of the country the transfer of huge populations on both sides of the artificial but political borders is the sixth epoch of Indian history. The commencement of our democratic Constitution along with the process of modernisation, which included the establishment of big industries and dams, can be termed as the seventh epoch in the making of India as we see it today. This epoch is significant because after centuries Indians got the identity of free citizenship. The different identities of region, religion, caste, etc. became subservient to this identity of the citizen, at least in the spheres of constitutional rights and state run programmes and policies. The eighth epoch in the making of contemporary India started with the process globalisation along with its sub-processes of liberalisation, privatisation and information revolution.
    In turn these aforementioned epochs have given birth to diversities of different types. That is why people of all major religions of the world—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Bahai live in India. Along with these religious groups there are a number of sects and cults and other divisions in all the religions found in India. It is interesting to note all the religions are internally differentiated. Further, according to B.S. Guha's classification, people of six racial stocks live in India. However, linguist Grierson reported 179 languages and 544 dialects in India. However, according to the 1971 census there were 1652 languages spoken as mother tongue. Knowing fully well this linguistic diversity the framers of the IndianConstitution gave certain languages a co-national status. The Constitution ofIndia now recognises 22 languages, spoken in different parts the country, namely, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The intellectuals always play down the caste system as if it shows them the mirror of their so-called tolerant society. However, the reality is that Indian diversity becomes more acute because of the presence of approximately 6000 castes in it. The Mandal Commission alone listed 3743 castes plus there are 1000 Scheduled Castes well. If we add to these castes, sub-castes and sub-sub-castes, it is very difficult to comprehend this diversity. Although intellectuals keep on downplaying the existence of caste in society, stressing on the difference between caste assertion and caste in Indianpolitics, there is 'caste in Indian politics', 'politics of caste' and caste-ism writ large in Indian society.
    THE most worrisome aspect of this diversity in Indian society is that it is accompanied by exclusion as well. Although this exclusion because of different diversities is part and parcel of Indian society, it is not discussed among the masses in general and in classrooms in particular. We are told on and off about the unity in diversity but rarely are we told abot the hegemony in diversity. If we analyse the nature of the exclusions in Indian society we will find its different forms with different basis. There is exclusion on the basis of cultural heterogeneity. In this type of exclusion groups are excluded because they differ on the basis cultural diversities even though they belong to same country and religion. The cultural region becomes very important in this type of exclusion. But the positive aspect of this type of exclusions is that it is always temporary in nature. That is, it passes out quickly and is never successful in driving out the people en masse from the host society. The latest outburst of a politically naïve leader against the North Indians in Mumbai is one of the recent examples of such exclusion. We can observe ourselves that although the people from UP and Bihar are Indians and a majority of them belong to the same religious group, they are not welcome in the alien culture. However, it is certain that this politics of hate against North Indians will not last long and will die its own death. Nobody would have taken note of it had the media not aired it continually for several days. One can recall the Shiv Sena's example. It came to power on the plank 'Mumbai for Marathis' but soon its leadership added religious exclusion, which has a different basis. The leadership took a plank of the 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' for mobilisation and consolidation. Similarly, the allergy of the Dravidian parties in South India against Hindi did not last long as well. Both the Dravidian parties aligned with a party which swears in the name of Hindi and Hindutva.
    In comparison to exclusion based on cultural heterogeneity the exclusion on the bases of gender, that is, between men and women, hierarchy and externality are more dangerous. Fifty per cent of the Indian population had been excluded because of gender only. Female foeticide is the latest form of eclusion. Further, around a quarter of the Indian population is excluded in Indian society on the basis of hierarchy, that is, on the basis of their caste. Here, especially in the case of ex-untouchables or Dalits, who are considered a part of the Hindu religion and belong to the same country, they are excluded from the main part of the village, certain occupations and day-to-day life interaction. They are now excluded from modern institutions like education, judiciary, bureaucracy, market and media. Another form of exclusion, which occurs in Indian society, is because certain people follow certain religious faiths which have a foreign origin. The exclusion of Muslims and Christians is the most glaring example. Even though they have been living here for generations and contribute with their labour in the process of nation-building, they are often told to got out of this country as they do not belong to this land. These types of exclusions are more permanent and harmful in nature. Their permanence is evident from the fact that in spite of a number of movements and campaigns since time immemorial they continue to survive and persist in society. Therefore, while celebrating diversity we should be more concerned about the exclusions based on gender, religion, caste and tribe. One should not worry too much about theexclusions emerging out of cultural heterogeneity. On the other hand the media should boycott such attempts of power hungry people creating hype to heighten the exclusions. The TV channels should be aware of the fact that, after all, India has survived all these years only celebrating its diversity and whosoever has tried to undermine this diversity for homogenisation has become history in due course of time.
    The author is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
    http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article661.html
    UK's Coalition government has said it is determined to boost trade with India, China and Brazil as a means of pulling the country out of a recession.

