Tuesday 28 February 2017

In Pakistan, it’s middle class rising

The contradictions within this class will now set the future course for Pakistan’s economy and its politics

The general perception still, and unfortunately, held by many people, foreigners and Pakistanis, is that Pakistan is largely an agricultural, rural economy, where “feudals” dominate the economic, social, and particularly political space. Nothing could be further from this outdated, false framing of Pakistan’s political economy. Perhaps the single most significant consequence of the social and structural transformation under way for the last two decades has been the rise and consolidation of a Pakistani middle class, both rural, but especially, urban. 

Class categories transformed As academics know, signifiers of social categories such as “class” are no longer fashionable and we work in an environment which no longer theorises about classes of any kind. The political category of class has been replaced by numerous other categories such as “institutions” and other more generic and broader substitutes. 

This is particularly the case in Pakistan, where while there is much literature on Pakistan’s overdetermined military, there is some on the judiciary, media, gender, but little research and academic engagement with the social and structural transformation which results in how the nature of class composition has changed over time. The previous, more simplistic and simplified class categories such as feudals, industrialists, and “the working class” have not only been transformed but are also now even more problematic. In this academic environment, where there is little research of core social categories, trying to identify and calculate the size of the middle class becomes particularly difficult. 

While a definition, and hence estimation of Pakistan’s middle class, or middle classes, has not been easy, the term has acquired much prominence in social and anecdotal references. Increasing references to the middle class — durmiana tubqa — both as a political category but also as an economic one, occur more regularly in the media. Often, Pakistan’s middle class is referred to by the consumer goods that it has increasingly been purchasing, from washing machines to motorcycles. But more importantly, the term is used for those having an active political constituency and presence. In many ways, the terms used in India after Narendra Modi’s 2014 election, of an “aspiring” or “aspirational” class — also somewhat vague but nevertheless signifying some political and developmentalist notion — have also found some currency in Pakistan.

 Attempts to quantify Pakistan’s middle class, largely based on income and the purchase of consumption goods, show that as many as 42% of Pakistan’s population belong to the upper and middle classes, with 38% counted as “the middle class”. If these numbers are correct, or even indicative in any broad sense, then 84 million Pakistanis belong to the middle and upper classes, a population size larger than that of Germany and Turkey. Anecdotal evidence and social observations, supplemented by estimates other than what people buy, would also support the claim that Pakistan’s middle class is indeed quite formidable. 

Girls shining 

Data based on social, economic and spatial categories all support this argument. While literacy rates in Pakistan have risen to around 60%, perhaps more important has been the significant rise in girls’ literacy and in their education. Their enrolment at the primary school level, while still less than it is for boys, is rising faster than it is for boys. What is even more surprising is that this pattern is reinforced even for middle level education where, between 2002-03 and 2012- 13, there had been an increase by as much as 54% when compared to 26% for that of boys. At the secondary level, again unexpectedly, girls’ participation has increased by 53% over the decade, about the same as it has for boys. While boys outnumber girls in school, girls are catching up. In 2014-15, it was estimated that there were more girls enrolled in Pakistan’s universities than boys — 52% and 48%, respectively. Pakistan’s middle class has realised the significance of girls’ education, even up to the college and university level. In spatial terms, most social scientists would agree that Pakistan is almost all, or at least predominantly, urban rather than rural, even though such categories are difficult to concretise. Research in Pakistan has revealed that at least 70% of Pakistanis live in urban or urbanising settlements, and not in rural settlements, whatever they are. Using data about access to urban facilities and services such as electricity, education, transport and communication connectivity, this is a low estimate. Moreover, even in so-called “rural” and agricultural settlements, data show that around 60% or more of incomes accrue from non-agricultural sources such as remittances and services. Clearly, whatever the rural is, it is no longer agricultural. Numerous other sets of statistics would enhance the middle class thesis in Pakistan.

 Rise of the ‘youthias’ 

It is not only in economistic, or more specifically, consumerist, terms, that the middle class has made its presence felt, but also politically. The “naya Pakistan” of today is dominated by middle class voices and concerns. The “youthias”, as they are called, a political category of those who support Imran Khan and his style of politics, are one clear manifestation of this rise, as is the large support in the Punjab of Nawaz Sharif and his Punjab Chief Minister brother, Shahbaz Sharif. The developmentalist agenda and the social concerns of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government which is ruled by Imran Khan’s party, and those in the Punjab where the Sharif family dominates, are representative of this new politics. Free laptops, better governance, more information technology, better schooling, better urban health facilities, jobs for the educated youth, the right to information, and so on, represent government initiatives to appease this political category.

 Vague, expectational foundations from Europe and other western countries, that the middle class is necessarily democratic, tolerant and secular, have all come undone by events in recent years. The expectation that the middle class is necessarily “liberal” no longer stands. In the case of Pakistan, on account of many decades of a forced Islamisation discourse, backed up by Saudi funding and growing jihadism, one might argue that Pakistan’s middle class is “Islamist”, very broadly defined, and also socially conservative and intolerant, pro-privatisation and pro-capital. Yet, social and structural transformation, from Internet access to girls’ education and social media activism, also results in trends that counter such strict formulations. While still probably socially conservative, contradictory counter-narratives would suggest that there is a large noticeable tension which exists within this category of the middle class which questions a simple categorisation of its ideological moorings.

 A politics hardly progressive 

It would be trite, though not incorrect, to argue that Pakistan’s middle class is in an ideological ferment and transition, but its aspirations do not extend to groups and social classes outside its own large category. They are not interested in the working classes or their issues, they are comfortable making economic and political alliances with large capitalist landowners and industrialists, many of whom have close links with the military. At present, the politics of this middle class is a far cry from even a soft version of the term “progressive”. It is the multiple fractions within the middle class which have been dominating the political and developmentalist agenda in Pakistan. It is going to be the contradictions within this middle class which will now set the future course for Pakistan’s economy and its politics. Perhaps from the fringes of this middle class, one could possibly expect the emergence even of progressive forms of politics. 

S. Akbar Zaidi is a political economist based in Karachi. He teaches at Columbia University in New York, and at the IBA in Karachi

Monday 27 February 2017

Key Features of Budget 2017-2018



INTRODUCTION

  • In the last two and half years administration has moved from discretionary, favouritism based to system and transparency based
  • Inflation brought under control. CPI-based inflation declined from 6% in July 2016 to 3.4% in December, 2016
  • Economy has moved on a high growth path. India’s Current Account Deficit declined from about 1% of GDP last year to 0.3% of GDP in the first half of 2016-17. FDI grew 36% in H1 2016-17 over H1 2015-16, despite 5% reduction in global FDI inflows. Foreign exchange reserves have reached 361 billion US Dollars as on 20th January, 2017
  • War against black money launched
  • Government continued on path of fiscal consolidation, without compromising on public investment.
  • The Indian economy has been robust to mild shocks and IMF forecasts, India to be one of the fastest growing major economies in 2017 

    CHALLENGES IN 2017-18 

  • World economy faces considerable uncertainty, in the aftermath of major economic and political developments during the last year
  • The US Federal Reserve's , intention to increase policy rates in 2017, may lead to lower capital inflows and higher outflows from the emerging economies
  • Uncertainty around commodity prices, especially that of crude oil, has implications for the fiscal situation of emerging economies
  • Signs of retreat from globalization of goods, services and people, as pressures for protectionism are building up

 TRANSFORMATIONAL REFORMS IN LAST YEAR 
  • Passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill for GST and the progress for its introduction
  • Demonetization of high denomination bank notes
  • Enactment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code; amendment to the RBI Act for inflation targeting; enactment of the Aadhar bill for disbursement of financial subsidies and benefits
  • Budget 2017-18 contains 3 major reforms. 
    1)First, presentation of Budget advanced to 1st February to enable the Ministries to operationalise all activities from the commencement of the financial year. 
    2)Second, merger of Railways Budget with General Budget to bring Railways to the centre stage of Government’s Fiscal Policy and 
    3)Third, removal of plan and nonplan classification of expenditure to facilitate a holistic view of allocations for sectors and ministries 

    DEMONETIZATION 

  • Bold and decisive measure to curb tax evasion and parallel economy
  • Government’s resolve to eliminate corruption, black money, counterfeit currency and terror funding
  • Drop in economic activity, if any, to be temporary
  • Generate long term benefits including reduced corruption, greater digitisation, increased flow of financial savings and greater formalisation of the economy
  • Pace of remonetisation has picked up and will soon reach comfortable levels
  • The surplus liquidity in the banking system will lower borrowing costs and increase the access to credit
  • Announcements made by the Honourable Prime Minister on 31st Dec, 2016 focusing on housing for the poor; relief to farmers; credit support to MSMEs; encouragement to digital transactions; assistance to pregnant women and senior citizens; and priority to dalits, tribals, backward classes and women under the Mudra Yojana, address key concerns of our economy. 

