गोपाल कृष्ण अग्रवाल,राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता, भाजपा।

भारत पानी की कमी वाला देश नहीं है। हमारे पास पानी की पर्याप्त उपलब्धता है। फिर भी हमारे दैनिक जीवन में हम इस उपलब्धता को महसूस नहीं करते हैं और हमारे देश का बड़ा वर्ग शुद्ध पानी से वंचित है। कारण ऐतिहासिक रूप से जल संसाधनों का अकुशल वितरण और प्रबंधन है। पानी जीवन के लिए आवश्यक होने के कारण एक बहुत ही संवेदनशील विषय है और इसकी अनेक चुनौतियां और विभिन्न आयाम है। जरूरी है कि यह सभी तक समान रूप से उपलब्ध हो, इसका सही उपयोग हो, अच्छी गुणवत्ता हो। इसके साथ ही आंतरिक विस्थापन, व्यावसाईकरण, निजीकरण, शहरीकरण और अंतरराज्यीय संघर्ष भी इससे जुड़े हैं। सरकार के पास इन मुद्दों के समाधान की बड़ी चुनौती है।

घरेलू पानी का उपयोग गरीब परिवार के जीवनयापन का भी एक अभिन्न अंग क है। पानी और स्वास्थ्य सेवाओं को ब बुनियादी स्तर तक पहुंचाना सरकार की सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता है। पूर्ववर्ती सर्वे के मि अनुसार प्रति व्यक्ति घरेलू पानी की खपत क और भारतीय मानक (बीआइएस), क 2001, दिल्ली मास्टर प्लान, केंद्रीय है सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य इंजीनियरिंग और प्र पर्यावरण संगठन और जापान म इंटरनेशनल द्वारा दिए गए अनुशंसित ह मानदंडों के बीच तुलनात्मक विश्लेषण में क कम आय वाले क्षेत्रों में खपत की धूमिल तस्वीर दिखाई देती है।

इंडिया-अर्बन स्लम सर्वे (एनएसएस), 69 वें राउंड के अनुसार, अखिल भारतीय स्तर पर हालाकि स्लम क्षेत्रों में रहने वाले परिवारों में पीने के पानी का स्रोत बढ़ा हुआ दिखता है, लेकिन दूसरी ओर गैर-झुग्गी-झोपड़ी क्षेत्रों में रहने वाले परिवारों के पीने के पानी के बेहतर स्रोत का प्रतिशत उस के अनुपात से काफी अधिक दिखता है। इससे चलता है कि समाज के आर्थिक रूप से निचले और ऊपरी तबके के बीच पानी की उपलब्धता और उपयोग में असमानता बढ़ रही है।

वर्तमान सरकार की जल जीवन मिशन योजना लगभग देश में सभी उन्नीस करोड़ घरों को नल के द्वारा पानी उपलब्ध कराने (हर घर जल) की महत्त्वपूर्ण पहल है और संविधान के अंतर्गत सरकार की प्रतिबद्धता को पूरा करने के लिए एक महत्त्वाकांक्षी योजना है। इसका लक्ष्य हासिल करने से पहले हमें और भी बहुत कुछ करना होगा। पानी की गुणवत्ता, मूल्य और मात्रा सुनिश्चित करनी होगी। नीतिगत स्तर पर इस लिहाज से कई विचारधाराएं और विचार हैं। विशेष रूप से मूल्य निर्धारण और संरक्षण को लेकर स्पष्टता नहीं है। हमें पानी के विषय पर गहन चर्चा और पारदर्शिता की आवश्यकता है। व्यक्तियों या घरों के व्यावहारिक उपभोग पर पानी के मूल्य के प्रभाव के संबंध में विविध विचार चल रहे हैं। पानी जैसी घरेलू आवश्यक वस्तुओं की कीमत के उपभोग पर प्रभाव को ले कर कई अध्ययनों से पता चलता है कि उपभोग पूरी तरह मूल्य पर आधारित नहीं है। इसके विपरीत कुछ अध्ययनों से यह भी पता चलता है कि कीमत एक अच्छा जल-मांग प्रबंधन उपकरण हो सकता है। आर्थिक सिद्धांत के आधार पर कीमतों में वृद्धि के साथ अधिकांश वस्तुओं की मांग की मात्रा कम हो जाती है, लेकिन जीवन की अनिवार्य आवश्यकताओं पर यह सिद्धांत पूरी तरह नहीं लागू होता।

