Author
Manish Kumar Jha is an Associate Editor, BW BUSINESSWORLD & BW DEFENCE. He writes on the Foreign affairs, International Trade & Defence. His global coverage-on the ground- spans more than 25 countries worldwide. Received International Press Fellowship award.
It is official now as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reshuffle his council of ministers on July 8. Top three who are among the list for the ministerial birth including Narayan Rane from Maharashtra, Shantanu Thakur from West Bengal and Sarbananda Sonowal from Assam already landed in Delhi on Tuesday. And, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia has also arrived in Delhi, abruptly cancelling his trip to Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. In addition to that Meenakshi Lekhi, Kapil Patil, Ajay Bhatt, Heena Gavit, Pritam Munde and Shobha Karandlaje are among those leaders present for the interaction with the PM. What are the other major indications now?
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Agriculture in India has traditionally been the playground of politics. What was required-- a few clean policies that empower Indian farmers, open the scope and take the fruits of Indian farmer to the global market. Instead, it became the de-facto sector for MSP- subsidy-only-policy that harmed the sector. And the alarming fact that India’s wastage of major agricultural produce was about INR 92,651 crore in 2016, called for reforms and measures. What is then three Bills offer? A reform, finally, is opposed by a section of farmers in India. Where is agri-technology and last-mile chain of cold storage? BW Businessworld's Manish Kumar Jha raises such issues with Y. K Alagh, a former union minster who laid down fundamentals in setting policies as the chairman of Agricultural Prices Commission.
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Principal Economic Adviser in the finance ministry Sanjeev Sanyal’s work in chaos theory and his belief that economic growth demands perpetual imbalance may be the right recipe for the Indian economy given its complexity. The government though is very conservative on fiscal balance. He talks to BW Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Jha about fiscal support and its multiplier effect, the bold steps and disruptions in opening the economy further, pushing pending reforms, gyrating out of pandemic-led economic disruptions, and more.
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Omkar Goswami, noted economist & Chairman, CERG Advisory tells BW Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Jha that Indian economy must find its way into global trade. He says that while South-East Asian and East Asian countries were creating world-class exporting capacities and related infrastructure, we focused on import substitution. As we still do, for what else is ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, he asks. Excerpts of the interaction
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“So a consumption-led fiscal stimulus will not result in a virtuous economic cycle unless its magnitude is huge as has been the case in the US or other advanced economies”
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As India fends for resources to fight a virus and keep the economy on an even keel, it also looks beyond the pandemic and the targeted $5 trillion GDP. Are the country’s strategies and policy framework on track? BW Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Jha speaks to economists across the political divide for a realistic assessment of the state of the economy
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The scale and spread of Covid 2.0 has once again subdued demand, especially in rural India. The economy will obviously need both fiscal and monetary support in greater measures at least to ensure recovery does not falter. To be able to entice more investment into the economy, some extraordinary policy measures will become necessary like reforms in the financial sector, the Railways and defence production, along with a more transparent fiscal deficit target. In a candid chat with BW Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Jha, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and leading economist, Bibek Debroy, talks of policies that will decide the future course of the Indian economy and that “illusive inclusive growth”.
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The economic growth statistics of the last financial year underplay some economic indicators like FDI and GST collection. The GDP numbers released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) show a 7.3 per cent contraction of the Indian economy over FY2020-21 ‒ the worst in over 40 years. Along, we must subject FDI to a closer analysis. Where are we headed in terms of economic planning and how do we reorient our growth story? And, crucially, what about India's youth dividend turning in bubble? Former Union Finance Minister and Congress member of Parliament, P. Chidambaram discusses these and other lacunae in planning with BW Businessworld’s Manish Kumar Jha.
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Abhijit V. Banerjee, Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. How well his ideas fit into India’s economic growth amid the volcanic challenges are debated in his book--Good Economics for Hard Times-- which he co-authored with Esther Duflo. He touches upon more politically contentious issues like trade, inequality and the universal basic income for those who are left out of the economic growth story. In a free-wheeling conversation with Manish Kumar Jha of BW Businessworld, Prof. Banerjee comments on India’s healthcare, the privatization, fiscal support, and the complex matrix of Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme. He asserts that the Indian economy could be competitive should “we open ourselves to trade”. Excerpts:
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Defence Ministry today notified the 'second List' to boost indigenisation in the Defence sector. Defence Minister approved a proposal of the Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence (MoD) to notify the ‘Second Positive Indigenisation List’ of 108 items. MoD sets the export target of Rs 35,000 crore as Indian defence industry is striving to be part of the global defence value chain and one of the leading countries in the defence sector.
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