    Muslim exclusion in India is deliberate: Prof. Javeed Alam

    Submitted by admin on 13 March 2010 - 8:54pm
    By TCN News
    Hyderabad: Muslims in India are badly under represented in different spheres of life. Their exclusion is rather dramatic. However, like other backward communities, Muslim marginalization has its own history. Prominent Social Scientist, Professor Javeed Alam, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Sciences & Research (ICSSR) expressed these views on Friday while delivering a lecture on "Contemporary Muslim Situation in India: Temporal Dimension" at Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
    He was delivering a lecture on "Contemporary Muslim Situation in India: Temporal Dimension", Orgarnized by the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP). Prof. Khalid Saeed, Vice-Chancellor presided over the lecture. Tracing the history of Muslim exclusion & backwardness, Prof. Jevaeed Alam asserts it to be the result of colonial era & practices. Commenting on the political status of Muslim in India, he said that Muslim politics has disappeared from India after Independence. It is an era of region specific Muslim politics. Muslims, in religions terms may be called as a single community, but Muslims in India are not a singular community. Region & language are two of their major distinct features.
    He focussed on Social Exclusion of Muslims and the present situation of the community in the country.  He highlighted the plight of poverty in the country in general and Muslim Community in particular. He pointed out that colonial rule is responsible for the creation of poverty in India in general and Muslims in particular.  In this country, disadvantaged sections and women have been preventing in accessing resources especially since the British rule.  Pointing out regarding gender issues, he observed that women have no control over their "work", "time" and "body". Men would dictate and decide what women should do. He also pointed out that during pre-independent period there were Muslim Politics under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah but post-independent period witnessed for region specific politics. For example, politics of Muslims in Andhra Pradesh is different from neighbouring states. Similarly, politics in Uttar Pradesh is different from politics of Muslims in West Bengal. There is nothing called all India Muslim Politics at present.
    Further, he says that there is no all India Muslim Communalism but there is all India Hindu communalism. Ideology of Hindutva, Sangh Parivar and its organizational set up are promoting this trend. In the wake of Sachchar Committee Report, all these realities came into lime light. He questioned that why Muslims are under-represented in employment and political Institutions. He pointed out in this connection, education and skill development is very low among the Muslims.  He also pointed out about absence of infrastructural development (viz. roads, plumbing, roofed house, schools and medical facilities) in Muslim dominated 90 districts lead to further exclusion of the community.  It is because of Indian democracy, it is possible to have Sachchar Committee Report whereas in other countries (like Pakistan and China) it would not be possible.
    Government of India assigned ICSSR to carry out a study in 90 Muslim population highly concentrated districts all over India to find out the plight of poverty and other problems. He said that ICSSR has carried out it and submitted reports of 90 districts to the government.
    It is important to focus on politics of citizenship. Exclusion of Muslims is very dramatic. They are under-represented in every aspect. It is all deliberate one in this country. Muslims are butchered, massacred across several states. Muslim have been marginalized and even made landless in West Bengal. As a Marxist he is also critical of state in this regard. Finally, in order to understand and addressing these pertinent issues centres like CSSEIP should play prominent role to address the issues of exclusion of Muslims and work out modality for their inclusion.
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    http://twocircles.net/2010mar13/muslim_exclusion_india_deliberate_prof_javeed_alam.html
27/07/2011

Yeddyurappa charged with graft, stares at trial

Bangalore: Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde Wednesday sought the trial of Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and four ministers for corruption over illegal mining, threatening the future of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first government in the country's south.

Yeddyurappa charged with graft, stares at trial

"There is recommendation to prosecute everybody named in the report under the Prevention of Corruption Act," Hegde told journalists soon after his 25,228-page report was handed over to Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath. The report caused a political storm although some of its contents were known.

Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, who has had a running fued with the chief minister, is likely to act on the report late Wednesday. He has vowed to go "strictly by the recommendation of the Lokayukta and not do anything more than that".

Besides the chief minister, Hegde recommended the trial of mining magnates and ministers, the Reddy brothers -- G. Janardhana (tourism) and G. Karunakara (revenue) -- and their associate and Health Minister B. Sriramulu as well as a Yeddyurappa loyalist, Housing Minister V. Somanna.

A former Supreme Court judge, Hegde also named former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal-Secular for granting license to two firms in violation of rules and Congress Rajya Sabha member and mining baron Anil Lad, BJP legislator B. Nagendra and 787 officials of various ranks.

Yeddyurappa charged with graft, stares at trial

Hegde said about Yeddyurappa, who visited the famed Tirupati temple in the morning: "I have made recommendation to the governor to take further steps in this regard (prosecution of the chief minister)."

"Competent authority to take action against chief minister is the governor and hence have sent copy of the report to him," he said.

In explosive findings, Hegde found that the state government had withheld action against companies because they donated large sums of money (Rs.10 crore) to a trust run by Yeddyurappa's sons.