हम यह जानते हैं कि कीमत के बारे में जागरूकता और पानी की कीमत में बदलाव के आधार पर उपभोग में बदलाव मूल्य संवेदनशीलता को मापने के लिए एक संकेतक माना जाता है। इस संकेतक पर हमारे वर्तमान अध्ययन में पाया गया है कि कम आय वाले लगभग 90 प्रतिशत घरों की खपत पानी के मूल्य बढ़ने से कम नहीं होगी, क्योंकि मूल रूप से उन घरों में पानी के उपभोग का स्तर पहले से ही आवश्यकता के अनुपात में बहुत कम पाया गया है। पानी पर खर्च की गई व्यक्तिगत आय का कुल आय के अनुपात को एक और पैरामीटर माना जाता है। हमारे अध्ययन के अनुसार औसतन पानी पर खर्च व्यक्तिगत आय, कुल आय का 4.93 प्रतिशत ही है। जैसे-जैसे हम निम्न आय वर्ग से उच्च आय वाले उपनिवेशों में जाते हैं, उनका पानी पर खर्च की जाने वाली आय का अनुपात और भी कम हो जाता है। इसलिए निम्न आय वर्ग की कीमतों की संवेदनशीलता उच्च आय समूहों की तुलना में कहीं अधिक है। इससे यह स्पष्ट होता है की कीमतों का पानी की खपत पर प्रभाव हाशिए पर रहने वाले वर्ग पर ही अधिक होगा।

निष्कर्ष के रूप में हम कह सकते हैं कि पानी की मांग अत्यधिक मूल्य-संवेदी नहीं है। मुख्य कारण यह है कि लोग पानी का उपयोग एक आवश्यकता के रूप में ही करते हैं, न कि एक विलासिता के रूप में। इसका तात्पर्य यह भी है कि कीमत बढ़ाने से घरेलू पानी की खपत में उल्लेखनीय कमी नहीं आ सकती है। यह भी मत भूलिए जब तक किसी चीज की कमी बनी रहेगी लोग आवश्यकता की वजह से उसके भुगतान के लिए तो तैयार हो ही जाएंगे, लेकिन पानी जैसी जरूरी चीज के बारे में निर्णय लेते समय लोगों के सामर्थ्य को ही प्राथमिकता देनी होगी। पानी का मूल्य निर्धास्ण एक महत्त्वपूर्ण नीतिगत निर्णय है। इससे उच्च आय वर्ग की तुलना में गरीब वर्ग ही अधिक प्रभावित होगा।

घर में पानी की बर्बादी को कम करने का सबसे अच्छा तरीका है घर में पानी बचाने के उपायों के बारे में जागरूकता फैलाई जाए। कम प्रवाह वाले शावर और नल, दोहरी फ्लशिंग प्रणाली, कपड़े और बर्तन धोने के लिए पानी की बचत करने वाले उपकरण मदद कर सकते हैं। सरकार सभी को पानी उपलब्ध कराने का प्रयास कर रही है। साथ ही लागत वसूली के लिए मूल्य निर्धारण और इसके अत्यधिक उपयोग को रोकने में संतुलन बना रही है।

गोपाल कृष्ण अग्रवाल,

राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता भाजपा

यदि मजबूत इरादे को लेकर नेतृत्व को लेकर नेतृत्व किया जाए तो कुछ भी असंभव नहीं

हमारा यह दृढ़ विश्वास है कि जब भी और जहां भी उचित हो, श्रेय मिलना ही चाहिए। जी-20 का सफलतापूर्वक आयोजन व दिल्ली घोषणापत्र पर सर्वसम्मति का वैश्विक प्रभाव, भारत की वर्तमान एवं भविष्य की नेतृत्व के लिए भूमिकाओं के रूप में देख सकते है। चंद्रयान-3 की सफलता ने पहले ही भारत की प्रतिष्ठा में चार चांद लगाकर भारत को अंतरिक्ष प्रौद्योगिकी में अग्रणी देश के रूप में प्रस्तुत किया है। हाल में हुई दोनों ही घटनाएं, यह प्रदर्शित करती है कि यदि नेतृत्व में दूरदर्शिता, प्रतिबद्धता व इच्छा शक्ति हो तो बड़ी- बड़ी चीजों को भी हासिल किया जा सकता है।

बचपन में हम पढ़ते थे कि भारत एक अमीर देश है, जहां गरीब रहते हैं इससे हमें यह पता चलता है कि तत्कालीन नेतृत्व किस प्रकार भारतीयों की वास्तविक क्षमताओं को उभारने में नाकाम हुआ था। मोदी के सत्ता में आते ही यह परिदृश्य पूरी तरह से परिवर्तित हुआ है। हमें कई बार महसूस हुआ कि प्रधानमंत्री की कुछ पहल बहुत महत्वाकांक्षी एवं असंभव सी है। तत्पश्चात हमने देखा की यदि मजबूत इरादे को लेकर नेतृत्व किया जाए तो कुछ भी असंभव नहीं है। हम देखते है की हर समय विपक्ष का रवैया आलोचनात्मक व नई पहलों के लिए रुकावट करने वाला रहा हैं, ऐसे में सभी उद्देश्य पूर्ति कोई छोटी उपलब्धियां नहीं हैं। कोविड संकट से निपटना तय समय में सफलतापूर्वक घरेलू वैक्सीन तैयार करना और 230 करोड़ लोगो तक वैक्सीन पहुचाना एक सुचारू प्रशासनिक दक्षता का ही प्रमाण है।