    ROADMAP & PRIORITIES 

  • Agenda for 2017-18 is : “Transform, Energise and Clean India” – TEC India
  • TEC India seeks to
  • Transform the quality of governance and quality of life of our people;
  • Energise various sections of society, especially the youth and the vulnerable, and enable them to unleash their true potential; and
  • Clean the country from the evils of corruption, black money and non-transparent political funding
  • Ten distinct themes to foster this broad agenda:
  • Farmers : committed to double the income in 5 years;
  •  Rural Population : providing employment & basic infrastructure;
  • Youth : energising them through education, skills and jobs;
  • The Poor and the Underprivileged : strengthening the systems of social security, health care and affordable housing;
  • Infrastructure: for efficiency, productivity and quality of life;
  •  Financial Sector : growth & stability by stronger institutions;
  • Digital Economy : for speed, accountability and transparency;
  • Public Service : effective governance and efficient service delivery through people’s participation;
  •  Prudent Fiscal Management: to ensure optimal deployment of resources and preserve fiscal stability;
     
  •  Tax Administration: honouring the honest. 

    FARMERS 

  • Target for agricultural credit in 2017-18 has been fixed at a record level of ` 10 lakh crores
  • Farmers will also benefit from 60 days’ interest waiver announced on 31 Dec 2016
  • To ensure flow of credit to small farmers, Government to support NABARD for computerisation and integration of all 63,000 functional Primary Agriculture Credit Societies with the Core Banking System of District Central Cooperative Banks. This will be done in 3 years at an estimated cost of ` 1,900 crores.
  • Coverage under Fasal Bima Yojana scheme will be increased from 30% of cropped area in 2016-17 to 40% in 2017-18 and 50% in 2018-19 for which a budget provision of ` 9000 crore has been made
  • New mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and ensure 100% coverage of all 648 KVKs in the country for soil sample testing
  •  As announced by the Honourable Prime Minister, the Long Term Irrigation Fund already set up in NABARD to be augmented by 100% to take the total corpus of this Fund to ` 40,000 crores.
  •  Dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund in NABARD to achieve ‘per drop more crop’ with an initial corpus of ` 5,000 crores
  • Coverage of National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) to be expanded from 250 markets to 585 APMCs. Assistance up to ` 75 lakhs will be provided to every e-NAM.
  •  A model law on contract farming to be prepared and circulated among the States for adoption
  • Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund to be set up in NABARD with a corpus of ` 2000 crores and will be increased to ` 8000 crores over 3 years 

RURAL POPULATION

  •  Over ` 3 lakh crores spent in rural areas every year, for rural poor from Central Budget, State Budgets, Bank linkage for self-help groups, etc
  •  Aim to bring one crore households out of poverty and to make 50,000 Gram Panchayats poverty free by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji
  •  Against target of 5 lakh farm ponds under MGNREGA, 10 lakh farm ponds would be completed by March 2017. During 2017-18, another 5 lakh farm ponds will be taken up
  •  Women participation in MGNREGA has increased to 55% from less than 48%
  • MGNREGA allocation to be the highest ever at ` 48,000 crores in 2017-18.
  •  Pace of construction of PMGSY roads accelerated to 133 km roads per day in 2016-17, against an avg. of 73 km during 2011-2014
  •  Government has taken up the task of connecting habitations with more than 100 persons in left wing extremism affected Blocks under PMGSY. All such habitations are expected to be covered by 2019 and the allocation for PMGSY, including the State's Share is ` 27,000 crores in 2017-18
  •  Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin increased from ` 15,000 crores in BE 2016-17 to ` 23,000 crores in 2017-18 with a target to complete 1 crore houses by 2019 for the houseless and those living in kutcha houses.
  • Well on our way to achieving 100% village electrification by 1st May 2018.
  • Allocation for Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program and Credit Support Schemes has been increased three fold
  • Sanitation coverage in rural India has gone up from 42% in Oct 2014 to about 60%. Open Defecation Free villages are now being given priority for piped water supply.
  •  As part of a sub mission of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), it is proposed to provide safe drinking water to over 28,000 arsenic and fluoride affected habitations in the next four years.
  •  For imparting new skills to people in rural areas, mason training will be provided to 5 lakh persons by 2022
  • A programme of “human resource reforms for results” will be launched during 2017-18 for human resources development in Panchayati Raj Institutions
  • Total allocation for Rural, Agriculture and Allied sectors is ` 187223 crores 

    YOUTH 

  • To introduce a system of measuring annual learning outcomes in our schools  Innovation Fund for Secondary Education proposed to encourage local innovation for ensuring universal access, gender parity and quality improvement to be introduced in 3479 educationally backward districts.
  • Good quality higher education institutions to have greater administrative and academic autonomy
  •  SWAYAM platform, leveraging IT, to be launched with at least 350 online courses. This would enable students to virtually attend courses taught by the best faculty
  •  National Testing Agency to be set-up as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation to conduct all entrance examinations for higher education institutions
  •  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras to be extended to more than 600 districts across the country. 100 India International Skills Centres will be established across the country.
  • Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion programme (SANKALP) to be launched at a cost of ` 4000 crores. SANKALP will provide market relevant training to 3.5 crore youth
  •  Next phase of Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) will also be launched in 2017-18 at a cost of ` 2,200 crores
  •  A scheme for creating employment in the leather and footwear industries along the lines in Textiles Sector to be launched
  • Incredible India 2.0 Campaign will be launched across the world to promote tourism and employment. 

    THE POOR AND THE UNDERPRIVILEGED 

  • Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set up with an allocation of ` 500 crores in 14 lakh ICDS Anganwadi Centres. This will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition
  •  Under Maternity Benefit Scheme ` 6,000 each will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery and vaccinate their children .
  •  Affordable housing to be given infrastructure status
  •  National Housing Bank will refinance individual housing loans of about ` 20,000 crore in 2017-18
  • Government has prepared an action plan to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018, Measles by 2020 and Tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted
  •  Action plan has been prepared to reduce IMR from 39 in 2014 to 28 by 2019 and MMR from 167 in 2011-13 to 100 by 2018-2020
  •  To create additional 5,000 Post Graduate seats per annum to ensure adequate availability of specialist doctors to strengthen Secondary and Tertiary levels of health care
  •  Two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat
  •  To foster a conducive labour environment, legislative reforms will be undertaken to simplify, rationalise and amalgamate the existing labour laws into 4 Codes on (i) wages; (ii) industrial relations; (iii) social security and welfare; and (iv) safety and working conditions.
  • Propose to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable prices and promote use of generic medicines
  •  The allocation for Scheduled Castes has been increased by 35% compared to BE 2016-17. The allocation for Scheduled Tribes has been increased to ` 31,920 crores and for Minority Affairs to ` 4,195 crores
  • For senior citizens, Aadhar based Smart Cards containing their health details will be introduced

    INFRASTRUCTURE 
  • For transportation sector as a whole, including rail, roads, shipping, provision of ` 2,41,387 crores has been made in 2017-18.
  • For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at ` 1,31,000 crores. This includes ` 55,000 crores provided by the Government
  • For passenger safety, a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh will be created with a corpus of ` 1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years
  • Unmanned level crossings on Broad Gauge lines will be eliminated by 2020
  • In the next 3 years, the throughput is proposed to be enhanced by 10%. This will be done through modernisation and upgradation of identified corridors.
  • Railway lines of 3,500 kms will be commissioned in 2017-18. During 2017-18, at least 25 stations are expected to be awarded for station redevelopment.
     