The report also said that a firm involved in illegal mining paid Rs.20 crore to buy an acre of land near Bangalore although its market cost was only Rs.1 crore. The land belonged to the chief minister's sons.

Yeddyurappa charged with graft, stares at trial

The Lokayukta said that these transactions coupled with inaction against some of these firms "may come within the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act". So he urged the governor to "take further steps" against the chief minister.

As Hegde made his findings public, Yeddyurappa, who was defiant earlier in the day, went into a huddle with legal experts and ministerial and party colleagues at his residence here.

The 68-year-old politician, who still has two years to go as chief minister, is set to leave for New Delhi to consult the party leadership.

In New Delhi, the BJP avoided defending the chief minister. Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: "It will take some time to go through the voluminous report. After that we can take some decision."

Hegde said illegal mining in the last few years had caused a loss of Rs.16,085 crores to the state.

Source: IANS

27/07/2011

Guess Rakhi Sawant's dream husband — Baba Ramdev

Controversial Bollywood actress and TV personality Rakhi Sawant expressed her willingness to marry Yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

Guess Rakhi Sawant's dream husband — Baba Ramdev

While addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a promotional event in New Delhi, Sawant spoke of how she also admired Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi. The Drama queen admitted that Ramdev's yoga sessions have made an impact on her life.

Known to be in limelight for all wrong reasons and numerous controversial acts, she has always been in the news for her raunchy videos to her controversial stay on 'Bigg Boss', or walking out of 'Nach Baliye' finale in a huff and leaving Salman Khan high and dry.

If this was not enough to satiate her hunger for publicity, she hit headlines for her infamous romance with commoner Abhishek Awasthi, followed by a kissing episode with singer Mika. Her 'Rakhi Ka Swayamvar' on NDTV Imagine opened a pandora's box that not only entertained people but also had the gossip columns buzzing for months.

All this helped her in paving way to one of Bollywood's most sophisticated filmmakers Karan Johar's chat show 'Koffee With Karan'.

For the last one year Rakhi has been constantly courting controversy for her non-stop bloopers and blunders on the reality show 'Raki Ka Insaaf'. If one tries to list her bunglings on the small screen, it would be difficult to pen all as she has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons for more than five years. No wonder she is crowned the controversy queen.

Source: ANI

26/07/2011

The Hina factor in India-Pakistan talks

New Delhi: When 34-year-old Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan's youngest and first woman foreign minister, holds talks with her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna, 45 years her senior, the world will be watching to see how she handles her first major diplomatic outing and navigates the troubled waters of the India-Pakistan relationship.

The Hina factor in India-Pakistan talks

Khar touched down here in a special flight Tuesday amid intense interest. Will her relative youth and inexperience bring a whiff of freshness to the perennially troubled relationship between the two neighbours? Or will the young foreign minister, fond of polo and trekking, struggle to hold her own in the talks that come barely a week after her appointment was formalised?

The jury is out on that one.

Amid widespread cynicism in Pakistan's predominantly patriarchal establishment, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari justified her appointment, saying it would "send positive signals about the soft image of Pakistan".

Khar, however, remains somewhat of a mystery in India. Curiosity has been piqued by her unusual background that blends the feudal and the modern.

The Hina factor in India-Pakistan talks

A postgraduate in hospitality and tourism from the University of Massachusetts, Khar comes from a wealthy feudal family in southern Punjab and owns Lahore's posh Polo Lounge, a haunt of the rich and the powerful. Her father is a large landowner from Muzaffargarh. Her uncle Ghulam Mustafa Kar was the subject of "My Feudal Lord", a biting account of patriarchal society in Pakistan penned by his fifth wife Tehmina Durrani.

Analysts here are sceptical on whether Khar can make a real difference to the course of the revived peace process between India and Pakistan.

Satish Chandra, a former deputy national security adviser and a former envoy to Islamabad, says Khar's youth won't be a disadvantage. On the contrary, she could provide an image advantage to Pakistan, Chandra told IANS.

"It will be a good photo-op, with an attractive young minister," he said. He added that given Pakistan's military-dominated establishment it does not matter who is the foreign minister of Pakistan.

"The shots are being called by the army, and when it comes to India-Pakistan relations, the script is always cleared by the army," said Chandra.

The Hina factor in India-Pakistan talks

Agreed G. Parthasarathy, a former high commissioner to Pakistan. "It's good for Pakistan to have a young, attractive lady to represent Pakistan in bad times when that country is being increasingly seen as an epicentre of terrorism."

"Having entered politics through the military, she is likely to be influenced by the military which calls the shots on India-Pakistan relations," Parthasarathy told IANS.

Khar entered politics in 2002 and became a member of national assembly of the PML-Q party, affiliated with then Pakistan president Gen Pervez Musharraf.