कोविड के बाद आर्थिक विकास, आर्थिक सुधार को सटीक समय पर लागू करना, राजकोषीय प्रोत्साहन व महंगाई का सफल प्रबंधन, सरकार की महत्त्वपूर्ण उपलब्धियाँ है। कोविड के बाद विश्व के अमेरिका, यूरोप और चीन जैसे राष्ट्र भी आर्थिक संकट से जूझ हैं जबकि भारत इससे अलग तीव्र गति से आर्थिक विकास पर अग्रसर है।

भारत द्वारा डिजिटल पब्लिक इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर (यूपीआई) का विकास, जिसका गुणगान आज दुनिया कर रही है, आधुनिक मानव इतिहास में अद्वितीय साबित हो रहा है। वर्ल्ड बैंक की रिपोर्ट कहती है कि भारत के वित्तीय समावेशन कार्यक्रम ने 47 साल के काम को मात्र 6 साल में पूरा कर दिखाया है। दिल्ली घोषणापत्र में जी-20 देशों द्वारा यूपीआई को अपनाना इस बात की ओर संकेत करते हैं कि वसुधैव कुटुंबकम (विश्व एक परिवार है) और आनो भद्राः क्रतवो: यंतु विश्वतः (हर दिशा से नेक विचार हमारे पास आएं) की हमारी प्राचीन अवधारणा मात्र दार्शनिक कथन नहीं हैं बल्कि प्रधानमंत्री मोदी ने इन्हें अपनी इच्छाशक्ति और दूरदर्शिता से ज़मीन पर लागू करके दिखाया है। विकासशील देशों को वैक्सीन मैत्री कार्यक्रम के तहत मुफ्त टीके उपलब्ध करवाना हो या वैक्सीन पर आईपीआर प्रतिबंधों को दूर करना, प्रधानमंत्री जी का हर एक कदम सराहनीय रहा है। अब जी-20 के माध्यम से भारत अपने डिजिटल इन्फास्ट्रक्चर मॉडल को विश्व के लिए पब्लिक गुड के रूप में प्रस्तुत कर रहा है ।

इतिहास में यह पहली बार हो रहा है कि किसी वित्तीय कार्यक्रम को आईटी दिग्गजों के व्यक्तिगत लाभ व व्यवसाय के लिए नहीं बल्कि सबकी भलाई के लिए सार्वजानिक रूप से पेश किया जा रहा है। यह एक महत्वपूर्ण भारतीय उपलब्धी है जो कि वर्तमान में सम्पूर्ण विश्व के लिए प्रस्तुत किया गया है। मेरे लिए यह न सिर्फ प्रधानमंत्री का जन कल्याण कार्यक्रम है जो ‘एक राष्ट्र, एक परिवार, एक भविष्य’ का संदेश देता है बल्कि यह कार्यक्रम हमारा ध्यान इसलिए भी आकर्षित कर रहा है क्योंकि यह भारतीय नेतृत्व को वैश्विक पहचान देने का एक जरिया है। घरेलू कनेक्टिविटी वाला बुनियादी ढांचे के निर्माण में निवेश हो या अभी जी-20 समूह के अंतर्गत भारत- मध्य पूर्व यूरोप आर्थिक गलियारे की घोषणा यह भारत में निवेश की सम्भावनाओं को तो बढ़ा रहा है और हमारी व्यापर एवं रणनीतिक सुरक्षा की आवश्यकतों को भी मजबूत करेगा। यह आर्थिक गलियारा न सिर्फ प्रधानमंत्री की दूरदृष्टि और मेहनत का परिचायक है बल्कि स्वेज कैनल व बंदरगाहों के माध्यम से व्यापार मार्ग को सुरक्षित करने के लिए इजरायल और ग्रीस जैसे यूरोपिय देशों से वार्तालाप करने की उनकी सूझबूझ का भी परिचायक है।

भारत – मध्य पूर्व यूरोप गलियारा, चीन के बीआरआई का जवाब है। बीआरआई के तहत एक के बाद एक देश जैसे पाकिस्तान, श्रीलंका व केन्या कर्ज के बोझ तले दबे जा रहे हैं । अब भारत दक्षिण एशियाई देशों की मजबूत आवाज भी बन रहा है और अफ्रीकी देशों के विकास और एकीकरण के स्वर को बुलंद कर रहा है।

By Gopal K Agarwal,

The ban on outsourcing may also be a sign of weakening of American confidence in the strength of dollar. The US has been running up higher and higher deficit.

