2017 – International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development
The United Nations (UN) has declared 2017 as the “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development” to celebrate and promote the contribution of the tourism sector to building a better world. The International Year aims to support a change in policies, business practices and consumer behavior towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Good Samaritan Policy
The Delhi government has recently approved ‘Good Samaritan Policy’ under which monetary incentive of Rs 2,000 and appreciation certificate will be given to people who help road accident victims in the national capital. The scheme is intended to encourage people to take accident victims in emergency situation to hospitals so that someone’s life could be saved.
Black rice gains popularity in Assam
An exotic variety of Black rice or purple rice recently has gained popularity in Assam. It was recently sown by the local farmers for the first time in Barak Valley. The Black rice is also known as world super food because of its high nutrition value, unique texture and intriguing nutty flavor. It is known for its powerful disease-fighting antioxidants and also contains dietary fiber, anti-inflammatory properties. It has the ability to help stop the development of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and even weight gain.
100 crore for Nobel Prize
Andhra Pradesh Government has announced a monetary reward of Rs 100 crore to anyone from the state government who wins Nobel Prize. It was announced by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu while addressing the inaugural function of the children’s science congress on the sidelines of the 104th session of the Indian Science Congress in Tirupati. This reward is about 17 times more than the prize money given out with the Nobel award which is about Swedish kronor 8 million (Rs 5.96 crore). With this Andhra Pradesh becomes first state in India to announce such a grand offer to its scientists.
“Digital Unlocked”
Google global CEO Sundar Pichai has recently launched “Digital Unlocked” a training program for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and startups to go digital in India in partnership with Ministry of Information and Technology and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at a Google event in New Delhi.The purpose of the program is to empower upcoming and existing Indian SMBs with essential digital skills which will help them to get online and use internet so as to grow their business. Apart from this, Primer app and My Business Website were also launched to help SMEs to learn digital marketing skills.
Injeti Srinivas committee
The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has recently constituted a committee to suggest improvements in the National Sports Development Code (NSDC) and functioning of Indian Sports Federation. The committee will be headed by Injeti Srinivas, which will suggest improvements in the present NSDC on the basis of suggestions and feedback given in these meetings and submit a report within a month so that Sports Bodies work as per the public expectations for the promotion of sports in India.
Gujarat CM dedicates India’s first laser technology-based check-post
India’s first laser technology-based advanced Automatic Vehicle Monitoring System (AVMS) RTO check-post has set up at Shamlaji of Aravalli district in Gujarat. The check-post is equipped with advanced ray technology with a cost of Rs 4.72 crore, which will help to eliminate irregularities and interventions done by middle-men. The advanced AVMS RTO check-post will provide transparent, sensitive, decisive and progressive government to the people.
“Scroll of Honor” award to the District Collector of Ajmer
Ajmer district collector Gaurav Goyal has been awarded ‘Scroll of Honor’ by Prime Minister for encouraging cashless transactions in the district. The award was given for plethora of measures taken by the collector post demonetization to encourage cashless transactions and ensure law and order.
India’s first transgender school “Sahaj International”
India’s first transgender school “Sahaj International” has started at Thrikkakara in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. It was inaugurated by transgender activist, writer and actor Kalki Subramaniam. The purpose of Transgender School is to provide transgenders security, salvation and sustainability. The new learning centre will help them continue their education and appear for Class X and XII examinations.This alternative learning centre works in collaboration with National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
Ratan Watal committee on Digital Payments
The govt’s digital payments panel, headed by former finance secretary Ratan Watal, was set up to suggest ways to encourage India’s movement towards a cashless economy.The committee has suggested a separate regulator to deal with issues concerning payment, among others. The report suggested a host of fiscal incentives to promote digital transactions. It suggested withdrawal of all charges levied by government departments and utilities on digital payments and making it mandatory for government departments and agencies to provide option to consumers to pay digitally. The report also suggested putting a special emphasis on digital payments for recurring low value transactions and reducing custom duties on payments acceptance equipment. The committee has also suggested instituting awards to promote digital transaction.
‘Caterpillar Train (or C-Train)’
The Haryana Government has plans to set up a pilot corridor for an innovative concept of ‘Caterpillar Train (or C-Train)’ that will fly over city’s traffic, in Gurgaon city. The C-train includes a citywide network of lightweight, elevated train coaches running at about 100 kmph on a track supported by poles bent into arches. The cost is about $3 million for a pilot system and approx $20 million for full-fledged automated system.The concept of C-Train was co-developed by an Indian Railways engineer Ashwani Kumar Upadhyaya along with Emil Jacob for which they won a global award at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States in 2016 for this innovative idea.
BHIM – Bharat Interface for Money
Prime Minister has recently launched an Aadhaar-based mobile app “Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)” to promote easier digital payments and transactions at Digi Dhan Mela at talkatora stadium in New Delhi. The Bhim app is named after Dr B R Ambedkar and will empower small traders, tribals and farmers. The app is inter-operable with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and it connects directly to your bank account. The application is developed by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). The application allows users to check the bank balance directly from the app. There is a limit of Rs 10,000 per transaction and a 24-hour limit of Rs 20,000.
“Swachh Swasth Sarvatra”
The Swachh Swasth Sarvatra is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to achieve better health outcomes through improved sanitation and increased awareness and healthy lifestyles. It has been launched to strengthen Community Health Centres (CHCs) in 708 Open Defecation Free (ODF) blocks in India to enable them achieve higher levels of cleanliness and hygiene. Under it, Rs. 10 lakh of financial assistance will be given to the CHCs so that they can be strengthened to meet the standards of sanitation, hygiene and infection control. The initiative is a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, under the National Health Mission. It is focused on the twin objectives of constructing toilets and enabling behavioural change, with the goal of making India Open Defecation free by 2nd October, 2019.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.