  • 500 stations will be made differently abled friendly by providing lifts and escalators.
  • It is proposed to feed about 7,000 stations with solar power in the medium term
  • SMS based Clean My Coach Service has been started
  • ‘Coach Mitra’, a single window interface, to register all coach related complaints and requirements to be launched |
  • By 2019, all coaches of Indian Railways will be fitted with bio toilets. Tariffs of Railways would be fixed, taking into consideration costs, quality of service and competition from other forms of transport
  • A new Metro Rail Policy will be announced with focus on innovative models of implementation and financing, as well as standardisation and indigenisation of hardware and software
  • A new Metro Rail Act will be enacted by rationalising the existing laws. This will facilitate greater private participation and investment in construction and operation.
  • In the road sector, Budget allocation for highways increased from ` 57,976 crores in BE 2016-17 to ` 64,900 crores in 2017-18
  • 2,000 kms of coastal connectivity roads have been identified for construction and development
  • Total length of roads, including those under PMGSY, built from 2014-15 till the current year is about 1,40,000 kms which is significantly higher than previous three years
  •  Select airports in Tier 2 cities will be taken up for operation and maintenance in the PPP mode
  • By the end of 2017-18, high speed broadband connectivity on optical fibre will be available in more than 1,50,000 gram panchayats, under BharatNet. A DigiGaon initiative will be launched to provide tele-medicine, education and skills through digital technology
  • Proposed to set up strategic crude oil reserves at 2 more locations, namely, Chandikhole in Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan. This will take our strategic reserve capacity to 15.33 MMT
  •  Second phase of Solar Park development to be taken up for additional 20,000 MW capacity.
  •  For creating an eco-system to make India a global hub for electronics manufacturing a provision of ` 745 crores in 2017-18 in incentive schemes like M-SIPS and EDF.
  • A new and restructured Central scheme with a focus on export infrastructure, namely, Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) will be launched in 2017-18 

    FINANCIAL SECTOR 

  • Foreign Investment Promotion Board to be abolished in 2017-18 and further liberalisation of FDI policy is under consideration
  •  An expert committee will be constituted to study and promote creation of an operational and legal framework to integrate spot market and derivatives market in the agricultural sector, for commodities trading. e- NAM to be an integral part of the framework.
  • Bill relating to curtail the menace of illicit deposit schemes will be introduced. A bill relating to resolution of financial firms will be introduced in the current Budget Session of Parliament. This will contribute to stability and resilience of our financial system
  • A mechanism to streamline institutional arrangements for resolution of disputes in infrastructure related construction contracts, PPP and public utility contracts will be introduced as an amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.
  • A Computer Emergency Response Team for our Financial Sector (CERT-Fin) will be established
  • Government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges. The shares of Railway PSEs like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in stock exchanges.
  • Propose to create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’ which will be able to match the performance of international and domestic private sector oil and gas companies
  • A new ETF with diversified CPSE stocks and other Government holdings will be launched in 2017-18
  • In line with the ‘Indradhanush’ roadmap, ` 10,000 crores for recapitalisation of Banks provided in 2017-18
  • Lending target under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana to be set at ` 2.44 lakh crores. Priority will be given to Dalits, Tribals, Backward Classes and Women. 

    DIGITAL ECONOMY 

  • 125 lakh people have adopted the BHIM app so far. The Government will launch two new schemes to promote the usage of BHIM; these are, Referral Bonus Scheme for individuals and a Cashback Scheme for merchants
  • Aadhar Pay, a merchant version of Aadhar Enabled Payment System, will be launched shortly
  • A Mission will be set up with a target of 2,500 crore digital transactions for 2017-18 through UPI, USSD, Aadhar Pay, IMPS and debit cards
  • A proposal to mandate all Government receipts through digital means, beyond a prescribed limit, is under consideration
  • Banks have targeted to introduce additional 10 lakh new POS terminals by March 2017. They will be encouraged to introduce 20 lakh Aadhar based POS by September 2017
  • Proposed to create a Payments Regulatory Board in the Reserve Bank of India by replacing the existing Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems

     PUBLIC SERVICE 
  • The Government e-market place which is now functional for procurement of goods and services
  • To utilise the Head Post Offices as front offices for rendering passport services
  •  A Centralised Defence Travel System has been developed through which travel tickets can be booked online by our soldiers and officers
  • Web based interactive Pension Disbursement System for Defence Pensioners will be established
  • To rationalise the number of tribunals and merge tribunals wherever appropriate
  • Commemorate both Champaran and Khordha revolts appropriately 

    PRUDENT FISCAL MANAGEMENT 

  • Stepped up allocation for Capital expenditure by 25.4% over the previous year
     
  • Total resources being transferred to the States and the Union Territories with Legislatures is ` 4.11 lakh crores, against ` 3.60 lakh crores in BE 2016-17
  • For the first time, a consolidated Outcome Budget, covering all Ministries and Departments, is being laid along with the other Budget documents
  • FRBM Committee has recommended 3% fiscal deficit for the next three years, keeping in mind the sustainable debt target and need for public investment, fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is targeted at 3.2% of GDP and Government remains committed to achieve 3% in the following year
  •  Net market borrowing of Government restricted to ` 3.48 lakh crores after buyback in 2017-18, much lower than ` 4.25 lakh crores of the previous year
  • Revenue Deficit of 2.3% in BE 2016-17 stands reduced to 2.1% in the Revised Estimates. The Revenue Deficit for next year is pegged at 1.9% , against 2% mandated by the FRBM Act 12 

PROMOTING AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND REAL ESTATE SECTOR

  •  Between 8th November and 30th December 2016, deposits between 2 lakh Rupees and 80 lakh Rupees were made in about 1.09 crore accounts with an average deposit size of ` 5.03 lakh. Deposits of more than 80 lakh were made in 1.48 lakh accounts with average deposit size of ` 3.31 crores.
  • Under the scheme for profit-linked income tax deduction for promotion of affordable housing, carpet area instead of built up area of 30 and 60 Sq.mtr. will be counted.
  • The 30 Sq.mtr. limit will apply only in case of municipal limits of 4 metropolitan cities while for the rest of the country including in the peripheral areas of metros, limit of 60 Sq.mtr. will apply
  • For builders for whom constructed buildings are stock-in-trade, tax on notional rental income will only apply after one year of the end of the year in which completion certificate is received
  • Reduction in the holding period for computing long term capital gains from transfer of immovable property from 3 years to 2 years. Also, the base year for indexation is proposed to be shifted from 1.4.1981 to 1.4.2001 for all classes of assets including immovable property
  • For Joint Development Agreement signed for development of property, the liability to pay capital gain tax will arise in the year the project is completed
  • Exemption from capital gain tax for persons holding land on 2.6.2014, the date on which the State of Andhra Pradesh was reorganised, and whose land is being pooled for creation of capital city of Andhra Pradesh under the Government scheme 

    MEASURES FOR STIMULATING GROWTH 

  • Concessional withholding rate of 5% charged on interest earned by foreign entities in external commercial borrowings or in bonds and Government securities is extended to 30.6.2020. This benefit is also extended to Rupee Denominated (Masala) Bonds
  • For the purpose of carry forward of losses in respect of start-ups, the condition of continuous holding of 51% of voting rights has been relaxed subject to the condition that the holding of the original promoter/promoters continues. Also the profit (linked deduction) exemption available to the start-ups for 3 years out of 5 years is changed to 3 years out of 7 years 13 

  • MAT credit is allowed to be carried forward up to a period of 15 years instead of 10 years at present
  • In order to make MSME companies more viable, income tax for companies with annual turnover upto ` 50 crore is reduced to 25%
  • Allowable provision for Non-Performing Asset of Banks increased from 7.5% to 8.5%. Interest taxable on actual receipt instead of accrual basis in respect of NPA accounts of all non-scheduled cooperative banks also to be treated at par with scheduled banks
  • Basic customs duty on LNG reduced from 5% to 2.5% 

    PROMOTING DIGITAL ECONOMY 

  • Under scheme of presumptive income for small and medium tax payers whose turnover is upto 2 crores, the present, 8% of their turnover which is counted as presumptive income is reduced to 6% in respect of turnover which is by non-cash means
     
  • No transaction above ` 3 lakh would be permitted in cash subject to certain exceptions
  • Miniaturised POS card reader for m-POS (other than mobile phones or tablet computers), micro ATM standards version 1.5.1, Finger Print Readers / Scanners and Iris Scanners and on their parts and components for manufacture of such devices to be exempt from BCD, Excise/CV duty and 

    SAD TRANSPARENCY IN ELECTORAL FUNDING

  • Need to cleanse the system of political funding in India
  • Maximum amount of cash donation, a political party can receive, will be ` 2000/- from one person.
  • Political parties will be entitled to receive donations by cheque or digital mode from their donors.
  • Amendment to the Reserve Bank of India Act to enable the issuance of electoral bonds in accordance with a scheme that the Government of India would frame in this regard. 14  Every political party would have to file its return within the time prescribed in accordance with the provision of the Income-tax Act
  • Existing exemption to the political parties from payment of income-tax would be available only subject to the fulfilment of these conditions 

