Maritime India Summit, 2016:-
About:-Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016) is a maiden flagship initiative of Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that will provide a unique global platform for investors to explore potential business opportunities in the Indian Maritime Sector.
The Summit will showcase exciting investment opportunities in:
- Shipbuilding, Ship Repair and Ship Recycling
- Port Modernization and New Port Development
- Port-based Industrial Development, Port-based Smart Cities and Maritime Cluster Development
- Hinterland Connectivity Projects and Multi-Modal Logistics Hubs
- Inland Waterways and Coastal Shipping for Cargo and Passenger movement
- Dredging
- Lighthouse Tourism and Cruise Shipping
- Renewable Energy Projects in Ports
- Other Maritime Sector related services (Financing, Legal, Design etc.)
India has 12 Major Ports, administered by the Central Government, and around 200 notified Non-Major Ports, administered by the State Governments. In 2014-15, out of the 200 Non-Major Ports, 69 ports were reported to have handled cargo traffic.
The infrastructure sector, particularly the Maritime Sector, is expected to grow significantly with the increase in international and domestic trade volumes. Since about 95% of India’s trade by volume is via the maritime route (Source : NTDPC), there is a continuous need to develop India’s ports and trade related infrastructure to accelerate growth in the manufacturing industry and to aid the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. Of the total navigable length of 14,500 km, 5200 km of the river and 4000 km of canals can be used by mechanized crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly underutilised in the country as compared to countries and regions like the United States, China and the European Union. India has recognized 106 waterways of which 6 are declared as national waterways. Economic viability of a waterway to carry traffic as an alternative to rail and road depends on its length which should be a minimum 500 km and 250 km for both cases respectively. Apart from this, it should have a large hinterland coverage area and potential in order to generate enough traffic on routes.
Globally domestic waterways are found to be cost effective as well as environmentally friendly means of transporting freight. This is also true in India – for instance, the cost of moving coal via coastal shipping is one-sixth of the cost of moving it by the currently preferred means of railways.
Key Initiatives
- Development of NW5 – The significance of NW5 lies in its location close to Talcher-Paradip region which is abundant in resources and industries and therefore provide opportunities for evacuation of different commodities including thermal coal, coking coal and iron-ore. Financial considerations in terms of revenue and expenditure for both the barge owners and IWAI present a strong case for moving cargo on NW5 after relevant infrastructural improvements. A number of steps in terms of infrastructural projects are required to be undertaken to make the project feasible. These include dredging to ensure minimum draft of 2.5-3 m and ensuring channel width of 55-60 m. Other steps include building atleast 5 barrages or navigational locks and a barge jetty/terminal at Paradip, Talcher and Kalinganagar.
- Development of NW4 – This waterway which connects the upcoming capital of Amaravati to the coastal parts of the state is extremely important for the development of new industrial hinterlands proposed under the various nodes of Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor. The stretch will have a potential to transport 3-5 MTPA of bulk commodities by 2020.
- Development of NW2 – This waterway, stretching for a distance of 891 km from Dhubri to Sadiya, has immense potential to cater to the traffic in the north eastern region of the country. Basic commodities like foodgrains, fertilizers, etc. can be transported through the route.
- Development of NW1 – With a length of 1620 km, NW1 is the longest waterway in India. It is a stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system from Allahabad to Haldia. Key opportunities lie in 11 major power plants being located on the banks of NW1 with a cumulative capacity of 12,000 MW as well as multiple chemical and food exporters in UP and West Bengal.
India’s economy has surged ahead in recent years. The pressures of a growing economy have naturally pushed its transport system to full capacity. The movement of bulk commodities is one of the major responsibilities of India’s transportation system. Thermal coal alone accounts for around 61 percent of the freight volume on the Indian Railways and 24 percent of the seaport freight mix.Water currently contributes less than 10 percent to India’s modal mix. China uses its inland waterways to transport raw material and finished goods between Eastern and Western provinces; water contributes 24 percent to China’s freight modal mix. Australia carries 17 percent of goods through coastal shipping. In Germany, 11 percent of goods are moved through inland waterways and coastal shipping. A strong economic case for coastal movement can be made for most of the key commodities.