She joined the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) ahead of the February 2008 general election and was made minister of state for economic affairs by the Zardari government in 2008.

The Hina factor in India-Pakistan talks

Her rise has been meteoric since, propelled by favourable circumstances. Barely four days after then foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's removal, she was named minister of state for foreign affairs.

Khar has become Pakistan's 26th foreign minister at a time when her country is suffering perhaps the worst image crisis and is being repeatedly singled out as a patron for terrorists and jihadists.

On the India front, there is, however, a window of opportunity. If her country can sustain the revived peace process, Khar, too, will share the credit. For now, the expectations are minimal, and that may well be Khar's big advantage in a country where over 67 percent of the population is below 30.

Source: IANS

27/07/2011

Khar didn't mention Kashmir, Krishna did

New Delhi: India and Pakistan Wednesday agreed to continue discussions for a "peaceful solution" to the over 60-year-old Kashmir issue, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said.

India, Pak eager to eliminate terror

"On Jammu and Kashmir, we will continue discussion with a view to find a peaceful solution by narrowing down divergences and finding convergences," Krishna said while addressing the media with visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar here.

In her address to the media, Khar did not mention the Kashmir issue.

Krishna said the two sides also "decided to resolve outstanding issues with a comprehensive and sustained dialogue".

Meanwhile, India and Pakistan on Wednesday reiterated their "firm commitment" to eliminate terrorism from the region in all its forms, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said.

India, Pak eager to eliminate terror

Krishna, addressing a joint press conference with visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, said the two sides agreed that "terrorism poses continuing threat to peace and security" in the region.

"We reiterated the firm commitment of the two countries to fight and eliminate this scourge in all its forms and manifestations," he said after the meeting with Khar.

Krishna said he was "satisfied" with the resumption of the peace process that was stalled in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists. He said the two countries had also agreed to "bring those responsible" for terror attacks to justice.

"The outcome (of Wednesday's talks) has been as per our expectations. We reaffirmed our commitment to resolve all our issues," said Krishna, with Khar standing on his left side. He said he could "comfortably say that relations (between the two countries) are on the right track.... (But) we have distances to travel".

India, Pak eager to eliminate terror

Meanwhile, Khar said the resumption of peace process with India had led to the dawn of a "new era" in bilateral cooperation between the two neighbours. Khar said she was also "more confident today" after the meeting.

"We are committed in this process not only from the government of Pakistan but also from the people of Pakistan. I bring this commitment from President (Asif) Zardari and Prime Minister (Yousuf Raza) Gilani. This is indeed the new era of bilateral cooperation," she said.

Earlier, Krishna and Khar began talks expected to culminate in a host of confidence-building measures (CBMs) across the divided halves of Kashmir.

Ahead of the talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir had on Tuesday finalised a slew of CBMs designed to expand travel and trade across the divided halves of Kashmir.

The CBMs could include an increase in the frequency of cross-Kashmir bus links between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and Poonch and Rawalakot, an increase in the number of trading days across the Line of Control (LoC) from two to four, the opening of more trading points and multiple entry permits for six months for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: IANS

27/07/2011

Sonia visits Bangladesh

Sonia Gandhi, Congress party president, landed recently in Dhaka to receive the Bangladesh Freedom Honour conferred on Indira Gandhi. Take a look at some of the images from the visit.


Sonia visits Bangladesh

In this photograph provided by the Bangladesh government, the daughter-in-law of India's assassinated former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (photograph behind) and India's Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, second right, receives from Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman, second left, the country's highest honor conferred posthumously on Indira in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, left and Foreign Minister Dipu Mony, right also seen.

27/07/2011

Realty, auto industry not happy

Mumbai: Industry heads across sectors, especially those in realty, automobiles and infrastructure, decried on Tuesday's "unexpected" 50-basis point rise in repo rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Once more, then no more

While real estate companies complained the rise in the cost of funds would affect their projects, auto manufacturers rued that light commercial vehicle sales would flatten and heavy commercial vehicle sales even fall. Infrastructure companies say if they fall short of funds, there would be a dearth of new projects.

Chambers of commerce say it's clear RBI had decided to sacrifice growth to tame inflation, with 11 consecutive interest rate increases in the past 15 months.

"I personally expected that this time RBI would not increase interest rates," said Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director and group chief financial officer (CFO) of JSW, adding: "Interest rates are already in the range of 11.5-12 per cent for long-term financing."

V Ashok, CFO of the Essar Group, also expressed "surprise" at RBI's decision. "RBI has laid down its priorities, on controlling inflation in the short/medium term, rather than (promoting) growth. Increase in interest rates over the last one year has not curtailed demand and inflation remains a concern. In an era of volatile commodity prices and shorter business cycles, continuous hikes in costs of borrowing will hit the bottomlines of corporates. There, clearly, are gloomy days ahead for corporates in the short/medium term." Gautam Thapar of the Avantha Group said, "RBI has seen something that the industry has not", adding that business sentiment would be affected.