    EASE OF DOING BUSINESS 

  • Scope of domestic transfer pricing restricted to only if one of the entities involved in related party transaction enjoys specified profit-linked deduction
  • Threshold limit for audit of business entities who opt for presumptive income scheme increased from ` 1 crore to ` 2 crores. Similarly, the threshold for maintenance of books for individuals and HUF increased from turnover of 10 lakhs to 25 lakhs or income from 1.2 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs
  • Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Category I & II exempted from indirect transfer provision. Indirect transfer provision shall not apply in case of redemption of shares or interests outside India as a result of or arising out of redemption or sale of investment in India which is chargeable to tax in India
  • Commission payable to individual insurance agents exempt from the requirement of TDS subject to their filing a self-declaration that their income is below taxable limit
  • Under scheme for presumptive taxation for professionals with receipt upto ` 50 lakhs p.a. advance tax can be paid in one instalment instead of four
  • Time period for revising a tax return is being reduced to 12 months from completion of financial year, at par with the time period for filing of return. Also the time for completion of scrutiny assessments is being compressed further from 21 months to 18 months for Assessment Year 2018-19 and further to 12 months for Assessment Year 2019-20 and thereafter 

    PERSONAL INCOME-TAX  

  • Existing rate of taxation for individual assesses between income of `2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs reduced to 5% from the present rate of 10% 15
  • Surcharge of 10% of tax payable on categories of individuals whose annual taxable income is between `50 lakhs and ` 1 crore
  • Simple one-page form to be filed as Income Tax Return for the category of individuals having taxable income upto ` 5 lakhs other than business income
  • Appeal to all citizens of India to contribute to Nation Building by making a small payment of 5% tax if their income is falling in the lowest slab of 2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs. 

    GOODS AND SERVICES TAX 

  • The GST Council has finalised its recommendations on almost all the issues based on consensus on the basis of 9 meetings held
  • Preparation of IT system for GST is also on schedule.
     
  • The extensive reach-out efforts to trade and industry for GST will start from 1st April, 2017 to make them aware of the new taxation system. RAPID (Revenue, Accountability, Probity, Information and Digitisation)
  • Maximise efforts for e-assessment in the coming year
  •  Enforcing greater accountability of officers of Tax Department for specific act of commission and omission

Two endangered plant species spotted

Noticed near the Eravikulam Park

In a major breakthrough in eco-conservation, forest officials in Munnar have spotted two critically endangered impatiens plant species on the peripheries of the Eravikulam National Park. Impatiens, also called jewel weeds, are seen in pristine forests where moisture content and relative humidity are high. The Eravikulam National Park and the Mankulam forest division are surrounded by sholas. Two new species of balsams (impatiens) have been discovered by the officials from the shola forests on the periphery of the park and Mankulam with the help of scientists. The Munnar-Mankulam landscape is famous for impatiens varieties, one of which was Impatiens travancorica that was spotted sometime ago. One of the new plants, Impatiens panduranganii, was first noticed in 2015 by Prasad G., wildlife warden of Munnar, during a research on impatiens in the Pettimudi area. It is similar to Impatiens travancorica. Talking to The Hindu, Mr Prasad said the number of species then spotted was very low due to the unscientific road construction to Edamalakudy. Only below 35 plants with flower could be found in 2015. In 2016, when Prabhu Kumar of Kottakkal Arya Vaidyasala visited Munnar, there were about 200 and 300 of the plants, which were named Impatiens pandurangani

What exactly is a money bill?

Or, why we need to reconsider the Aadhaar Act, with all its implications for privacy

T he Supreme Court will begin hearing final arguments next month on a writ petition challenging the validity of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial & Other Subsidies, Benefits & Services) Act, 2016 — or the Aadhaar Act. The proceeding, initiated by Jairam Ramesh, a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, primarily questions the legality behind the Union government’s move in introducing the Aadhaar Act as a money bill. Through this categorisation, the government had the law enacted by securing a simple majority in the Lok Sabha while rendering redundant any opposition to the legislation in the Upper House of Parliament.

 Imperils liberties
 During preliminary hearings, the Supreme Court has suggested that it isn’t entirely convinced of the merits of Mr. Ramesh’s petition. But a closer examination will only show that the introduction of the Aadhaar Act as a money bill contravenes the bare text of the Constitution. In this case, the breach is particularly disturbing, because the legislation imperils our core liberties, in manners both explicit and insidious. 
     Originally, Aadhaar was conceived as a scheme to provide to every Indian a unique identity number, with a purported view to enabling a fair and equitable distribution of benefits and subsidies. There is little doubt that the scheme’s introduction, with no prior legislative backing, was a flagrant wrong, and was completely unjustifiable as a measure of democratic governance. For this Mr. Ramesh’s party, the Congress, must take full responsibility. But, when a draft of a statute was eventually introduced in the Rajya Sabha, in December 2010, it was done so as an ordinary bill. This meant that both Houses of Parliament had to provide their imprimatur to the bill for it to become law. 

      Nonetheless this draft legislation contained serious misgivings, so much so that a parliamentary standing committee released a detailed report differing with the government of the time over critical aspects of the bill, particularly its treatment of concerns over privacy and protection of data security. In the meantime, given that the Aadhaar project was being implemented even without statutory support, public interest petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging the project’s legitimacy. In these cases, the court issued a series of interim orders prohibiting the state from making Aadhaar mandatory, while permitting its use only for a set of limited governmental schemes. 

        In March 2016, the Union government withdrew the earlier bill, and introduced, in its place, as a money bill, a new draft legislation, titled the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial & Other Subsidies, Benefits & Services) Bill, 2016. This categorisation was extraordinary because a money bill, under India’s constitutional design, requires only the Lok Sabha’s affirmation for it to turn into law. Right on cue, within days of the bill’s introduction, the Lower House, in complete disregard of the Rajya Sabha’s protestations, passed the legislation, as Act No. 18 of 2016. This law, Mr. Ramesh now argues, is patently illegal, because its classification as a money bill infringes the Constitution’s mandates. 
       A money bill is defined by Article 110 of the Constitution, as a draft law that contains only provisions that deal with all or any of the matters listed therein. These comprise a set of seven features, broadly including items such as the imposition or regulation of a tax; the regulation of the borrowing of money by the Government of India; the withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund of India; and so forth. In the event a proposed legislation contains other features, ones that are not merely incidental to the items specifically outlined, such a draft law cannot be classified as a money bill. Article 110 further clarifies that in cases where a dispute arises over whether a bill is a money bill or not, the Lok Sabha Speaker’s decision on the issue shall be considered final. 

 Flawed counterpoint 
The government’s response to Mr. Ramesh’s claim is predicated on two prongs: that the Speaker’s decision to classify a draft legislation as a money bill is immune from judicial review, and that, in any event, the Aadhaar Bill fulfilled all the constitutional requirements of a money bill. A careful examination of these arguments will, however, show us that the government is wrong on both counts. To be fair, the assertion that the Speaker’s decision is beyond judicial review finds support in the Supreme Court’s judgment in Mohd. Saeed Siddiqui v. State of UP (2014). Here, a three-judge bench had ruled, in the context of State legislatures, that a Speaker’s decision to classify a draft statute as a money bill, was not judicially reviewable, even if the classification was incorrect. This is because the error in question, the court ruled, constituted nothing more than a mere procedural irregularity. But there are significant problems with this view. Chief among them is the wording of Article 110, which vests no unbridled discretion in the Speaker. The provision requires that a bill conform to the criteria prescribed in it for it to be classified as a money bill. Where a bill intends to legislate on matters beyond the features delineated in Article 110, it must be treated as an ordinary draft statute. Any violation of this mandate has to be seen, therefore, as a substantive constitutional error, something which Siddiqui fails to do.
    There are other flaws too in the judgment. Most notably, it brushes aside the verdict of a Constitution Bench in Raja Ram Pal v. Hon’ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007), where the court had ruled that clauses that attach finality to a determination of an issue do not altogether oust the court’s jurisdiction. That is, the bench held, there are numerous circumstances where the court can review parliamentary pronouncements. These would include instances where a Speaker’s choice is grossly illegal, or disregards basic constitutional mandates, or, worse still, where the Speaker’s decision is riddled with perversities, or is arrived at through dishonest intentions. 