 A succession of US visitors has told us that India is one of the most closed economies in the world. This is partly an attempt to legitimise anti-outsourcing legislation. The conventional test for gauging openness is tariff structures, on which India scores good as per WTO standards. New Delhi has strongly conveyed to Washington that any linkages of a quid pro quo in outsourcing would not be acceptable to it. It also holds the view that outsourcing is a commercial activity and should not be seen as a bilateral and hence not bedevil ties between India and the United States.

Americans were earlier in a position to win competition and control economies of other countries through monetary policies. They were vehemently establishing institutions such as IMF, WTO, GATT and World Bank to promote their interest by pursuing other countries to open their economies and remove trade barrier. When international trade agreements were extended to agriculture and services sectors, in which developed nations were not very comfortable and started loosing in competition, they started shouting anti-liberalisation slogans. Once this reverse process starts. it will not take much time for other nations to follow. US will be the biggest looser in the whole process. The US economy is based on accessing world markets. One cannot ban outsourcing of business process but continue to have access to world markets and international demands. US ban on outsourcing will have serious backlash.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a process through which some business processes are outsourced to other countries where they can be performed at a cheaper rate or at a better quality. This helps in globalizing national economies. Outsourcing depends on labour arbitrage. Per capital income of different countries varies.

Until national income of countries come on parity, these arbitrage opportunity will remain.

With the opening of the world economy and integration of international trade, BPO has created vast opportunities for the developing countries due to availability of cheap and skilled labour. India is considered to be a major beneficiary of this process. Take any field where knowledge is involved, India has the potential to become a global giant and an economic superpower. India has several advantages. Owing to availability of cheap and highly educated labour, the cost difference at which we can provide services and many commodities of comparable quality will put the other world at a great disadvantage.

India has cost-cum-competence advantage in professions such as law, accountancy, design, engineering, tax consultancy, financial and IT services. Doctors, MBAs, chartered accountants, nurses, lawyers and many other professionals are available in India at a much lower cost than the world over. Many multinational companies are setting up their R&D centers, BPO facilities and product development centers in India

 Recent technological revolution in the field of telecommunication etc. has put our infrastructure at par with global standards. India’s vast pool of English-speaking manpower, coupled with its educational system and training programmes, has helped transform the country into a global outsourcing superpower. The rapidly growing BPO industry has virtually turned the country into an electronic housekeeper to the world, taking care of a host of routine activities for multinational giants. As Indian training institutes churn out tens of thousands of computer literates every year, the vast majority has jobs waiting for it with the local firms rushing to spread wings to offer services at sharply lower rates.

On the back of these English-speaking, tech-savvy. Cheap manpower, India’s IT market has grown from $1.73 billion in 1994-95 to $16.5 billion in 2002-03. The country’s software exports were able to grow at 26 to 28 per cent during the current fiscal year ending March 2004

Now suddenly we hear anti-globalisation noises in America. Recently, several legislations have been passed in US that seek to deter the outsourcing of work previously done in the US states to developing countries. It seems strange for a country that in the past had been harping so loudly on opening economies without international trade barrier, to turn conservative in its approach.

The ban on outsourcing may also be a sign of weakening of American confidence in the strength of dollar. The US has been running up higher and higher deficit, which has crossed half trillion dollars this year. Earlier, this was being financed by attracting global currency reserves. The central banks world over were keeping their currency in the form of dollars, thereby increasing the demand for dollars and keeping it strong. Now other currencies are gaining strength and dollar is weakening. A national debate is required so that a consensus can be built on capital account convertibility and delinking of the rupee-dollar exchange rate. We have huge foreign exchange reserves: we may think of delinking rupee from dollar and allow it to float freely.

US has to understand that good economics should not be sacrificed at the altar of short-term policies, as said by our Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He further added that it was somewhat perverse that Americans should turn protectionist and thus reinforce anti-globalisation crusades at a time when developing countries like India had successfully handled the political economy of resistance and had begun to open up.

Even Alen Greenspan, Chairman of Federal Reserve, said that the efforts to protect OS jobs through legislation could end up backfiring. He further said that US had a choice of erecting walls to foreign trade and even discouraging job-displacing innovation but this would surely slow the pace of competition, Initially tensions might appear to ease but only for a short while. Further US companies have little choice, if they don’t cut costs by outsourcing, they will rapidly become uncompetitive comparison to those companies that do. In that case many more US jobs will be lost as these companies shut down. Off-shoring is still only a small component of the business of many US-based companies.

Outsourcing is a two-way process, of which India was beneficiary. The world outsourcing market was estimated to be about five trillion dollars in 2002, according to Outsourcing Research Council Shri Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said that outsourcing is a reality of 21st century and an opportunity for both sides. Nearly 20 per cent of the total business is constituted by the IT and ITES market, which is growing at about 15 per cent per annum. Of this, India receives only about two per cent of the work, which indicates the huge potential. However, in a simultaneous reverse process, some of the best and biggest Indian companies are outsourcing strategic IT functions to some of the global companies.