The Indian Shipbuilding and Ship Repair industry primarily comprises firms that develop, build and repair – ships, underwater equipment and naval architectures for the shipping industry, fishing industry, naval defence and extraction of ocean resources. A growing Indian economy, favorable government policies and incentives framework, a long coastline and growing sea borne trade present a huge business opportunity within the Indian Shipbuilding Ship Repair and Ship Recycling industry.
Three marine clusters for India could include:
- Gujarat – Combining the steel cluster at Hazira, upcoming automobile cluster at Sanand, Shipyard at Pipavav, Ship-breaking yard at Alang, and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
- Tamil Nadu – Combining the automotive clusters at Chennai and Ennore and proposed new steel cluster near Chennai/Ennore.
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands – Marine cluster to leverage the potential of the region for tourism and possibly MRO services for ships passing through the international east-west trade route
Green initiatives for Major Ports:
- In order to promote the use of green energy at the Major Ports, the Ministry of Shipping has recently introduced an incentive scheme under which the Ministry will share up to 50% of the total project cost that promote the use of green energy, such as, waste water treatment, renewable energy generation and the use of Bio-diesel. Each Port will be given a financial grant up to Rs 25 crore (US$ 4 Million) for undertaking these projects.
Marine environmental pollution monitoring:
- Anti-fouling System Convention of International Maritime Organization has been incorporated in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.
- Anti-fouling certificates will be issued to all Indian vessels bearing 400 gross tonnage or more.
Use of bio-diesel at Haldia Dock Complex:
- Environment friendly, bio-diesel is used for operations of locomotives.
- It has resulted in reduction in the consumption of high speed diesel and in turn reduced environmental pollution.
Lighthouse Tourism
India has as many as 189 lighthouses dotting its vast coast line including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. Steeped in rich maritime heritage, each lighthouse has a tremendous tourism potential.
The Ministry of Shipping through the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) has drawn up a programme for developing tourism in the land adjacent to 78 lighthouses, in the first phase, under Public Private Partnership (PPP). The key objective of this initiative is to enhance development of the existing lighthouses and its surrounding areas into a unique maritime tourism landmark. This initiative also offers investment opportunities related to development of hotels, resorts, viewing galleries, adventure sports, thematic restaurant and allied tourism facilities at the proposed lighthouse location
Facts and Figures of Indian Maritime Sector:-
- India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the world with an expected GDP growth rate of 7.5% in 2015-16
- India’s long coastline of 7,517 km and a navigable inland waterways of 14,426 km offers immense potential for development
- 4th most attractive FDI destination in the World as per UNCTAD
- Over the last decade, seaborne trade has grown at twice the global growth rate of 3.3%
- Maritime Container trade has grown at 6.5%, which is higher than the world average of 5.4% over the past 10 years (FY 2005 – 2015)
- Cargo traffic at Indian ports has doubled to 1 billion tonnes per annum over the last decade (FY 2005 – 2015) and is expected to reach 1.7 billion tonnes per annum by 2022
- US$ 2.6 Bn invested in Ports and Shipping sector between 2011 and 2014
- 150 + projects identified in Indian maritime sector offering numerous investment opportunities.
Major Ports in India:-
Ancient Ports of India:-
- Barygaza – which today is known as Bharuch in Gujarat;
- Lothal in Gujrat
- Muziris which today is known as Kodungallur near Cochin in Kerala;
- Korkai which is today’s Tuticorin;
- Kaveripattinam which is in Nagapattanam District of Tamil Nadu;
- Arikamedu which is in Ariyankuppam District of Puducherry
National Agriculture Market(NAM)
Background:-
Details :-
With nearly 58 per cent of its people continuing to depend upon agriculture for their livelihood, the critical role of the sector cannot be gain said. Agriculture sector is also highly vulnerable to the vicissitudes of nature that impact the crop enterprise at its production stage.
Further, the sector is also exposed to the current weaknesses of the agricultural marketing system. The annual income of a farmer depends upon both yield and the price that his produce fetches. While the Government has rolled out large number of programmes to improve yield levels on a sustainable basis, it recognises the need for creating a competitive market structure in the country that will generate marketing efficiency. Only when the market is integrated over space and time, can market efficiency be realised.