What Aadhaar Act shows 
A simple reading of the Aadhaar Act would show us that its contents go far beyond the features enumerated in Article 110. If anything, it is the provisions in the legislation that pertain to the Consolidated Fund and its use that are incidental to the Act’s core purpose — which, quite evidently, is to ensure, among other things, the creation of a framework for maintaining a central database of biometric information collected from citizens. Ordinarily, a draft legislation is classified as a money bill when it provides for funds to be made available to the executive to carry out specific tasks. In the case of the Aadhaar Act, such provisions are manifestly absent. The Speaker’s decision to confirm the government’s classification is, therefore, an error that is not merely procedural in nature but one that constitutes, in substance, an unmitigated flouting of Article 110. 
         In many ways, Aadhaar has brought out to plain sight the worryingly totalitarian impulses of our state. The government has argued, with some force, that Indian citizens possess no fundamental right to privacy. This argument, however, is predicated on judgments of the Supreme Court that have little contemporary relevance, and that have, in any event, been overlooked in several subsequent cases where the court has clarified the extent of the liberties that the Constitution guarantees. 

Right to privacy 
Privacy is important not merely because it advances the cause of equality and freedom but also because it is, in and of itself, a treasurable value. A failure to protect privacy adequately can have disastrous consequences that affect our abilities to determine for ourselves how we want to live our lives. And the Aadhaar Act hits at the core of this value. It permits the creation of a database of not only biometric information but also various other private data, without so much as bothering about safeguards that need to be installed to ensure their security. We scarcely need to stretch our imaginations to wonder what the government — and other agencies to which this information can be shared without any regulatory checks — can do with all this material. That a statute so pernicious in its breadth can be enacted after being introduced as a money bill only makes matters worse. It has the effect of negating altogether the Rajya Sabha’s legislative role, making, in the process, a mockery of our democracy. It is imperative, therefore, that the court refers the present controversy to a larger bench, with a view to overruling Siddiqui. 

Suhrith Parthasarathy is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court

Sunday 26 February 2017

A foreign policy of cruel populism

Leaders like Donald Trump are oering a harsh cultural agenda to address the West’s economic problems

Just before he was inaugurated as the U.S. President, Donald Trump laid out some principles of what appeared to be his non-interventionist foreign policy. “We will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with,” he said in North Carolina. “Instead our focus must be on defeating terrorism and destroying ISIS, and we will.” What Mr. Trump implied is that his administration would not conduct regime-change operations — such as against Iraq in 2003 during the George W. Bush administration — and certainly not indulge in nation-building outside the United States. He promised nation-building within the United States and to enhance the military “not as an act of aggression, but as an act of prevention”. 

The tenor of Mr. Trump’s statements suggested that the United States would have a much less interventionist foreign policy. It would not be overthrowing governments or struggling to rebuild them into a liberal, market-friendly paradise. The concepts of regime change and nation-building — so fundamental to the consensus within the U.S. since the 1990s — now seem to be in retirement. Mr. Trump’s main concept — America First — suggests that he would take the country into an isolationist period, with foreign adventures o the table and with the United States gradually pulling out of alliances such as NATO. 

Misplaced targets 

The U.S. President’s agenda is part of the emergence of a cruel populism that has emerged across the West, inaugurated by the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. The heart of this cruel populism is that the people of the West have been ignored by their ‘globalist’ leaders, who care more for free trade deals than for the haemorrhaging of jobs in their own homelands. In this they are correct. What makes them cruel is that rather than actually get to the heart of joblessness — which is partly due to unshared productivity gains through mechanisation — they oer a harsh cultural agenda to solve an economic problem. It is hatred of Muslims and other religious, sexual and ethnic minorities that focus the attention of Mr. Trump and France’s Marine Le Pen, Holland’s Geert Wilders and Germany’s Frauke Petry. They want to do such things as ‘de-Islamise’ their countries, ban minarets and secure their borders against refugees.

 Building walls against migrants — simple campaign fodder — will not address the economies of the West, which are fundamentally integrated with the rest of the world. The global commodity chain has enabled Western corporations to enjoy large prots as countries in the chain struggle to underbid each other on wages and regulations. To secure and control this global commodity chain, the West has used its vast military footprint — from bases to aircraft carriers — and it has used its military and political power to pressure countries to honour intellectual property rights and to x currencies to advantage the global elites. No wonder, then, that the eight richest persons have as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. This global 1%, with a majority in the West, has truly beneted from globalisation. 

Isolation from this global commodity chain would seriously threaten the reproduction of wealth for this small minority. It is unlikely that the cruel populists — for all their ranting against free trade regimes — would be able to move an agenda that undermines this global footprint. Their isolationism is more rhetoric than policy. Economic sovereignty is not possible for their states, which is why they strive for cultural sovereignty. Demagogy is the prize for this kind of populism. ‘Keep out the Muslims’ stands in for economic policy making. Inhumane intervention We have not entered into a period of isolation. Nor is the old doctrine of humanitarian intervention alive and well. It has certainly been set aside. Our new period, with the cruel populists in power, is dened by ruthless inhumane intervention. Bombs will fall, no doubt, but these will not be dropped to draw countries into the global order. Their purpose will be to encage areas seen to be lesser and inherently dangerous. 

The doctrine of humanitarian intervention came into its own in the 1990s, when the United States began to justify its military operations based on the idea of ‘human rights’. Wars against Iraq and Yugoslavia as well as designations of Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and Syria as ‘rogue states’ set the terms for humanitarian or liberal interventionism. The general idea was that these states were holdouts against globalisation and that pressure against them — sanctions or armed force — was utterly justied. A notion of universal humanity guided this theory, since it was assumed that violence would tutor lesser societies into the global commodity chain. The idea of ‘regime change’ required the idea of ‘nation-building’ to complete its task. Not only would governments be overthrown, but they would be replaced by regimes that acceded to the neo-liberal policy slate and to the institutions of globalisation. 

The cruel populists do not accept the theory of universal humanity. For them, the world’s people are divided along the axis of culture — Christendom, on one side, against Islam, on the other. Mr. Trump has vowed to rebuild the U.S. military so that “no one will ever mess with us”. What is this military to be used for? “I would bomb those s******,” Mr. Trump said of the Islamic State and its oil infrastructure. “I’d blow up every single inch,” he said, so that “there would be nothing left”. But the use of force does not end there. “And you know what, you’ll get Exxon to come in there, and in two months — you ever see these guys? How good they are, the great oil companies. They’ll rebuild it brand new.” It is suggestive that Mr. Trump’s Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, who ran ExxonMobil for 10 years. Would ExxonMobil rebuild the oil infrastructure for Iraq? No. “I’ll take the oil,” Mr. Trump said brashly and against international law. 

The U.S. President’s instinctual militarism is evident with his appointment of Generals to his cabinet and his habit of continuing to call them by their military rank. These are not ordinary Generals. They have demonstrated a virulent anti-Muslim streak, which is in keeping with the cruel populism of the Trump agenda. Such prejudice blinds them from reality. Against all logic, Defence Secretary James Mattis said, “I consider ISIS nothing more than an excuse for Iran to continue its mischief.” That Iran and the Islamic State are erce adversaries is of no consequence. For this General, they are both in the camp of Islam. War against them is instinctual. It will not be to draw the people in their societies into the global order. Inhumane intervention serves as a prophylaxis against the fantasy of cultural sovereignty. 

Vijay Prashad’s latest book is ‘The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution’

Beneath the surface calm

Western Uttar Pradesh has been transformed by the corrosive post-Muzaffarnagar discourse

Vidya Subrahmaniam By any reckoning, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been dealt the best set of cards for Uttar Pradesh 2017. Its 2014 Lok Sabha performance — 71 of 80 seats won on a vote share of 42% — provided it with both an air of invincibility and a margin to withstand a large negative vote swing. 

Yet today U.P. presents a confounding picture as the sevenphase election to the State Assembly enters midpoint. There are keenly fought triangular — and in places quadrangular — contests where only some months ago an emphatic lead for the BJP was treated as a given. 

The uncertainty must explain why the BJP campaign, which started on a lofty note with a promise to stay above caste and religion, has begun to tread the familiar ground of Hindu consolidation. The references to kabristan (graveyard) and shamshaan (cremation ground) in a speech by Mr. Modi, and Amit Shah’s coinage of the acronym ‘Kasab’ (name of the Pakistani terrorist caught and hanged by India for 26/11) for his opponents, leave no scope for misunderstanding which way the BJP campaign is being led. 