Strategic outsourcing is in fact the fastest-growing segment in the Indian IT market as seen from the series of deals announced in the last few days. A notable deal is the one that struck in the recent past between Hewlett-Packard and Bank of India for over Rs 680 crore. It is also clear that global vendors have established their expertuse and experience in handling long-term, complex outsourcing needs of Indian companies to enable business transformation. It is not a sheer coincidence that strategic outsourcing is being opted by Indian companies at a time when the BPO phenomenon is at its peak. Indian non-IT companies are taking to outsourcing as they are on the lookout for vendors with the best domain knowledge. In simple terms, this is just a manifestation of globalisation.

But America’s selfish mentality is evident everywhere. Until America did not feel the heat of terrorism, it ignored terrorist activities of some countries in the name of freedom struggle. As soon as the heat turned towards USA all forms of terrorism becarne bad for the world. Similar is the case with international trade. Now that USA’s interests are clashing, it wants to wriggle out of agricultural and services sector agreements under WTO. In this unipolar world it is important that USA starts looking at the whole world neutrally.

(The writer can be contacted at gopalagarwal@hotmail.com)

By Gopal K Agarwal,
The government should know that speculation is an integral part of the capital market. It has to control speculation and not remove it. If speculation is bad, then the government should understand that currency is the biggest promoter of speculation and we have to move towards a barter system.

Technological advancements and extended reach have catapulted Indian capital market in a different league altogether. The vast geographical network created by stock exchanges along with brokers and sub-brokers throughout India, is unparalleled in the world. More than 900 members of NSE cover (as on April 2003) a total of 353 cities through a network of 2,765 VSATs and about 886 leased line connections.

Add to this the network of 213 depository data participants of National Securities other Depository Ltd (NSDL) with their branches at 1,718 locations, other members of Regional Stock Exchanges, approximately 750 members of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and 122 Depository Participants of Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL), together these cater to an investor base of more than 4 million accounts. If we also take a conservative estimate of 20 sub-brokers per broker we get more than 30,000 sub-brokers all over India.

The total capital employed by the 770 corporate members of NSE (for whom the data is available). It is more than Rs 12,603 crore as on March 2001. Add to this the employment generation through servicing of 4 million investors’ DP account and broking, subbroking offices Electronic network has provided trans- parency to investors with regard to price and time parity. Every investor in the country has instant access to online trading, providing him liquidity for his investments. Almost 100 per cent delivery transactions at stock exchanges are carried out electronically and are instantaneous. The infrastructure of NSDL has achieved so much success that even Finance Ministry is looking towards it for its ambitious project of creating National Tax Information Network (TIN).

In a short span, the derivatives market has achieved a turnover of Rs 4,398,548 million in the year 2003. The success of futures market in the derivatives segment has encouraged the government to open up commodities futures and provide similar trading mechanism to intermediaries involved in agricultural products, thereby bringing reforms to the commodities market.

The capital market has now become a catalyst to overdue banking sector reforms. Although Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) or Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) is not in place as claimed by the RBI, the apex bank and its associates are working overtime to adapt to online networking and implement anywhere banking.

Another revolution which is taking place in the market is Straight-through-Processing (STP). It is a move to automate trade processes from initiation to execution to settlement. It involves electronically capturing and processing transactions in one pass, from the point of first “deal” to the final settlement.

Current practices involve costly multiple data reentry from paper documents and other sources that are susceptible to errors, discrepancies, delays and possible fraud. STP enables orders to be processed, confirmed. The government should know that speculation is an integral part of the capital market. It has to control speculation and not remove it. Currency is the biggest promoter of speculation and we have to move towards a barter system cleared and settled electronically, in a shorter time period, more cost-effectively and with fewer errors than under traditional methods such as phone, fax, email etc, that require human intervention. Once this is fully implemented, the Indian capital market will have no parallel in the world.

However, there is a caveat. Technology in itself cannot contribute to the development unless it reaches the masses. This role has been effectively played by a strong force of professionally-qualified market intermediaries who are adequately capitalised and are technically savvy with entrepreneurial zeal. With the implementation of SEBI Act 1992 and recent amendments giving it vast powers, the regulatory framework is strong enough to take care of compliances and investors’ protection.

With all these things in place, the market is poised to take a quantum jump only if Government takes care of the problems of the market with all its subtle aspects.

The problems being faced by the markets are enumerated below:

Over-regulation is the main problem. Of course, effective regulations are a must. However, if regulations are so rigid that its compliance becomes impractical and impossible in normal circumstances then instead of reforming the intermediary, the government will end up killing it. In the process, well-intentioned intermediaries as well as investors will prefer staying away from the system. Also, there is a multiplicity and overlapping of regulators like Sebi, RBI, Ministry of Finance, Stock Exchanges, Depositories etc. Regulation is through multiple regulations like Securities Contract (regulation) Act 1956, Companies Act 1956, Income Tax Act 1961, Service Tax, Indian Stamp Act 1899, The Limitation Act 1963, The Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, Benami Transactions (prohibition) Act 1998, Indian Contract Act 1872, and Indian Penal Code.