Integration of agri-markets across the country through the e-platform is seen as an important measure for overcoming the challenges posed by the present agri-marketing system namely – fragmentation of State into multiple market areas, each administered by separate APMC, multiple levy of mandi fees, requirement for multiple license for trading in different APMCs, licensing barriers leading to conditions of monopoly, poor quality of infrastructure and low use of technology, information asymmetry, opaque process for price discovery, high level of market charges, movement controls, etc. The need to unify the markets both at State and National level is, therefore, clearly the requirement of time, in order to provide better price to farmers, improve supply chain, reduce wastages and create a unified national market.
For integration with the e-platform the States/UTs will need to undertake prior reforms in respect of (i) a single license to be valid across the State, (ii) single point levy of market fee and (iii) provision for electronic auction as a mode for price discovery. Only those States/UTs that have completed these three pre-requisites will be eligible for assistance under the scheme.
The e-marketing platform should promote reform of the agricultural marketing sector and apart from promoting free flow of agri commodities across the country should result in greater farmer satisfaction as the prospects for marketing of his produce would be significantly enhanced. He will have improved access to market related information and better price discovery through a more efficient, transparent and competitive marketing platform which gives him access to a greater number of buyers within the State and from outside, through transparent auction processes. It would also increase his access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi.
The Why , What and How:-
Why is the National Agriculture Market (NAM) a necessity today?
The purpose behind NAM is the creation of a common national market for agricultural commodities through an e-platform network. At present, agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) regulate market yards, limiting the scope of trading in agricultural commodities at the first point of sale where farmers bring in their produce following the harvest at a mandi located nearby. Mandis located across a state are not integrated and there are substantial transaction costs for moving the produce from one mandi to another within a state. Separate licences for each mandi are required for trading in different market areas within a state. This has led to a highly fragmented market and there is a high transaction cost for buying and selling agricultural commodities. Besides, it creates barriers for free movement of agricultural goods across the country.
NAM is an online platform with a physical market or mandi at the backend. Agriculture ministry officials say that NAM is not a parallel marketing structure but rather an instrument to create a national network of physical mandis which can be accessed online. According to the official document, NAM seeks to leverage the physical infrastructure of mandis through an online trading portal, enabling buyers situated even outside the state to participate in trading at the local level.
What is the government’s plan for developing NAM?
The electronic platform under NAM is being created through a special software developed by the agriculture ministry and the same is provided to each mandi—which agrees to come on board—free of cost. There are some basic criteria for a state to integrate into NAM. For instance, the concerned state must amend its APMC Acts by bringing in provision for electronic trading. Besides, states must provide a single licence to anyone willing to trade through NAM in a local mandi.
The agriculture ministry is aiming at integrating 200 markets in NAM by September 2016; 200 more regulated markets would be integrated with NAM by March 2017 and the rest 185 markets by March 2018.
How will NAM function and what are the benefits that it would bring?
NAM increases the choice for a farmer after he brings in his produce to a mandi. Local traders can bid for the produce, as also traders on the electronic platform sitting in other states. The farmer may choose to accept either the local offer or online. In either case, the transaction will be on the books of the local mandi and they will continue to earn the transaction fee. With more mandis coming onto the NAM platform, the volume of business will significantly increase, as there will be greater competition for specific produce, resulting in higher transaction fees for a mandi. Agriculture ministry officials say that the gradual integration of all major mandis into NAM e-platform would ensure common procedures for issue of licences, levy of fee and movement of produce.
Over 5-7 years, the ministry expects significant benefits through higher returns to farmers, lower transaction costs for buyers, and stable prices and availability to consumers. “NAM will also facilitate the emergence of integrated value chains in major agricultural commodities across the country and help promote scientific storage and movement of agri goods,” the official document on NAM notes.
Does this imply that various taxes and levies imposed by APMCs will be subsumed in NAM?