Industry shocked, fears slowdown

Infrastructure companies were concerned, too. IVRCL has around Rs 2,000 crore debt in the parent company. "This hike in interest rates will definitely have an adverse affect. In the next few months, if they increase the rates again at this level, our interest burden will go up. The number of new projects which come out will go down and will not be as aggressive if liquidity is tightened."

However, Y M Deosthalee, CFO of L&T, does not believe that "overall investments will slow down after on Tuesday, as all decisions are not linked to rates", adding: "Investments will continue. Certain rate-sensitive areas will see a slowdown but that is what RBI wants. Its data show that growth is not slowing down but inflation is a genuine problem. RBI on Tuesday has very little choice, as inflation management has no easy solutions. We have to live with these cycles. I am sure, once the cool-off begins, then RBI will pause."

REAL ESTATE

The real estate sector may see a fall in property prices in the near term. Gagan Banga, CEO, Indiabulls Financial Services, opined, "Home loan rates are bound to go up; they are already at almost 11 per cent. While home loan rates tend to even out over a period of time, high rates at the start of the transaction tend to result in postponement of home purchase deals, thus forcing developers to reduce rates or face a complete freeze."

Pranay Vakil, chairman of Knight Frank, said increasing the repo rate would lead to a further slowdown in real estate. "It will become more expensive for developers to borrow money. They're already in a squeeze. It will slow down constructions. Developers will have to reduce prices to keep the volumes going. Property prices will reduce by 15-20 per cent," he added.

Once more, then no more

Anuj Puri, chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle, concurred that RBI's rate rise was bad news for property buyers but expects property prices to fall 10 per cent in metros. "After Diwali, as the demand picks up, rates will stablise. There will be no impact on pricing of commercial properties, as its demand is higher than supply," he added.

SLOWDOWN FEAR
Even the consumer durables sector is worried. Vipul Mathur, vice president, marketing, MIRC Electronics, said the rise may impact consumer buying power in the medium term. "With EMI pressure mounting and inflation increasing the food bill of the household, middle-class households may either postpone or shift the preference to the economy range for consumer durables...Super-premium products may still not see a drop, as the elite are not impacted by this."

Industry bodies caution that RBI's move could backfire, with growth slowing considerably. Chandrajit Banerjee, director-general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), asserted that "RBI has emerged as the most aggressive central bank tasked with containing inflation...this is a matter of great concern, since there could be a tipping point beyond which salvaging a downward spiral of growth could be an arduous task."

Industry shocked, fears slowdown

He said it's "imperative now that non-monetary measures are rapidly deployed to deal with supply-side issues, which continue to contribute to inflationary pressures". He pointed out that high domestic interest rates are driving industry to borrow in foreign currency, potentially risky in the event of exchange rate fluctuations.

CII is also apprehensive that banks would be constrained to pass on the increase in repo and reverse repo rates to customers and this would have a fairly detrimental impact on the economy as a whole. Particularly on sectors where consumer financing plays an important part in demand. "CII would urge RBI to pause and indicate when this tight monetary stance would be eased," said Banerjee.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said the rise was "a major disappointment to the industry".

"With the growth momentum already under pressure, this move will further hurt prospects. Even the projected growth rate of eight per cent for 2011-12 now looks difficult to achieve," said Rajiv Kumar, secretary general.

"The single-minded focus of RBI in tackling stubborn inflation has continued, with tight monetary management. This will adversely impact the already falling growth momentum in interest-sensitive sectors, especially small and mid-sized companies," said Dilip Modi, President of the other industry body, Assocham. It feels the "hike may not deliver the results as anticipated, as growth will be hit significantly due to the high-interest regime".

Source: Business Standard

27/07/2011

Mahindra, Eurocopter strike deal

New Delhi: Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group's subsidiaries Mahindra Aerospace and Mahindra Satyam on Tuesday entered into an agreement with international helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter for the joint design and development of niche aviation sector products.

"We are already creating a niche for ourselves in the fixed-wing aircraft and aerostructures manufacturing space. We see this MoU (memorandum of understanding) as a significant step forward for both of us," Mahindra Aerospace chairman Hemant Luthra said.

The partnership will be focused on manufacturing of sub-assemblies and customisation of civil helicopters. "Details of the scope and structure of the partnership will be decided in the coming months," the company said in a statement.

Mahindra Aerospace, formed in 2008, was the Mahindra Group's first foray into the global aerospace manufacturing and utility aircraft industry. The company recently concluded the acquisitions of Aerostaff Australia and GippsAero (formally Gippsland Aeronautics), both based in Australia.

Source: IANS

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    PTI A day after the Reserve Bank of India raised its key interest rates to check inflation, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday indicated it may not be the last increase for now. "I don't think it is end of the tunnel," he said. ...