Intermediaries have to bear high costs including establishment, infrastructure and employees cost, technological cost which include networking, equipment and software cost, cost of capitalisation and most important is the high cost of compliance and regulatory fees like Sebi fees, NSE turnover tax, stamp charges, service tax, compulsory insurance and annual membership fees. The government and the regulators have to understand that if they want investor services at a reasonable cost, they should work with the intermediaries.

Absence of banks and other modes of financing like margin trading, is leading to a shortage of liquidity to the intermediaries. Non-involvement of intermediaries in the decision-making process is another major problem. Further, the Government has not given sufficient importance to market intermediation- tion by giving it an industry status. The plea bargaining mechanism which avoids lengthy court battles and allows early settlement of disputes, is also not yet implemented.

There is absence of self-regulatory organizations (SRO) which can understand the problems of the market in a better way and can give practical and effective solutions. There is no uniform Stamp Act across various states and the government has not come out with clarifications regarding digitally signed documents.

Recently, the Company Law has proposed to levy cess under section 441 on turnover at the rate of 0.05-1 per cent, where the beneficiary is the manufacturing sector but the cost will have to be borne by the service sector also, and that too on the basis of turnover at a rate which is higher than the commission being charged by intermediaries from their clients.

Recently, SEC chairman William Donaldson said that a regulator has to con- sider the proper role of market intermediaries and self-regulatory organisations, participants to ensure that their views are heard on how markets should work.

Back home, Sebi has appointed an eight-member committee of eminent economists who will file a report on the regulations of the capital market. It now hopes that the view of this committee will help design a proper framework for ensuring smooth and successful operations of the market and give Indian markets an international perspective and make it a global benchmark. It is time intermediaries are understood in the right perspective. Only then can the practical problems be solved properly.

The author is Member, central Economic Cell, BJP

By Gopal K Agarwal,

A Ram temple at Ayodhya will restore national pride

The Ram Janam bhoomi issue is not a religious but a political issue. The moment we consider it a religious matter, it becomes a conflict between Hindus and Muslims. Hindu philosophy talks of being universal, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. It tells us that all forms of life are manifestations of the same divinity.

Babar was not a religious leader. He invaded India and enslaved us. The rulers took pride in calling themselves idol-busters (bud shikast). They forcibly converted the local population to their religion and destroyed monuments of our cultural heritage. Anything associated with them causes humiliation; it fills our heart with shame. This has nothing to do with Islam, any outsider doing the same would provoke similar feelings

Shri Ram was a person of high character, the mani- festation of great human values, an ideal raja who destroyed evil forces. Everything associated with him fills our heart with reverence. Ayodhya is historically and mythologically Ram’s abode. In the past, in many countries, mosques have been shifted to different locations due to various reasons.

The majority of Indians identify themselves with Ram. When Ramayana was telecast on television, almost the whole country came to a virtual standstill during the airing of the episodes. But a small minority, due to ignorance, wants to be associated with Babar.

In a democracy, if there is a difference of opinion, the will of the majority will prevail. The will of the majority cannot be suppressed in the name of protecting the minority. The current propaganda has sidetracked us, we begin defending ourselves within the parameters defined by them. We don’t need to prove ourselves as secular in their definition. Ignoring the national aspect of the issue and making it a religious matter, some people are trying to tarnish the RSS and allied organisations as communal.

Take any social field, and the RSS cadres have worked relentlessly there. The Vidya Bharti in education, Seva Bharti in social service, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh in labour, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh among farmers.

Vanavası Kalyan Ashram in tribal and remote areas, Vishwa Hindu Parishad among Hindus of the world, Bharat Vikas Parishad, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, BJP, the list goes on. Almost forty na- tional organisations and hundreds of organisations at regional levels-all working to take our country to the pinnacle of glory.

Nobody is competent to teach Hindus universal brotherhood and equality of all religions. We revere Allah as we worship Ram. All religions coming to India were welcomed with an open heart. We want peace with honour.

The temple of Ram will be built at the janambhoomi. If this is done with consensus, very good. If it is done by legislation, it is not that good. And if it is done by force, it will be bad. We are not begging for a temple at Ayodhya. It is our right and we shall have it. India is a great nation and we shall have our pride restored.

(The writer is member, Central Economic Cell, BJP)

By Gopal K Agarwal,

During the 18th century, imperialism had a physical form. Countries which had military power colo- nased other countries and exploited their resources. Today developed countries exercise control over poorer ones in a more subtle way. International financial institutions act as tools in the overall game plan. The situation is, however, fast changing.