According to agriculture ministry officials, NAM—which is currently being implemented through the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (a body under the agriculture ministry)—would not lead to reduction in various levies imposed by states besides mandi taxes. However, because of single registration given to traders in a state, this would lead to payment of mandi taxes only at one place even if the concerned trader is buying commodities through the NAM platform in multiple markets across a state. The government is aiming at reduction in taxes and levies imposed by states in the next phase of reforms.
How will quality checks and payment systems work under NAM?
The concerned APMC—which has agreed to be part of NAM—will ensure quality standards of agricultural goods sold through its platform. NAM envisages harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce and provisions of assaying (quality testing) infrastructure in every market to enable informed bidding by buyers. By end-March, as many as 14 states amended their respective APMC Acts for making provisions for e-trading. These are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
Are existing APMCs or mandis capable of handling NAM?
Experts say that infrastructure available for NAM at local markets varies from state to state. The NAM platform is being supported by agriculture ministry, which is bearing maintenance costs for each mandi. The integration cost for local mandis and customisation of software, training, etc, will also be paid for by the ministry as a one-time grant of around R30 lakh at the time of accepting the mandi in the national network. However, the running costs of the software at the local level, staff costs for quality check, etc, will be met with the transaction fee to be generated through the sale of produce. The key reason behind this support is to avoid any upfront investment by the mandi when it integrates into NAM, and enable it to support the running cost through additional generation of revenue.
How will NAM operate in the current form?
The 21 mandis where NAM is being formally launched would offer trading in commodities such as chana, castor seed, paddy, wheat, maize, onion, mustard and tamarind. But fruits and vegetables, where there often are prices fluctuations, are yet to be included in the NAM platform. Besides, the country’s two biggest mandis—Azadpur (Delhi) and Vashi (Mumbai)—have not yet agreed to come on board. A number of states which have amended their APMC Acts are yet to make changes for allowing the sale of fruits and vegetables through e-trading platform. Farmers face price volatility in selling fruits and vegetables as these are perishable, while in case of other commodities such as grains and pulses there are several traders involved in procurement.
What needs to be done from here?
Experts say that as long as fruits and vegetables are kept outside the purview of NAM, the volatility in prices would continue, thus depriving farmers from getting better prices. Barriers hampering interstate transfer of agricultural commodities also have to be removed. High taxes and levies imposed by states such as Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh on agricultural commodities trade have to be brought down; this would boost interstate trade and farmers’ income.
World output faces risk of 3.9 % drop by 2021
The decline in oil prices has helped countries such as India improve their external positions, but low commodity prices have kept risks elevated in emerging market economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest Global Financial Stability Report.
- The financial stability report assesses the risks faced by the global financial system and the current edition surveys the issues that surfaced since October 2015.
- The spill-over effects of the growing uncertainty about China’s economy and setbacks to growth and confidence in advanced economies are other factors undermining global financial stability. These developments tightened financial conditions, reduced risk appetite, raised credit risks and stymied balance sheet repair.
- Global output could decline 3.9% by 2021 if action isn’t taken to address the risks faced by the financial system.
The main message of this report is that additional measures are needed to deliver a more balanced and potent policy mix for improving the growth and inflation outlook and securing financial stability. In the absence of such measures, market turmoil may recur. However, if timely measures are taken, world output could expand by 1.7%, relative to the baseline, by 2018.
The report identifies a window of opportunity in the current economic recovery to deal with what it calls a “triad of global challenges,” namely, the legacy issues in advanced economies, vulnerabilities in emerging markets and greater systemic market liquidity risks. IMF suggests that in advanced economies, banks must deal with bad assets and other legacy issues.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.
Consider this hypothetical situation: Rajalakshmi, from a remote Karnataka village spots a business opportunity.
She knows that flowers, discarded in the thousands by temples can be handcrafted into incense sticks.
She wants to find a market for the product and hopefully, employ some people to help her. Soon enough though, she discovers that starting a business is a herculean task for a person like her.
There is a laborious process of rules and regulations to go through, bribes to pay on the way and no actual means to transport her product to its market.
After making her first batch of agarbathis and taking it to Bengaluru by bus, she decides the venture is not easy and gives up.