 Divisive discourse 

                 Mr. Modi and his party chief should rest easy.Ifthey leave the pulpitfor a few days and travel in western U.P., they might be stunned to discover that the model citizen of their imagination, who is one part proud Hindu and one part aspirational, already exists. This citizen has rote learnt and can recite atwill all that has been communicated to him ever since the BJP became a major player in U.P. politics. And this ideological grooming is independent of who he might vote for in an election. 

         Which is why a BJP victory or defeat is really only for the record.The language and thought processes of U.P.’s people have already been transformed and conditioned by the corrosive discourse that has split the State on Hindu-Muslim lines. Analysts have welcomed the absence of communal violence and failed attempts at polarising voters along Hindu-Muslim blocks in this election as a sign of a State and its people returning to normality after four years of being held hostage to communal provocations. The Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 may have been physically located in western U.P. butthe poison from it had travelled wide, thanks to hotheads such as Yogi Adityanath headquartered in eastern U.P. The lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri and the pernicious love jihad campaign were nothing if not Muzaffarnagar by another name.

 On a recent tour of western U.P., I was astonished by how often a well-conducted, amicable conversation suddenly got diverted into hate talk and Muslim-bashing. This happened at almost every stop I made and was a pattern that cut across castes. 

In one word, Muzaffarnagar, and the communal divide it has come to represent, hasn’t gone anywhere. In the 2014 election, voters primarily connected with Mr. Modi on the aspirational promise. However, they knew exactly what cues to pick up when he spoke in the same breath of Pakistan, the soldier dying on the border, and the “pink revolution” sweeping the country. The last mentioned was a euphemism for the rise in meat exports, with the further veiled suggestion that the meat in question was beef. 

Tricolour politics 

The reason why voters in the 2014 election readily absorbed the subtext to Mr. Modi’s messages was because they had already been primed for it by Muzaffarnagar. Mr. Modi’s instantly attractive ‘politics of transformation’ came wrapped in the tricolour: U.P. and its people could shine only if the nation could shine and the jawan was given his respect. That this could be understood as excluding Muslims was perhaps intended. 

Travelling in western U.P., I found a deceptive calm in the parts where the 2013 riots had raged. Prima facie, it seemed that the wounds of the past had healed. There were examples of Jats voting for Muslim candidates in places such as Purqazi, a Jat-dominated reserved constituency in Muzaffarnagar district, and Thana Bhawan in Shamli district. Jat villagers in Kaji Kheda in Purqazi said they would vote for Choti Begum of theAjit Singh-ledRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in preference to the BJP’s Pramod Utwal. Choti Begum is a Dalit married into a Muslim household and hence the Begum suffix. Jats have a history of hostility with Dalits while Jats and Muslims, once the backbone of Jat icon Chaudhary Charan Singh’s peasant parties, have been turned into two inimical blocks by the Muzaffarnagar violence. On both counts, Jats would seem to have transcended their prejudices. In Thana Bhawan, the BJP’s candidate, Suresh Kumar, was pitted, among others, against the RLD’s Javed Rao. Mr. Rana was an accused in the Muzaffarnagar violence, which automatically placed him on the side of Jats, who saw themselves as primary victims in the Hindu-Muslim conflict. But Jats, or at least a section of them, seemed to have voted for Javed Rao. 

Had I walked away after merely ascertaining the voting preferences of Jats in both places, I should have truly been happy and convinced that Jats and Muslims had finally reconciled to living in harmony. But longer conversations revealed that hate and suspicion lingered deep in Jat hearts. Ms. Begum and Mr. Rao were the preferred choices only because Jats felt betrayed by the BJP which had reneged on promises made to them. There was anger over denial of a job quota to the community, but bafflingly, the litany of complaints included the Modi government’s failure to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which gives Jammu and Kashmir its special status. To add to this, Jats were seized by guilt that in the 2014 election they had preferred the BJP to Mr. Singh, a fellow Jat and heir to the mantle of Charan Singh. But, as they argued, their vote was to the RLD, not its Muslim candidates. “We swallowed a bitter pill,” they said. Further, in 2014, the BJP was their “only defence against the aggression of Muslims.” A few days after my interaction with Jats in Kaji Kheda, I received a call from Deependra Malik, who was among those I had spoken to. He said Jats had set out to vote the RLD’s Choti Begum, but on voting day a good number had switched to the BJP after hearing reports of a massive Muslim consolidation in favour of the Samajwadi PartyCongress alliance: “An SP-Congress victory means return of Muslim supremacy which we will not allow.” 

A ‘Hindu-Muslim’ election 

In Khanpur village, which falls in the Siwalkhas Assembly constituency of Meerut district, the elder Jats unanimously placed their faith in Ajit Singh, reciting the by now familiar complaints against the BJP. However, the mood changed dramatically when a boisterous group of young Jats muscled into our conversation. They noisily proclaimed that Mr. Modi was and will remain their hero. A 16-year-old school boy, Anirudh Chhikara, was presented to me as the region’s ‘mini Sangeet Som’. The chief claim to fame of Mr. Som, the sitting MLA and current candidate from Sardhana, also in Meerut district, is that he is an accused in the 2013 riots. On January 17, 2017, Mr. Som, nicknamed Sangharshveer (brave warrior) for frontally fighting Muslims, had a case booked against him for showing video clips of the 2013 riots. However, for ‘mini Sangeet Som’ and other young Jats, this was only proof that he remained committed to protecting ‘us from them’. 

As in the case of Jats, there were reports of Muslims voting for the SP-Congress’s Hindu candidates in preference to Muslims in the fray. Muslims I spoke to were more guarded in their choice of words, avoiding direct attacks on Hindus. But the tension was palpable. Babloo Saifi, a resident of Rafikabad Colony in Dhaulana constituency, said Muslims had made up their minds to vote the SP’s Dharmesh Singh Tomar. But Yogi Adityanath’s sudden tour of the region and his “calculatedly provocative” speeches had convinced a section that they would be safer voting the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Muslim candidate, Aslam Ali. 

Everywhere, the conversation invariably revolved around Pakistan, the Indian flag, and how Muslims were not part of the nationalist narrative. What began as a cheerful interaction ended with, “This is a Hindu-Muslim election.” My impressions are from western U.P. but my takeaway is that Prime Minister Modi is popular and the BJP’s messaging has hit the target. 

Vidya Subrahmaniam is Senior Fellow at the Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Beneath the surface calm Western Uttar Pradesh has been transformed by the corrosive post-Muzaffarnagar discourse AFP

Saturday 25 February 2017

Moral Economy of University

Moral economy of a university Its role as a nursery for the availability of eccentricity, and for dissenting imaginations, is under threat,Shiv Visvanathan


Indians do not have the patience to focus on a problem for an extended period of time. We do not think of institutions in the long run. We panic when there is a crisis but when a crisis dims, we lose our focus. As a result, we are poor at institution-building. We treat institutions cosmetically, applying the latest management gloss or creating a fetish of numbers like the ritual of rankings. Today an institution such as the university is in crisis and yet there is no systematic response, no reflexivity, no sense of loss. The university reflects both a failure of sociological analysis and of storytelling. In fact, in the tired eyes of many of my colleagues, dedicated teachers, many who have nursed little undergraduate departments, one already senses the obituary of the institution. Death by neglect, death by illiteracy seems to be the quiet chorus. 

Like a plaything 

True we have a report on education, virtually shelved before it appeared. As a colleague put it, “The T.S.R. Subramanian Committee report is a modest effort with a lot to be modest about.” It is more an effort to understand the university as a bureaucracy. It has no sense of the university as a knowledge system, or as a community of scholars producing ideas. The university has become a plaything, either in the hands of politicians who see in it a reservoir of electoral politics or in the hands of bureaucrats who draw their Kafkaesque songlines around it. What we need today is a report of the university by university teachers, people who nurture students, people who understand what it means to be a Third World academic in a populist era where the Indian university is expected to be instantly world class on a zero-cost system. 
One has to begin by challenging the current assault on the university. In fact, one has to rewrite the contract between the university and society. The recent battles at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the talk fests, the debates showed that the public university has the resilience to fight back, to defend the moral economy of the university. What was impressive about the JNU struggle was the solidarity between faculty and students, a shared vision of the university as a critical space for the democratic imagination. Yet, the JNU struggle opened the raw wounds of the university. Today, the state believes that the universities should be starved, and in that impoverished status, it encourages a few acts to be conspicuous consumption. One does not deny that accounting is important, but more so are accountability and responsibility. The broader vision of a modern university is lost as we convert them to tutorial colleges of the mind. Such a vision was kept alive by everyday practitioners. In fact, if one goes to Delhi University, for example, one finds the real heroes are a few legendary undergraduate teachers. It is around them that legends are built and values transmitted. Delhi over the last few decades produced a Frank Thakurdas, a Rajender Kumar Gupta, a Randhir Singh, a Dilip Simeon. Each created a small panchayat of knowledge, each lived an almost ascetic life. They remained legends, exemplars of what a university should and could be. Each showed that one could create a world of knowledge the college was proud of. Bearers, sweepers, laboratory assistants were proud of these teachers as any student was. They all understood that excellence was a mix of integrity and creativity. As a nostalgic friend put it, they were characters but they also had character. 

