“CORONA AND WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA”

As we along with whole world are fighting Corona, I would like to appreciate the efforts made by our esteemed Government in tackling this global pandemic. We have implemented our lockdown far better than whole of the world. But this lockdown will also cost our economy heavily. We are almost destined towards a zero percent or may be a negative growth. Almost all indicators are hinting towards a recession like never before. This is an extraordinary situation and as u know extraordinary situations require extraordinary efforts too. After a long time India has a stable Government at centre with absolute majority. We can and we should chalk out a plan, whose time is now, to develop ourselves like China, but with a holistic and humane approach. Like a concerned ordinary citizen I also have penned some positive suggestion-

1.       Removal of regional disparities of development:

What is costing most in this fight against corona is regional disparity in development. Government should focus on removal of regional disparities of development. As we see that some parts of country are much more developed than the rest. It dampens our fight at time of pandemic as we saw this time. It also leads to population concentration at some points which in turn leads to lower per capita availability of resources at densely populated areas. While less developed areas are devoid of resources and infrastructure, the developed ones face the pressure of extreme dense population. This also led to the migrant crisis at the time of pandemic. So, we should focus on the development of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. As land and human resource will be cheap in these areas ,  new investments by the private companies should be promoted there only by the government. Government is eyeing on all companies who want to shift their production facilities from China, It is an golden opportunity for this purpose.

2.       Focus on our demographic asset:

As per PFCE data of Govt. Of India, we are basically a consumption economy. Around 60% of our GDP comes from PFCE(Private Final Consumption Expenditure) , which means our 1.3 Billion population is a prized asset to us for fighting this recession. We need to boost the bottom of our chain which will directly move the wheel of economy. We need to increase the liquidity from the bottom till the top route.Most of the expenses in infrastructure should be done in the most backward areas.We can select the 100 most backward districts of India to start with and then on.

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.       Self Reliance:

Government should focus hugely on making India self reliant. It should demoralize unnecessary imports by applying anti dumping duties. It is the best time to re-invent MAKE IN INDIA, the brainchild program of our honorable PM Mr. Narendra Modi. We should find local substitute for our imports and if not substitute then make them locally only.The slogan should now be expanded to “MAKE IN INDIA, MAKE FOR INDIA”.  Our exports have been stagnant at 300 billion Dollars from past 4 years. We should chalk out a plan to enhance them.It is the time to “Go Global Act Local” . It is the time India should sign RCEP and go for ASEANIZATION.

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.       Agrarian Reforms:

The biggest unorganized sector awaits the biggest of all reforms and now is the time. The biggest problem our children face today is of malnutrition or under-nutrition and one of the reason is staple crop fundamentalism. It is the time to remove the staple crop fundamentalism taboo, which in turn will provide for better nutrition for all. Government should introduce MSP for non staple crops. Government should introduce e-procurement of all grains. Efforts should made to minimize the chain from famer to end user by removing middle man.Loan waiver is not the solution of farmers problem nor is fertilizer subsidy. Major problem is the middle man taking out the major gap between end user and farmer. It should be breached as early as possible. APMCs should be strengthened.

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.       Real Estate Reforms:

Government should introduce an “Extra Long Term Capital gain” for a period more than 10 years and make it free. This in turn will help realtors to sell our their old inventory at lesser rates because of less tax and will increase the trading in real estate of pre 2008 properties which deemed to be on hold because of LTCG. Also government should remove GST discrepancies attached with real estate.

Every crisis brings along with it a lot of opportunities too. Now is the best time to introduce second generation reforms and strengthen our supply chain management.

Last but not the least these reforms should be done with honest and firm intentions. Aptly “EK PATHAR TOH TABIYAT SE UCHALO YAARO”