On the flipside of this is a young entrepreneur in Bengaluru. Let’s call him Deepak. He wants to start an internet-based business selling sustainably made agarbathis.
He has no trouble getting investors and to mobilise supply chains. His paperwork is over in a matter of days and his business is set up quickly and ready to grow.
Never mind that the business is built on aggregation of small sellers who will not see half the profit .
Is this scenario really all that hypothetical or emblematic of how we think about entrepreneurship in India?
Between our national obsession with unicorns on one side and glorifying the person running a pakora stall for survival as an example of viable entrepreneurship on the other, is the middle ground in entrepreneurship—a space that should have seen millions of thriving small and medium businesses, but remains so sparsely occupied that you could almost miss it.
If we are to achieve meaningful economic growth in our country, we need to incorporate, in our national conversation on entrepreneurship, ways of addressing the missing middle.
Spread out across India’s small towns and cities, this is a class of entrepreneurs that have been hit by a triple wave over the last five years, buffeted first by the inadvertent fallout of demonetization, being unprepared for GST, and then by the endless pain of the covid-19 pandemic.
As we finally appear to be reaching some level of normality, now is the opportune time to identify the kind of industries that make up this layer, the opportunities they should be afforded, and the best ways to scale up their functioning in the shortest time frame.
But, why pay so much attention to these industries when we should be celebrating, as we do, our booming startup space?
It is indeed true that India has the third largest number of unicorns in the world now, adding 42 in 2021 alone. Braving all the disruptions of the pandemic, it was a year in which Indian startups raised $24.1 billion in equity investments, according to a NASSCOM-Zinnov report last year.
However, this is a story of lopsided growth.
The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, and Mumbai together claim three-fourths of these startup deals while emerging hubs like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur account for the rest.
This leap in the startup space has created 6.6 lakh direct jobs and a few million indirect jobs. Is that good enough for a country that sends 12 million fresh graduates to its workforce every year?
It doesn’t even make a dent on arguably our biggest unemployment in recent history—in April 2020 when the country shutdown to battle covid-19.
Technology-intensive start-ups are constrained in their ability to create jobs—and hybrid work models and artificial intelligence (AI) have further accelerated unemployment.
What we need to focus on, therefore, is the labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME). Here, we begin to get to a definitional notion of what we called the mundane middle and the problems it currently faces.
India has an estimated 63 million enterprises. But, out of 100 companies, 95 are micro enterprises—employing less than five people, four are small to medium and barely one is large.
The questions to ask are: why are Indian MSMEs failing to grow from micro to small and medium and then be spurred on to make the leap into large companies?
At the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), we have advocated for a National Mission for Mass Entrepreneurship, the need for which is more pronounced now than ever before.
Whenever India has worked to achieve a significant economic milestone in a limited span of time, it has worked best in mission mode. Think of the Green Revolution or Operation Flood.
From across various states, there are enough examples of approaches that work to catalyse mass entrepreneurship.
The introduction of entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC) in schools through alliance mode of working by a number of agencies has shown significant improvement in academic and life outcomes.
Through creative teaching methods, students are encouraged to inculcate 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership which are not only foundational for entrepreneurship but essential to thrive in our complex world.
Udhyam Learning Foundation has been involved with the Government of Delhi since 2018 to help young people across over 1,000 schools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
One pilot programme introduced the concept of ‘seed money’ and saw 41 students turn their ideas into profit-making ventures. Other programmes teach qualities like grit and resourcefulness.
If you think these are isolated examples, consider some larger data trends.
The Observer Research Foundation and The World Economic Forum released the Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations in 2018.
When asked which type of work arrangement they prefer, 49% of the youth surveyed said they prefer a job in the public sector.
However, 38% selected self-employment as an entrepreneur as their ideal type of job. The spirit of entrepreneurship is latent and waiting to be unleashed.
The same can be said for building networks of successful women entrepreneurs—so crucial when the participation of women in the Indian economy has declined to an abysmal 20%.
The majority of India’s 63 million firms are informal —fewer than 20% are registered for GST.
Research shows that companies that start out as formal enterprises become two-three times more productive than a similar informal business.