Small, simple, sparse but cheerily confident, it is these panchayats of ideas that sustained the sanity and creativity of a university. None of these groups would fit into a rankings evaluation because many of them were part of an oral rather than a written imagination with its dogma of publish or perish. Such a creativity was not restricted to the humanities or social science alone. The role the Department of Physics at Delhi University played in developing and anchoring the Hoshangabad science project was enormous. Such efforts rarely get mentioned in theories of institution-building. In all of them, the normative and the creative were enacted everyday. 

They were rarely rule-bound or procedural. Yet they had a sense of the normative. They doted on classics, treated Marx or Shakespeare as an entire ecology. They taught you the pleasure of reading a book, and they reminded you that democracy needed a sense of the classic, as an everyday benchmark of standards. One still remembers the feast of ideas, the playfulness of scholarship as one recollects a J.P.S. Uberoi literally compering the Friday seminars at Delhi School of Economics or Rajender Kumar Gupta’s colloquium called the Philosoc where a Ramu Gandhi fine-tuned his erratic genius. Knowledge became a gift, and it was gratefully received. Each of these groups was a ‘commons’ where books, memories and insights were shared, a hospitality downed happily with teacups. 
The playful power of these intellectual efforts still recharges many a new imagination. Both teachers and students inevitably know such a community of understanding cannot be created by mercenaries. Love of scholarship went with a love of the university as a community, a way of life. It is a pity that these groups have become the stuff of nostalgia because they represented the everyday genius of the university. Because one does not understand the ecology for exemplars, one fetishes management theories which commoditise education, turning the teacher-student relationship into one of an arid clientelism, a paisa-vasool model, good for bargaining in second-hand shops but a misfit for a world of values. It is the values the university created that upheld the university. Values to a university were a guarantee of competence. 

An element of craft
One has to emphasise the community, the craft element in such institutions. Teaching and research have a craft element, where the ritual of learning has to be internalised in tacit ways emphasising that the university is a rite of passage, an initiation into a way of learning. The experts of today do not understand the care, the nurturance, the rigour and the gestation period this requires: Writing a research paper is literally rewriting a research paper many times. Learning a craft is not a downloaded act. It requires a sense of heuristics, of alternatives. Acquiring a skill is an art form, not a job for prefabricated educationists. Craft needs a face-to-face encounter, a sense of love, a skill, technique that demands time. The university is the last of the craft systems and to destroy teaching and research as crafts is to destroy a university. The Gurukul and the Gharana will be parts of its conscious. 

Questions of renewal
There is a further banalisation that we are not able to articulate. Knowledge should be free but education is not and our politicians with their populism think education is zero cost, where hostels are treated as langars. No one talks about maintenance, the renewal, the sustainability of the university. Its richness as a commons demands that we sustain it as a commons, and no commons can survive without diversity, dissent and marginality. A university is a nursery for the availability of eccentricity, for dissenting imaginations. To punish it for what it naturally produces is an act of political misunderstanding the future will not condone.
                 I wrote this essay because I see an institution I grew up in suffer through assault and neglect. One realises that the Indian state, after hiring a quick consultant reproducing the latest fad abroad, has little interest in education. Its understanding of values as something ancient or revivalist is even more lethal. I do not deny the dependence of the university on state funds, but I think one must insist that the university as an institution of civil society, as a defining core of craft and professionalism must now produce its own report, a restatement of its charging condition and its changing self. One cannot let state and the party or even industry define the core vision of the future. This work is the urgent task before the academe today, to define the values, emphasise the craft and specify the difference that makes a university a defining institution of a pluralistic society.



Shiv Visvanathan is Professor, Jindal Global Law School and Director, Centre of Study of Knowledge System, O.P Jindal Global University

Thursday 23 February 2017

History Optional Paper II


PAPER-II


1. European Penetration into India:

  • The Early European Settlements; The Portuguese and the Dutch; The English and the French East India Companies; Their struggle for supremacy; Carnatic Wars; Bengal-The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal; Siraj and the English; The Battle of Plassey; Significance of Plassey.

2. British Expansion in India:

  • Bengal-Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim; The Battle of Buxar; Mysore; The Marathas; The three Anglo-Maratha Wars; The Punjab.

3. Early Structure of the British Raj:

  • The Early administrative structure; From diarchy to direct contol; The Regulating Act (1773); The Pitt's India Act (1784); The Charter Act (1833); The Voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule; The English utilitarian and India.

4. Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule:

  • Land revenue settlements in British India; The Permanent Settlement; Ryotwari Settlement; Mahalwari Settlement; Economic impact of the revenue arrangements; Commercialization of agriculture; Rise of landless agrarian labourers; Impoverishment of the rural society.
  • Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce; Deindustrialisation; Decline of traditional crafts; Drain of wealth; Economic transformation of India; Railroad and communication network including telegraph and postal services; Famine and poverty in the rural interior; European business enterprise and its limitations.

5. Social and Cultural Developments:

  • The state of indigenous education, its dislocation; Orientalist-Anglicist controversy, The introduction of western education in India; The rise of press, literature and public opinion; The rise of modern vernacular literature; Progress of Science; Christian missionary activities in India.

6. Social and Religious Reform Movements in Bengal and Other Areas:

  • Ram Mohan Roy, The Brahmo Movement; Devendranath Tagore; Iswarchandra Vidyasagar; The Young Bengal Movement; Dayanada Saraswati; The social reform movements in India including Sati, widow remarriage, child marriage etc.; The contribution of Indian renaissance to the growth of modern India; Islamic revivalism-the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements.

7. Indian Response to British Rule:

  •  Peasant movement and tribal uprisings in the 18 th and 19th centuries including the Rangpur Dhing (1783), the Kol Rebellion (1832), the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920), the Santal Hul (1855), Indigo Rebellion (1859-60), Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900); The Great Revolt of 1857 —Origin, character, casuses of failure, the consequences; The shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post- 1857 period; the peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

8. Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism; 

  • Politics of Association; The Foundation of the Indian National Congress; The Safety-valve thesis relating to the birth of the Congress; Programme and objectives of Early Congress; the social composition of early Congress leadership; the Moderates and Extremists; The Partition of Bengal (1905); The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal; the economic and political aspects of Swadeshi Movement; The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India.

9. Rise of Gandhi; Character of Gandhian nationalism; 

  • Gandhi's popular appeal; Rowlatt Satyagraha; the Khilafat Movement; the Non-cooperation Movement; National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement; the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement; Simon Commission; The Nehru Report; the Round Table Conferences; Nationalism and the Peasant Movements; Nationalism and Working class movements; Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947); the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries; Cripps Mission; the Quit India Movement; the Wavell Plan; The Cabinet Mission.

10. Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935.

11. Other strands in the National Movement.

  • The Revolutionaries: Bengal, the Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P. the Madras Presidency, Outside India.
  • The Left; The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Congress Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India, other left parties.

12. Politics of Separatism; 

  • the Muslim League; the Hindu Mahasabha; Communalism and the politics of partition; Transfer of power; Independence.

13. Consolidation as a Nation; Nehru's Foreign Policy;

  • India and her neighbours (1947-1964); The linguistic reorganisation of States (1935-1947); Regionalism and regional inequality; Integration of Princely States; Princes in electoral politics; the Question of National Language.

14. Caste and Ethnicity after 1947; 

  • Backward Castes and Tribes in post-colonial electoral politics; Dalit movements.

15. Economic development and political change; 

  • Land reforms; the politics of planning and rural reconstruction; Ecology and environmental policy in post-colonial India; Progress of Science.

16. Enlightenment and Modern ideas:

  • Major Ideas of Enlightenment : Kant, Rousseau.
  • Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies.
  • Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); spread of Marxian Socialism.

17. Origins of Modern Politics :

  • European States System
  • American Revolution and the Constitution
  • French Revolution and Aftermath, 1789-1815
  • American Civil War with reference to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery.
  • British Democratic politics, 1815-1850 : Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, Chartists.