    India Spending Plans May Lead to More Rate Rises, RBI Deputy Governor Says

    Bloomberg - Kartik Goyal - ‎1 hour ago‎
    July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn talks about the central bank's fight to control inflation and real estate prices. He speaks with Bloomberg in Mumbai. ...

    Congress fails to explain how RBI rate hike will benefit people

    Daily News & Analysis - ‎2 hours ago‎
    Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI Congress today faced an awkward situation when asked how the recent decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to raise its key interest by 0.5 percentage point would tame price rise and benefit common man. ...

    No Bank rate hike in 2011 - Reuters poll

    Reuters UK - Luke MacGregor, Ross Finley - ‎2 hours ago‎
    A man speaks on his mobile phone in the Canary Wharf financial district in London February 16, 2011. By Ross Finley LONDON (Reuters) - Faced with a stalling economy, the probability that the Bank of England will launch a second round of government bond ...

    India finance minister says more rate hikes likely

    AFP - ‎2 hours ago‎
    NEW DELHI — Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday more monetary and fiscal steps were in the pipeline to tame stubborn inflation. On Tuesday, India's central bank increased rates by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points, ...

    India adviser:further cbank action to depend on inflation

    Reuters - Rajesh Kumar Singh, Malini Menon - ‎3 hours ago‎
    NEW DELHI, July 27 (Reuters) - India's inflation will dictate further action from the central bank and the Reserve Bank of India may reverse its monetary stance if it sees definite signs of easing, a top adviser in the government said on Wednesday. ...
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    Growth in FY12 will certainly be less than FY11: Ahluwalia

    Moneycontrol.com - ‎12 hours ago‎
    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stunned the market, on Tuesday, by raisings its key policy rates by 50 basis points . The move took most by surprise, as the street expecting it to be a non-event with consensus firmly on a 25 basis hike. ...

    <B>A K Bhattacharya:</B> The right to choose

    Business Standard - Ak Bhattacharya - ‎Jul 26, 2011‎
    Why is Manmohan Singh the finance minister a big hit and Manmohan Singh the prime minister has, by and large, failed to live up to the reputation he had built 20 years ago? In 1991, he had presented a Budget and taken several landmark decisions that ...

    India stutters in race to double digit growth

    Financial Times - Rahul Jacob - ‎Jul 26, 2011‎
    Economic officials typically accentuate the positive. Speaking to a gathering of economists in New Delhi a couple of weeks ago, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, however, ...

    Montek terms RBI's 50 bps rate hike as aggressive

    Moneycontrol.com - ‎Jul 26, 2011‎
    Published on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 19:14 | Source : PTI Describing the RBI's decision to raise key rates by 50 basis points as "aggressive", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said it would help in controlling inflation. ...
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    Montek Singh Ahluwalia

    Moneycontrol.com

    Growth in FY12 will certainly be less than FY11:Ahluwalia

    Moneycontrol.com - ‎12 hours ago‎
    Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission said the higher-than-expected rate hike signals the determination of the central bank to tackle inflation.
    <B>A K Bhattacharya:</B> The right to choose Business Standard
    India stutters in race to double digit growth Financial Times
    Firstpost

    Nitish Kumar asks Plan panel to revise BPL, APL figures

    Times of India - ‎18 hours ago‎
    PATNA: In a letter to Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, CM Nitish Kumar stressed on the need of an independent commission for identifying the BPL and APL families for the purpose of food security.
    BBC News

    India's challenges

    BBC News - Soutik Biswas - ‎1 hour ago‎
    Even the chief of India's Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, agrees that the drop in poverty is well below the government's own targets.
    India marks 20 years of Manmohanomics Asia Times Online

    Kerala annual plan 2011-12 finalized at Rs. 12010 crores

    Newstrack India - ‎2 hours ago‎
    New Delhi, July 27 (ANI): The annual plan outlay for Kerala for the year 2011-12 was finalized at Rs. 12010 crores at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.
    Kerala Annual Plan 2011-12 Finalized Press Information Bureau (press release)

    UT plan outlay fixed at Rs 2750 crore

    IBNLive.com - ‎11 hours ago‎
    This plan outlay was fixed during a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday between Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who is also the Finance Minister of the UT, other officials and a team of Planning Commission led by its deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

    FM, Montek feel hike will help growth

    mydigitalfc.com - ‎11 hours ago‎
    Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, "The (RBI) governor has chosen a little more aggressive stance. I don't think this is improper.
    Business Standard

    Montek panel for UID use to plug PDS leakages

    Business Standard - ‎Jul 14, 2011‎
    A panel headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has advocated the use of unique identification numbers to plug loopholes in the public distribution system (PDS).
    Montek suggests higher power tariffs during peak hoursMoneycontrol.com
    Montek for higher power tariff during peak hours Express Buzz
    Machinist.in - Hindustan Times - Deccan Herald - Rediff
    Moneycontrol.com