So why do firms prefer to be informal? In most cases, it’s because of the sheer cost and difficulty of complying with the different regulations.
We have academia and non-profits working as ecosystem enablers providing insights and evidence-based models for growth. We have large private corporations and philanthropic and funding agencies ready to invest.
It should be in the scope of a National Mass Entrepreneurship Mission to bring all of them together to work in mission mode so that the gap between thought leadership and action can finally be bridged.
Heat wave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to human body when exposed. Often times, it is defined based on the temperature thresholds over a region in terms of actual temperature or its departure from normal.
Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 400C or more for Plains and at least 300C or more for Hilly regions.
a) Based on Departure from Normal
Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.50C to 6.40C
Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.40C
b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature
Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 450C
Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥470C
If above criteria met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological sub-division for at least two consecutive days and it declared on the second day
It is occurring mainly during March to June and in some rare cases even in July. The peak month of the heat wave over India is May.
Heat wave generally occurs over plains of northwest India, Central, East & north Peninsular India during March to June.
It covers Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra & Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
Sometimes it occurs over Tamilnadu & Kerala also.
Heat waves adversely affect human and animal lives.
However, maximum temperatures more than 45°C observed mainly over Rajasthan and Vidarbha region in month of May.
a. Transportation / Prevalence of hot dry air over a region (There should be a region of warm dry air and appropriate flow pattern for transporting hot air over the region).
b. Absence of moisture in the upper atmosphere (As the presence of moisture restricts the temperature rise).
c. The sky should be practically cloudless (To allow maximum insulation over the region).
d. Large amplitude anti-cyclonic flow over the area.
Heat waves generally develop over Northwest India and spread gradually eastwards & southwards but not westwards (since the prevailing winds during the season are westerly to northwesterly).
The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. The signs and symptoms are as follows:
1. Heat Cramps: Ederna (swelling) and Syncope (Fainting) generally accompanied by fever below 39*C i.e.102*F.
2. Heat Exhaustion: Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating.
3. Heat Stoke: Body temperatures of 40*C i.e. 104*F or more along with delirium, seizures or coma. This is a potential fatal condition.
Norman Borlaug and MS Swaminathan in a wheat field in north India in March 1964
Political independence does not have much meaning without economic independence.
One of the important indicators of economic independence is self-sufficiency in food grain production.
The overall food grain scenario in India has undergone a drastic transformation in the last 75 years.
India was a food-deficit country on the eve of Independence. It had to import foodgrains to feed its people.
The situation became more acute during the 1960s. The imported food had to be sent to households within the shortest possible time.
The situation was referred to as ‘ship to mouth’.
Presently, Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns are overflowing with food grain stocks and the Union government is unable to ensure remunerative price to the farmers for their produce.
This transformation, however, was not smooth.
In the 1960s, it was disgraceful, but unavoidable for the Prime Minister of India to go to foreign countries with a begging bowl.
To avoid such situations, the government motivated agricultural scientists to make India self-sufficient in food grain production.
As a result, high-yield varieties (HYV) were developed. The combination of seeds, water and fertiliser gave a boost to food grain production in the country which is generally referred to as the Green Revolution.
The impact of the Green Revolution, however, was confined to a few areas like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh in the north and (unified) Andhra Pradesh in the south.
Most of the remaining areas were deficit in food grain production.
Therefore the Union government had to procure food grain from surplus states to distribute it among deficit ones.
At the time, farmers in the surplus states viewed procurement as a tax as they were prevented from selling their surplus foodgrains at high prices in the deficit states.
As production of food grains increased, there was decentralisation of procurement. State governments were permitted to procure grain to meet their requirement.
The distribution of food grains was left to the concerned state governments.
Kerala, for instance, was totally a deficit state and had to adopt a distribution policy which was almost universal in nature.
Some states adopted a vigorous public distribution system (PDS) policy.
It is not out of place to narrate an interesting incident regarding food grain distribution in Andhra Pradesh. The Government of Andhra Pradesh in the early 1980s implemented a highly subsidised rice scheme under which poor households were given five kilograms of rice per person per month, subject to a ceiling of 25 kilograms at Rs 2 per kg. The state government required two million tonnes of rice to implement the scheme. But it received only on one million tonne from the Union government.