18. Industrialization :

  • English Industrial Revolution : Causes and Impact on Society.
  •  Industrialization in other countries : USA, Germany, Russia, Japan.
  •  Industrialization and Globalization.

19. Nation-State System :

  • Rise of Nationalism in 19th century.
  • Nationalism : State-building in Germany and Italy.
  • Disintegration of Empires in the face of the emergence of nationalities across the World.

20. Imperialism and Colonialism :

  • South and South-East Asia.
  • Latin America and South Africa.
  • Australia.
  • Imperialism and free trade: Rise of neo-imperialism.

21. Revolution and Counter-Revolution :

  • 19 th Century European revolutions.
  • The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921.
  • Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany.
  • The Chinese Revolution of 1949.

22. World Wars :

  • 1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars : Societal implications.
  • World War I : Causes and Consequences.
  • World War II : Causes and Consequences.



Syllabus of History Optional(2017)

                                                         HISTORY PAPER I



         1.            Source

·        Archaeological sources:
·        Exploration, excavation, epigraphy, numismatics, monuments.

         2.            Literary sources:

·        Indigenous: Primary and secondary; poetry, scientific literature, literature, literature in regional languages, religious literature.
·        Foreign account: Greek, Chinese and Arab writers.

         3.            Pre-history and Proto-history :

·        Geographical factors; hunting and gathering (paleolithic and mesolithic); Beginning of agriculture (neolithic and chalcolithic).

        4.            Indus Valley Civilization:

·        Origin, date, extent, characteristics-decline, survival and significance, art and architecture.

        5.            Megalithic Cultures :

  • Distribution of pastoral and farming cultures outside the Indus, Development of community life, Settlements, Development of agriculture, Crafts, Pottery, and Iron industry.

           6.            Aryans and Vedic Period :

·        Expansions of Aryans in India :
·        Vedic Period: Religious and philosophic literature; Transformation from Rig Vedic period to the later Vedic period; Political, social and economical life; Significance of the Vedic Age; Evolution of Monarchy and Varna system.

             7.       Period of Mahajanapadas :

·        Formation of States (Mahajanapada): Republics and monarchies; Rise of urban centres; Trade routes; Economic growth; Introduction of coinage; Spread of Jainism and Buddism; Rise of Magadha and Nandas.
·        Iranian and Mecedonian invasions and their impact.

            8.       Mauryan Empire :

·        Foundation of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta, Kautilya and Arthashastra; Ashoka; Concept of Dharma; Edicts; Polity, Administration, Economy; Art, architecture and sculpture; External contacts; Religion; Spread of religion; Literature.
·        Disintegration of the empire; sungas and Kanvas.

               9.     Post-Mauryan Period (Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas,
                    Western Kshatrapas) :


·        Contact with outside world; growth of urban centres, economy, coinage, development of religions, Mahayana, social conditions, art, architecture, culture, literature and science.

10.Early State and Society in Eastern India, Deccan and South India:

·        Kharavela, The Satavahanas, Tamil States of the Sangam Age; Administration, Economy, land grants, coinage, trade guilds and urban centres; Buddhist centres; Sangam literature and culture; Art and architecture.

11.Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas:

·        Polity and administration, Economic conditions, Coinage of the Guptas, Land grants, Decline of urban centres, Indian feudalism, Caste system, Position of women, Education and educational institutions; Nalanda, Vikramshila and Vallabhi, Literature, scientific literature, art and architecture.

12.   Regional States during Gupta Era:

·        The Kadambas, Pallavas, Chalukyas of Badami; Polity and Administration, Trade guilds, Literature; growth of Vaishnava and Saiva religions. Tamil Bhakit movement, Shankaracharya; Vedanta; Institutions of temple and temple architecture; Palas, Senas, Rashtrakutas, Paramaras, Polity and administration; Cultural aspects. Arab conquest of Sind; Alberuni, The Chaluky as of Kalyana, Cholas, Hoysalas, Pandyas; Polity and Administration; Local Government; Growth of art and architecture, religious sects, Institution of temple and Mathas, Agraharas, education and literature, economy and society.

13.        Themes in Early Indian Cultural History:

·        Languages and texts, major stages in the evolution of art and architecture, major philosophical thinkers and schools, ideas in Science and Mathematics.

14.   Early Medieval India, 750-1200:

·        Polity: Major political developments in Northern India and the peninsula, origin and the rise of Rajputs.
·        The Cholas: administration, village economy and society “Indian Feudalism”.
·        Agrarian economy and urban settlements.
·        Trade and commerce.
·        Society: the status of the Brahman and the new social order.
·        Condition of women.
·        Indian science and technology.

15.   Cultural Traditions in India, 750-1200:

·        Philosophy: Skankaracharya and Vedanta, Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita, Madhva and Brahma-Mimansa.
·        Religion: Forms and features of religion, Tamil devotional cult, growth of Bhakti, Islam and its arrival in India, Sufism.
·        Literature: Literature in Sanskrit, growth of Tamil literature, literature in the newly developing languages, Kalhan's Rajtarangini, Alberuni's India .
·        Art and Architecture: Temple architecture, sculpture, painting.

            16.   The Thirteenth Century

·        Establishment of the Delhi Sultanate: The Ghurian invasions - factors behind Ghurian success.
·         Economic, Social and cultural consequences.
·        Foundation of Delhi Sultanate and early Turkish Sultans.
·        Consolidation: The rule of Iltutmish and Balban.

17.   The Fourteenth Century:

·        “The Khalji Revolution”.
·         Alauddin Khalji: Conquests and territorial expansion, agrarian and economic measure.
·         Muhammad Tughluq: Major projects, agrarian measures, bureaucracy of Muhammad Tughluq.
·        Firuz Tugluq: Agrarian measures, achievements in civil engineering and public works, decline of the Sultanate, foreign contacts and Ibn Battuta's account.

18.        Society, Culture and Economy in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries:

·        Society: composition of rural society, ruling classes, town dwellers, women, religious classes, caste and slavery under the Sultanate, Bhakti movement, Sufi movement.
·        Culture: Persian literature, literature in the regional languages of North India, literate in the languages of South India, Sultanate architecture and new structural forms, painting, evolution of a composite culture.
·        Economy: Agricultural Production, rise of urban economy and non-agricultural production, trade and commerce.

19.        The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century-Political Developments and Economy:

·        Rise of Provincial Dynasties : Bengal, Kashmir (Zainul Abedin), Gujarat.
·        Malwa, Bahmanids.
·        The Vijayanagara Empire.
·         Lodis.
·        Mughal Empire, first phase : Babur, Humayun.
·        The Sur Empire : Sher Shah’s administration.
·         Portuguese colonial enterprise, Bhakti and Sufi Movements.

20.             The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century- Society and culture:

·        Regional cultures specificities.
·        Literary traditions.
·         Provincial architectural.
·        Society, culture, literature and the arts in Vijayanagara Empire.

21.             Akbar:

·        Conquests and consolidation of empire.
·         Establishment of jagir and mansab systems.
·         Rajput policy.
·        Evolution of religious and social outlook. Theory of Sulh-i-kul and religious policy.
·        Court patronage of art and technology.

22.                 Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century:

·        Major administrative policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb.
·        The Empire and the Zamindars.
·        Religious policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb.
·        Nature of the Mughal State.
·        Late Seventeenth Century crisis and the revolts.
·        The Ahom kingdom.
·        Shivaji and the early Maratha Kingdom.

23.                 Economy and society, in the 16th and 17th Centuries:

·        Population Agricultural and craft production.
·        Towns, commerce with Europe through Dutch, English and French companies : a trade revolution.
·         Indian mercantile classes. Banking, insurance and credit systems.
·        Conditions of peasants, Condition of Women.
·         Evolution of the Sikh community and the Khalsa Panth

24.                      Culture during Mughal Empire:

·        Persian histories and other literature
·         Hindi and religious literatures.
·        Mughal architecture.
·         Mughal painting.
·         Provincial architecture and painting.
·         Classical music.
·        Science and technology.

25.                 The Eighteenth Century:

·        Factors for the decline of the Mughal Empire.
·        The regional principalities: Nizam’s Deccan, Bengal, Awadh.
·        Maratha ascendancy under the Peshwas.
·        The Maratha fiscal and financial system.
·        Emergence ofAfghan power Battle of Panipat, 1761.
·        State of, political, cultural and economic, on eve of the British conquest.