If the WTO is to be true in its objective of opening and liberalising international trade with free market access and without domestic and export subsidy, India would stand to gain. We have to keep in mind that the WTO is about negotiations in international trade. It is not a unilateral charter of demands; it is not our wish list. In any trade negotiations we have to proceed from the present stage keeping in mind our long-term objectives. To accomplish our goals, we should enter into strategic alliance with developing countries with similar concerns. Our emphasis should be on translating the spirit of the Doha Declaration in order to protect the interests of these countries.

We have to protect our agriculture, retail trade and small-scale sector from the onslaught of international manufacturers With growing food production and burgeoning food stocks in India, if we are forced to remove tariff barriers in the agricultural sector, it could create problems. Our negotiators should insist on a minimum import quota based on GDP as prescribed under the Agreement on Agriculture earlier.

The true benefit of the WTO will be achieved in the services sector. We have to push for the opening up of the services sector under Mode 3 and Mode 4- that is, there should be free mobility of manpower across countries. There should be complete reciprocity with developed nations in areas such as accoun- tancy, health services, legal services, tourism and travel services. Mutual recognition agreements should be put in place so that our professionals get recognition and opportunities abroad. In addition, India should negotiate to place agriculture workers on the Mode 4 list.

The basic problem with the WTO is that it is talking of liberal ising international trade through reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers without emphasizing on reduction in trade-distorting subsidies by developed countries. Another major concern before the WTO is the misuse of TRIPS, or intellectual property rights. There are several cases where patent rights have been given to firms over existing traditional knowledge by the US Patent and Trademark office. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many developing nations, including India, have not yet managed to document their traditional knowledge

In the area of public health, we should insist on major diseases being brought within the ambit of compulsory licensing. The US, thankfully, has dropped its demand that disease coverage be limited to HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. This expansion is important from the point of view of India’s health needs as well as the development of our pharmaceutical sector and its exports to other developing countries

Recent attempts by developed countries to push additional agenda issues called Singapore issues such as a multilateral agreement on investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement procedures, industrial tariff, trade and environment, and labour standards, too, should be resisted.

The notion that India stands to lose under the WTO regime stems from an underestimation of our abilities. We always talk of our glorious past; this is an opportune time to realize it. India today is not what it was some twenty, twenty-five years back- a weak nation at the mercy of superpowers, ruled by a diffident leadership. We should sit together, apply our minds, identify our strengths and weaknesses and negotiate accordingly. The WTO can be a catalyst in the process of reverse imperialism.

(The writer is member, Central Economic Cell, BJP)

By Gopal K Agarwal,

RACHEL Carson, in her R landmark landmark book Silent Spring, has stated that the power of an idea can be greater than political power. In the economic development of country, there are two factors at the creation of wealth and its distribution. Distribution is without doubt very important but unless we create wealth, distribution has no significance.

At present there are a lot of discussions on the direction India’s economy should take. We have so far failed to develop a model suited to our needs. The Nehruvian model emphasised development through centralised planning. The emphasis was on industrialisation, to the relative neglect of agriculture, This process was continued by subsequent Congress governments. There was an over-emphasis on socialism culminating in the 1969 bank nationalisation. This opposition to capital and private ownership led to situation where we started sharing and distributing poverty. The country has to provide work opportunities to everybody but not jobs. Providing job security may only breed lethargy and inefficiency. The government’s responsibility is not in the distribution of the acquired wealth of some individuals but equality of opportunities and distribution of resources.

Economic activities are generally classified into three categories: the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. India’s developmental module should emphasise the primary and tertiary sectors. This is because 70 per cent of our population live in villages and depend on the primary sector. Agricultural produce accounts for a major portion of our GDP. The overall economic development depends on the purchasing power of our people, which in turn relates to agricultural production. In other words, the demand push developmental model depends on agricultural production. We know that the backbone of our economy is agriculture. The standard of living of people here has to be uplifted. It is agriculture alone which can provide employment to millions of rural youth and help arrest rural-urban migration.

At the national level, rural infrastructure has to be developed by the government, which includes a functioning road network, organised markets, cold storage and warehousing facilities, the availability of capital at low interest rates, and so on. The time has also come to end the subsidies on fertilisers and encourage organic farming practices. This may result in a reduction in yields but research has shown that over a period of four years yields from organic farming increases while that from the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides decrease. This switch will save subsidies of approximately Rs 1,72,000 crore every year.

In the international arena, we need to protect our agriculture, retail trade and small-scale sector from the onslaught of international manufacturers. With growing food production, burgeoning food stocks, the poor storage facilities along with the demand for increasing minimum support prices, if we are also forced to remove tariff barriers in agriculture we could find ourselves in a spot. Our negotiators should, therefore, insist on a minimum import quota based on GDP as prescribed under the Agreement on Agriculture earlier. Reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers has to be linked to reduction in trade-distorting subsidies by the developed countries.