The state government had to purchase another million tonne of rice from rice millers in the state at a negotiated price, which was higher than the procurement price offered by the Centre, but lower than the open market price.
A large number of studies have revealed that many poor households have been excluded from the PDS network, while many undeserving households have managed to get benefits from it.
Various policy measures have been implemented to streamline PDS. A revamped PDS was introduced in 1992 to make food grain easily accessible to people in tribal and hilly areas, by providing relatively higher subsidies.
Targeted PDS was launched in 1997 to focus on households below the poverty line (BPL).
Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was introduced to cover the poorest of the poor.
Annapoorna Scheme was introduced in 2001 to distribute 10 kg of food grains free of cost to destitutes above the age of 65 years.
In 2013, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed by Parliament to expand and legalise the entitlement.
Conventionally, a card holder has to go to a particular fair price shop (FPS) and that particular shop has to be open when s/he visits it. Stock must be available in the shop. The card holder should also have sufficient time to stand in the queue to purchase his quota. The card holder has to put with rough treatment at the hands of a FPS dealer.
These problems do not exist once ration cards become smart cards. A card holder can go to any shop which is open and has available stocks. In short, the scheme has become card holder-friendly and curbed the monopoly power of the FPS dealer. Some states other than Chhattisgarh are also trying to introduce such a scheme on an experimental basis.
More recently, the Government of India has introduced a scheme called ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ which enables migrant labourers to purchase rations from the place where they reside. In August 2021, it was operational in 34 states and Union territories.
The intentions of the scheme are good but there are some hurdles in its implementation which need to be addressed. These problems arise on account of variation in:
It is not clear whether a migrant labourer gets items provided in his/her native state or those in the state s/he has migrated to and what prices will s/he be able to purchase them.
The Centre must learn lessons from the experiences of different countries in order to make PDS sustainable in the long-run.
For instance, Sri Lanka recently shifted to organic manure from chemical fertiliser without required planning. Consequently, it had to face an acute food shortage due to a shortage of organic manure.
Some analysts have cautioned against excessive dependence on chemical fertiliser.
Phosphorus is an important input in the production of chemical fertiliser and about 70-80 per cent of known resources of phosphorus are available only in Morocco.
There is possibility that Morocco may manipulate the price of phosphorus.
Providing excessive subsidies and unemployment relief may make people dependent, as in the case of Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
It is better to teach a person how to catch a fish rather than give free fish to him / her.
Hence, the government should give the right amount of subsidy to deserving people.
The government has to increase livestock as in the case of Uruguay to make the food basket broad-based and nutritious. It has to see to it that the organic content in the soil is adequate, in order to make cultivation environmentally-friendly and sustainable in the long-run.
In short, India has transformed from a food-deficit state to a food-surplus one 75 years after independence. However, the government must adopt environmental-friendly measures to sustain this achievement.
Agroforestry is an intentional integration of trees on farmland.
Globally, it is practised by 1.2 billion people on 10 per cent area of total agricultural lands (over 1 billion hectares).
It is widely popular as ‘a low hanging fruit’ due to its multifarious tangible and intangible benefits.
The net carbon sequestered in agroforestry is 11.35 tonnes of carbon per ha
A panacea for global issues such as climate change, land degradation, pollution and food security, agroforestry is highlighted as a key strategy to fulfil several targets:
In 2017, a New York Times bestseller Project Drawdown published by 200 scientists around the world with a goal of reversing climate change, came up with the most plausible 100 solutions to slash–down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Out of these 100 solutions, 11 strategies were highlighted under the umbrella of agroforestry such as:-
Nowadays, tree-based farming in India is considered a silver bullet to cure all issues.
It was promoted under the Green India mission of 2001, six out of eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and National Agroforestry and Bamboo Mission (NABM), 2017 to bring a third of the geographical area under tree cover and offsetting GHG emissions.
These long-term attempts by the Government of India have helped enhance the agroforestry area to 13.75 million hectares.