    India Spending Plans May Lead to More Rate Rises, RBI Deputy Governor Says

    Bloomberg - Kartik Goyal - ‎1 hour ago‎
    Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, said in a July 19 interview that India is considering a plan to set aside $10 billion from its foreign- exchange reserves and create a sovereign fund to secure energy assets ...
    Video: Sharp RBI pitch on inflation hints at rate hike     NewsX
    Loans to go costlier as RBI hikes key rates again, 11th time since Jan 2010 Daily Bhaskar
    IBNLive.com - BusinessWeek

    Ahluwalia Sees Several Months to Bring India Inflation to Acceptable Level

    Bloomberg - Unni Krishnan, Kartik Goyal - ‎Jul 19, 2011‎
    "We will bring inflation down in control but it will take several months," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of India's planning commission, said in an interview in New Delhi late yesterday.
    India eyeing sovereign wealth fund, energy deals but RBI objects Economic Times
    India Considers its First SWF to Meet Energy Demand 2point6billion
    aiCIO - Pensions & Investments - Business Day
    Business Standard

    Inflation likely to come down by December: Montek

    Times of India - ‎Jul 10, 2011‎
    PTI | Jul 10, 2011, 11.16pm IST NEW DELHI: Amid inflation hovering around nine per cent levels in May, planning commission deputy chairmanMontek Singh Ahluwalia expressed hope that it would come down by December. "Inflation remains a problem.
    No move to restrict FDI in pharma: Montek Rediff
    Don't have expectations from Cabinet reshuffle: Montek Indian Express
    News Tonight - Wall Street Journal - RTT News
    PINK:EXPU
    The Hindu

    Central funds: Jaya gets more than she asked for

    Times of India - ‎Jul 6, 2011‎
    CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's annual plan outlay for 2011-12was on Wednesday fixed at Rs 23535 crore following a meeting between chief minister J Jayalalithaa and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The CM had submitted an annual plan ...
    Plan panel approves TM's Rs 23535 cr outlay for FY12 Economic Times
    Focus on energy, health, urbanisation: Plan panel tells TN Business Standard
    Hindu Business Line - IBNLive.com - The Hindu - Deccan Chronicle

    Indian chemical exports to double in next 3 yrs: CHEMEXCIL

    IBNLive.com - ‎50 minutes ago‎
    Recently, the Prime Minister has constituted a task workforce on the chemical sector which shall work under the guidance of deputy member of planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia," he said.Currently, the policy is being framed.

    Weak distribution sector may short-circuit generation projects

    Livemint - Utpal Bhaskar - ‎2 hours ago‎
    Speaking at the same conference, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission, expressed concern over the mismatch between tariff and cost and underlined the need to reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses.
    The Hindu

    Planning Commission meeting with NE states begins in Guwahati

    The Hindu - ‎Jul 4, 2011‎
    PTI The Hindu Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia addressing the two day long meeting on "Regional Consultations on 12th Plan" in Guwahatai on July 04, 2011.
    Ahluwalia for better connectivity to N-E states Rediff
    NE wants infra development for better connectivity: Ahluwalia Economic Times
    Indian Express - Calcutta Telegraph - Assam Tribune - MSN India

    State govt preparing approach paper for 12th five-yr Plan

    Times of India - ‎Jul 21, 2011‎
    The move has been initiated in the backdrop of recently held first-ever Regional Consultative Committee Meeting here in May, which was attended by deputy chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia along with representatives from the states of ...

    Power min's wish list to Cabinet: more lending room, debt fund

    Expressindia.com - Priyadarshi Siddhanta - ‎Jul 25, 2011‎
    The ministry has moved a draft note to the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) to this effect, acting on the recommendations of its sub-committee headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
    BBC News

    Total recall of how we changed as a nation

    mydigitalfc.com - Priya Ranjan Dash - ‎Jul 24, 2011‎
    So, on July 3, just two days after the first devaluation, the rupee was again devalued by 10 per cent even as a group of officials, including Singh, Chidambaram, commerce secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a World Bank economist who had served in Rajiv ...
    Ad Hoc Revolution of 1991: Not just about careful planning but about Political ... Economic Times
    Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine

    Will PHFI become transparent and accountable under Narayana Murthy?

    Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine - Kapil Bajaj -‎Jul 25, 2011‎
    They include some of the most powerful babus, including TKA Nair, principal secretary to the prime minister, and Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. These 'public servants', however, have shown no interest in making ...

    Kota Harinarayan to get Tilak award

    Times of India - ‎19 hours ago‎
    ... 29{+t}{+h} year of the award which was instituted in 1983. The previous recipients of this award include Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Atal Behari Vajpayee, MS Swaminathan, Rahul Bajaj, Shivthanu Pillai, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Pranab Mukherjee.