Where India does have a comparative advantage is in the tertiary, or services sector. India has a cost-cum-competence advantage in professions like law, accountancy, design, engineering, tax consultancy, financial and IT services. Doctors, MBAS, chartered accountants, nurses, lawyers and many other professionals are available in India at a much lower cost than elsewhere in the world. This is a major strength. Many multinationals are setting up their R&D centers, business process outsourcing facilities and product development centers in India. Indian IT firms can provide world-class services at one-tenth the cost that an US company, for instance, would incur. At the international level, we have to push for the opening up of services sector under Mode 3 and Mode 4, i.e., there should be free mobility of manpower across countries and complete reciprocity with developed nations. Mutual recognition agreements should be put in place so that our professionals get recognition and opportunities in those countries.

What about the manufacturing sector? Building the infrastructure required entails capital expenditure and is risk-ridden in a world where technologies get obsolete very quickly. Take the case of BSNL, which has the world’s most extensive networks of copper wire. But this may no longer be an advantage since people are switching rapidly to wireless telephony. It makes sense, then, to concentrate on developing the agriculture and services sector.

(The writer is member, Central Economic Cell, BJP)

By Gopal K Agarwal, 

Two sectors the government is focusing on are agriculture and small scale industries

Recently India has embarked on a growth path unprecedented in the past. There is criticism from some quarters about its benefits being concentrated to small groups. But this ‘feel good’ factor has been attributed to the policies of the present BJP-led NDA government. The main contribution comes from good governance, a clear foreign policy, the economic reform process moving in the right direction and infrastructure development. This has led to wide economic activities, creating a push in demand and development in the manufacturing and services sector. It is reflected in the stock market boom. The world looks towards a resurgent and confident India.

The main task before the government now is to build on this confidence by furthering infrastructure development and implementing policies so that this growth continues further. The emphasis must be on wider distribution of its benefits. If a section of society cannot directly benefit from this growth, they must be provided support in the form of social security measures. Roopa Purshottam, co-author of the much talked about BRIC report of Goldman Sach, argued that to realise its true potential, India requires a lot of investment in sectors yet in the nascent cycle, like power, defense, telecom, oil and path gas exploration. The banking sector also calls for attention and the credit cycle should go forward. There should be a focus on sectors. But that are consumer-interest intensive Positive forecasts will not hold good if labor reforms are not. introduced. Anne Kreuger, first comes deputy managing director of International Monetary Fund form (IMF), has said that while fiscal imbalance was not the only impediment to growth, its reduction was important to encourage growth and reduce poverty in developing countries.

Joseph Stiglitz advocates the need to scrutinise the term globalisation. Opening up countries to more trade is good; opening them to unbridled capital flows is bad. Tariffs must be reduced and developed countries should open their fit markets to developing countries. Inefficient public enterprises must of be privatised, not efficient ones. Privatisation isn’t about raising revenues for government but about increasing productivity in the economy. Care must be taken not to replace public monopoly with private monopolies.

The 10th Planning Commission document warned that the infrastructure won’t be able to provide jobs for new entrants or clear the backlog. Fifty-four per cent of the India’s population is under the age of 25; a majority have no inclination to work in the agriculture sector.

Two sectors the government is focusing on, and which have potential to sustain growth and its proper distribution, are agriculture and small scale industries. The agricultural sector requires the followingand allowing leasing of agricultural land; developing cottage industry to promote the village economy and stop the flow of rural population to the citiesimproving water management organizing private markets providing better storage and warehousing facilities, improving the rural road network; implementing crop insurance facilities; providing improved seeds to farmers, establishing research centres in agriculture  technologies and disseminating knowledge to farmers, giving credit facilities at low interest educating the farmer in patenting and intellectual property rights and promoting organic farming.

In the small-scale sector the proposed reforms are: Providing guidance vis a vis the induction process for the entrepreneur, conducting market survey reports for small industries; setting up laboratories for the analysis of raw mate- rial; branding the product; creating a cell in the government for legal assistance; framing taxation policies giving concessions for emastries. ployment generation; requesting equires RBI to earmark funds for SSIs; Imple- providing an exit policy, preventing reserved items from being ille- Leasing gally produced by big industries; loping preventing industries from going te the to BIFR without clearing SSIs dues; making provisions for revival of SSIs under RBI guidelines; monitoring banks for credit delivery and financing.

Some steps are also required in the capital market. The sensex has become the barometer of economic progress. The current ovid- volatility must be curbed. The rally house is being fueled by FII money. Rural. Some stabilising fund is required in case of a sudden exit of FIls.

With all the macroeconomic factors pointing towards a robust Indian economy, we hope to build on the current confidence and make it a global superpower by the year 2020.

(The writer is member, Central Economic Cell, BJP)