The net carbon sequestered in agroforestry is 11.35 tonnes of carbon per ha and carbon sequestration potential is 0.35 tonnes of carbon per ha per year at the country level, according to the Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi.
India will reduce an additional 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 by increasing tree cover. This extra tree cover could be achieved through agroforestry systems because of their ability to withstand minimum inputs under extreme situations.
Here are some examples which portray the role of agroforestry in achieving at least nine out of the 17 SDGs through sustainable food production, ecosystem services and economic benefits:
SDG 1 — No Poverty: Almost 736 million people still live in extreme poverty. Diversification through integrating trees in agriculture unlocks the treasure to provide multifunctional benefits.
Studies carried out in 2003 in the arid regions of India reported a 10-15 per cent increase in crop yield with Prosopis cineraria (khejari). Adoption of agroforestry increases income & production by reducing the cost of input & production.
SDG 2 — Zero hunger: Tree-based systems provide food and monetary returns. Traditional agroforestry systems like Prosopis cineraria and Madhuca longifolia (Mahua) provide edible returns during drought years known as “lifeline to the poor people”.
Studies showed that 26-50 per cent of households involved in tree products collection and selling act as a coping strategy to deal with hunger.
SDG 3 — Good health and well-being: Human wellbeing and health are depicted through the extent of healthy ecosystems and services they provide.
Agroforestry contributes increased access to diverse nutritious food, supply of medicine, clean air and reduces heat stress.
Vegetative buffers can filter airstreams of particulates by removing dust, gas, microbial constituents and heavy metals.
SDG 5 — Gender equality: Throughout the world around 3 billion people depend on firewood for cooking.
In this, women are the main collectors and it brings drudgery and health issues.
A study from India stated that almost 374 hours per year are spent by women for collection of firewood. Growing trees nearby provides easy access to firewood and diverts time to productive purposes.
SDG 6 — Clean Water and Sanitation: Water is probably the most vital resource for our survival. The inherent capacity of trees offers hydrological regulation as evapotranspiration recharges atmospheric moisture for rainfall; enhanced soil infiltration recharges groundwater; obstructs sediment flow; rainwater filtration by accumulation of heavy metals.
An extensive study in 35 nations published in 2017 concluded that 30 per cent of tree cover in watersheds resulted in improved sanitisation and reduced diarrheal disease.
SDG 7 — Affordable & Clean Energy: Wood fuels are the only source of energy to billions of poverty-stricken people.
Though trees are substitutes of natural forests, modern technologies in the form of biofuels, ethanol, electricity generation and dendro-biomass sources are truly affordable and clean.
Ideal agroforestry models possess fast-growing, high coppicing, higher calorific value and short rotation (2-3 years) characteristics and provide biomass of 200-400 tonnes per ha.
SDG 12 — Responsible consumption and production: The production of agricultural and wood-based commodities on a sustainable basis without depleting natural resources and as low as external inputs (chemical fertilisers and pesticides) to reduce the ecological footprints.
SDG 13 — Climate action: Globally, agricultural production accounts for up to 24 per cent of GHG emissions from around 22.2 million square km of agricultural area, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A 2016 study depicted that conversion of agricultural land to agroforestry sequesters about 27.2± 13.5 tonnes CO2 equivalent per ha per year after establishment of systems.
Trees on farmland mitigate 109.34 million tonnes CO2 equivalent annually from 15.31 million ha, according to a 2017 report. This may offset a third of the total GHG emissions from the agriculture sector of India.
SDG 15 — Life on Land: Agroforestry ‘mimics the forest ecosystem’ to contribute conservation of flora and faunas, creating corridors, buffers to existing reserves and multi-functional landscapes.
Delivery of ecosystem services of trees regulates life on land. A one-hectare area of homegardens in Kerala was found to have 992 trees from 66 species belonging to 31 families, a recent study showed.
The report of the World Agroforestry Centre highlighted those 22 countries that have registered agroforestry as a key strategy in achieving their unconditional national contributions.
Recently, the Government of India has allocated significant financial support for promotion of agroforestry at grassroot level to make the Indian economy as carbon neutral. This makes agroforestry a low-hanging fruit to achieve the global goals.