    No free hand to States till 2017, Jairam Ramesh tells Montek

    The Hindu - ‎Jul 16, 2011‎
    After his meeting with Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday, Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu of the discussion they had on how to proceed with what he described as the "9/90" activities of the department where 9 ...

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    ‎1 hour ago‎ - Business Standard
    Banks to pass on rate hikes; see pressure on assets
    ‎Jul 26, 2011‎ - Moneycontrol.com
    Rate hike may paralyse India s growth Tata Steel
    ‎Jul 26, 2011‎ - Moneycontrol.com
    50bps hike: Will RBI pause now, will rate cuts happen?
    ‎Jul 26, 2011‎ - Moneycontrol.com
    Another interest rate hike by RBI, borrowers to feel pinch
    ‎Jul 26, 2011‎ - Economic Times
    RBI set for 11th rate hike to control inflation
    ‎Jul 25, 2011‎ - Economic Times
    Rising wages contributing to price rise, says RBI
    ‎Jul 25, 2011‎ - Times of India
    Banks brace up for 25 bps rate hike
    ‎Jul 24, 2011‎ - Times of India

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मैं नास्तिक क्यों हूं# Necessity of Atheism#!Genetics Bharat Teertha

হে মোর চিত্ত, Prey for Humanity!

मनुस्मृति नस्ली राजकाज राजनीति में OBC Trump Card और जयभीम कामरेड

Gorkhaland again?আত্মঘাতী বাঙালি আবার বিভাজন বিপর্যয়ের মুখোমুখি!

हिंदुत्व की राजनीति का मुकाबला हिंदुत्व की राजनीति से नहीं किया जा सकता।

In conversation with Palash Biswas

Palash Biswas On Unique Identity No1.mpg

Save the Universities!

RSS might replace Gandhi with Ambedkar on currency notes!

जैसे जर्मनी में सिर्फ हिटलर को बोलने की आजादी थी,आज सिर्फ मंकी बातों की आजादी है।

#BEEFGATEঅন্ধকার বৃত্তান্তঃ হত্যার রাজনীতি

अलविदा पत्रकारिता,अब कोई प्रतिक्रिया नहीं! पलाश विश्वास

ভালোবাসার মুখ,প্রতিবাদের মুখ মন্দাক্রান্তার পাশে আছি,যে মেয়েটি আজও লিখতে পারছেঃ আমাক ধর্ষণ করবে?

Palash Biswas on BAMCEF UNIFICATION!

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS ON NEPALI SENTIMENT, GORKHALAND, KUMAON AND GARHWAL ETC.and BAMCEF UNIFICATION! Published on Mar 19, 2013 The Himalayan Voice Cambridge, Massachusetts United States of America

BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE 7

Published on 10 Mar 2013 ALL INDIA BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE HELD AT Dr.B. R. AMBEDKAR BHAVAN,DADAR,MUMBAI ON 2ND AND 3RD MARCH 2013. Mr.PALASH BISWAS (JOURNALIST -KOLKATA) DELIVERING HER SPEECH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLL-n6MrcoM http://youtu.be/oLL-n6MrcoM

Imminent Massive earthquake in the Himalayas

Palash Biswas on Citizenship Amendment Act

Mr. PALASH BISWAS DELIVERING SPEECH AT BAMCEF PROGRAM AT NAGPUR ON 17 & 18 SEPTEMBER 2003 Sub:- CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2003 http://youtu.be/zGDfsLzxTXo

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THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS BLASTS INDIANS THAT CLAIM BUDDHA WAS BORN IN INDIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: INDIAN GOVERNMENT FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM RISKIER

http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c The government of India has announced food security program ahead of elections in 2014. We discussed the issue with Palash Biswas in Kolkata today. http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c Ahead of Elections, India's Cabinet Approves Food Security Program ______________________________________________________ By JIM YARDLEY http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/indias-cabinet-passes-food-security-law/

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN VOICE: PALASH BISWAS DISCUSSES RAM MANDIR

Published on 10 Apr 2013 Palash Biswas spoke to us from Kolkota and shared his views on Visho Hindu Parashid's programme from tomorrow ( April 11, 2013) to build Ram Mandir in disputed Ayodhya. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77cZuBunAGk

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk

THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST

We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas. http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICAL OF BAMCEF LEADERSHIP

[Palash Biswas, one of the BAMCEF leaders and editors for Indian Express spoke to us from Kolkata today and criticized BAMCEF leadership in New Delhi, which according to him, is messing up with Nepalese indigenous peoples also. He also flayed MP Jay Narayan Prasad Nishad, who recently offered a Puja in his New Delhi home for Narendra Modi's victory in 2014.]

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALSH BISWAS FLAYS SOUTH ASIAN GOVERNM

Palash Biswas, lashed out those 1% people in the government in New Delhi for failure of delivery and creating hosts of problems everywhere in South Asia. http://youtu.be/lD2_V7CB2Is

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk