RRRexit bad omen for Indian economy, image

Calling RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's decision to not seek a second term a `bad omen' for the Indian economy, eminent economists and former policymakers said it will be seen by the world as India's non-approval to a policy against inflation and bad loans.
Rajan's colleague at Chicago University Booth School of Business Luigi Zingales termed it is a “huge loss for India“, while Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath said it was “deeply disappointing“ that the government instead of fighting hard to keep Rajan has let him go amid all the distasteful comments by those questioning his commitment to India's best interests.
Indian-origin economist and British Labour Party leader Meghnad Desai said he feels “sorry for India's reputation abroad“, while World Bank's Chief Economist and India's former Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said Rajan has been one of the finest central bank governors.
Fifty-three-year-old Rajan, with a reputation to have rightly called the 2008 global financial crisis, on Saturday made public his decision against a second term after his current tenure ends on September 4, 2016.
Rajan, the on-leave Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth School, said he would return to academia, but would be ready to serve India again in future.
This is being seen in some quarters as his unhappiness over the way things have developed in recent months with regard to a barrage of personal attacks on him from some quarters and the government reaction to that.
Echoing the sentiments of various top industry leaders from India, who termed Rajan's exit as `nation's loss', the economists from abroad and the former policymakers back home said it can prove to be “very costly“ for Indian economy.
Gopinath told PTI history will judge Rajan as one of the most effective central bankers of not just India but of the world“.
Desai said it is a pity that Rajan decided to go and the task of his successor, whoever he or she is, will be very difficult. “I am not surprised but sorry for India's reputation abroad. He was criticised for doing what a central banker has to do. It will be seen by the world at large that an anti-inflation policy, a policy of cleaning up nonperforming assets of banks and being tough on banks' balance sheets are not policies which meet with approval in India.“
Former finance secretary Arvind Mayaram said the development would be very costly for the economy. “Raghuram Rajan's decision not to seek second term would be very costly for the economy. Not a good omen,“ Mayaram tweeted.
Former deputy governor Rakesh Mohan said there must be a stability at the top in the central bank and favoured a minimum five-year tenure to push reforms properly.
Mohan, whose name is also doing the rounds as a probable contender to succeed Rajan, however, said it is “premature to discuss“ the issue.
“It is extremely important to have stability at the top of the central bank and is to be taken something as important. The governor and deputy governors should be given at least, may be, a five-year term to run the reforms well,“ Mohan told a TV channel.
He said most central banks across the world have around 5-7 years of tenure for the governor and deputy governors.
Continuing his tirade against the RBI boss, Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy said Rajan has been acting as a “Congress agent“ ever since the BJP came to power in May 2014.
Swamy's remarks came after Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that he was saddened by the way an “upright“ RBI Governor was being targeted by BJP MPs.
The BJP MP responded: “This only proves what I have always suspected...that he [Rajan] worked as a Congress agent.“ He accused Rajan of “sabotaging the country's economy by trying to put all small, medium industries out of business“.

Car density / km of road

Mumbai has the highest density of private cars on the road compared to other metros.
Statistics by state transport ministries show Mumbai has 430 cars/km of road, compared to Kolkata's 308. Pune is third with 248 cars/km. Delhi, despite having the most private cars (27.9 lakh), has a car density of 93/km.
Mumbai's roads are bursting at the seams as 172 cars are added daily , while the length has remained close to 2,000 km for few years.In six years there has been a 56% rise in private cars, which occupy 85% of road space and are an impediment for growth of public transport. There are 8.6 lakh private cars in the city at present.
Public vehicles have a population of 1.64 lakh and density of 82 vehicles/km of road. It is 19% of the total number private of cars plying on any stretch in the city .“Private cars will keep growing unless there are good alternatives and a robust public transport system of AC buses and metros,“ said expert Sunil Mone. “The Ghatkopar-Versova metro has dissuaded many from using cars along east-west corridor.“
Private cars have also become affordable for the middle class.
Ashok Datar of the Mumbai Environmental Social Network said, “Public transport can never grow unless we remove cars parked on the road at least on major arteries. About 20% road space is used for car parking.“
Aggarwal said the government should also encourage aggregator AC buses, with each carrying 40-45 passengers, freeing up significant road space.
Experts said people aged 25-30 are more into buying cars as they are not guaranteed good public transport to travel to office. Last year, US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx stressed the need for an effective mass transit system and creation of more travel options for people commuting in the same space. Former transport commissioner V N More had proposed restricting private cars, and new registrations should be done only if there is an “assured parking space“ in the housing society . He had also proposed a hefty cess on petrol and diesel for cars and exorbitant parking charges in commercial areas.

A major rejig in Karnataka

Less than two years for the next assembly elections, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah effected a major cabinet rejig in what's largely seen as an image makeover. He dropped 14 non-performing ministers and inducted 13 in the shuffle, his biggest in three years.
Portfolio allocation is expected in the next 2-3 days.Sources said the CM is planning a major rejig of all portfolios. Karnataka is the only politically important state left with the Congress, which is facing an existential crisis.The reshuffle is part of a larger strategy to gear up the party to keep the reins for a second straight term and boost workers' morale. The exercise, drastic in a sense, touched off a wave of dissidence in the party , with many parts of the state planning or observing a voluntary bandh to protest the axing of their leaders from the cabinet. Governor Vaju Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the nine cabinet ministers and four ministers of state with independent charge at Raj Bhavan here. An hour before the swearing-in, the CM sacked 14 ministers on grounds of ill health or inefficiency.
The new cabinet ministers are Kagodu Thimmappa, KR Ramesh Kumar, Basavaraj Rayaraddi, Tanveer Sait, SS Mallikarjun, Ramesh Jarkiholi, MR Seetharam, Santosh Lad and HY Meti. The ministers of state are Priyank Kharge, Rudrappa M Lamani, Eshwar Khandre and Pramod Madhwaraj.
Thimmappa and Kumar were assembly speakers; Priyank is the son of Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, who was present at the swearing-in. A last-minute omission from the list of new inductees was Vijayanagar MLA M Krishnappa. His name was on the list till Saturday night. Some ministers said Krishnappa had to be kept out as Bengaluru had many representations in the cabinet; others said Vokkaliga leaders expressed strong displeasure over the Vijayanagar MLA replacing heavyweight MH Ambareesh. A Congress leader said: “Also, he is facing many cases.This forced the CM to rethink.“
A surprise inductee was mining baron and Kalghatgi MLA Santosh Lad. The Ballari strongman quit the Siddaramaiah ministry in 2013 after his name allegedly figured in a mining scam. Since his name has been cleared, he was inducted into the ministry. He is likely to get the labour portfolio, held by PT Parameshwara Naik, who has been shown the door.
The CM has returned to the Ahinda template and also infused young blood into the cabinet. The caste-wise break-up of the 33-member cabinet is: OBCs 9, Lingayats 7, Vokkaligas 5, Scheduled Castes 5, Muslims 3, Brahmins 2, Scheduled Tribe and Christian one each.
The next big task for Siddaramaiah is to douse the flames of dissidence. Sacked minister V Srinivasa Prasad is expected to hold a press conference on Monday to “reveal something big“. Eight disgruntled legislators from Bengaluru have threatened to quit if Siddaramaiah fails to accommodate at least one of their three leaders: HM Revanna, ST Somashekar or M Krishnappa.

Govt to unleash Blue Revolution

Laying roads for `Blue Revolution' through an ambitious target, the Centre has decided to work for increasing the country's export earnings from fish and fish products from Rs.33,441 crore in 2014-15 to Rs.1,00,000 crore in the next five years.
The agriculture ministry will next month come out with a new national policy on fisheries, paving the way to achieve this target through implementation of an umbrella scheme for integrated development and management of fisheries.The private sector will also be involved to achieve the objective.
The new policy will cover development and management of inland fisheries, aquaculture, marine fisheries including deep sea fishing and all activities undertaken by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) towards realising a `Blue Revolution' in the country.
“The new policy on fisheries is ready for release early next month. The ministry will on that occasion specify how it would go for nearly three-fold increase in the country's export earnings from fish and fish products in next five years through various policy intervention with an outlay of Rs.3,000 crore for a period of five years,“ said an official.
He said, “Focus on fisheries, particularly the inland ones, will also help in realising the goal of doubling the income of farmers in next five-six year through involving them in allied activities by tapping various water bodies including newly dug up ponds across the country.“
India's fish production has increased from 7.5 lakh tonnes in 1950-51 to 100.70 lakh tonnes during 2014-15, while the export earnings touched Rs.33,441 crore. It accounts for around 18% of export earnings from the agricultural sector.
India is at present the second largest producer of fish in the world after China. More than 50 different types of fish and shellfish products are exported to 75 countries around the world.
Currently , the USA is the largest market for Indian seafood products with a share of 26.46% in terms of India's export of marine products followed by South East Asian countries (25.71%) and European Union nations (20.08%).
Asked how the country would achieve the ambitious target of three-fold increase in export earnings from fish and fish products in next five years, the official said the ministry had already proposed to merge all existing schemes in the fisheries sector that would mainly focus on increasing production and productivity from aquaculture and fisheries resources -both inland and marine.
Besides the increase in fish production, the integrated scheme would stimulate growth of the subsidiary and allied industries and growth of other related economic activities, especially in the coastal regions, leading to many direct and indirect benefits to the entire fisheries sector.

Centre plans mega coastal zones

With the government facing flak for not creating adequate number of jobs, PM Narendra Modi and his team of economic policymakers got down to preparing an action plan on the issue on Saturday .One of the key themes emerging is to focus on an export-led, port-driven strategy , akin to the one followed by China, especially when labour is more expensive across the border and manufacturers are looking to shift to lower cost destinations.
The NITI Aayog has strongly pitched for mega coastal economic zones to drive India's export-led growth strategy and create thousands of jobs. In a presentation, the panel's vice chairman Arvind Panagariya pointed to the experience of Japan, South Korea and China and argued how exports played a key role in sustained rapid growth by these three Asian giants and made a strong case for creating these mega zones to help India win the exports game in world markets.
The Modi government, which has completed two years, is scrambling to create millions of jobs for the youth entering the workforce. The idea is to build these zones along with the Sagarmala project which aims to modernise the country ports.
NDA was voted in on the plank of boosting growth and creating jobs. But two consecutive years of drought have dented those ambitions as the farm sector has slowed. The slowdown in the construction industry has also hurt jobs.
To start with, the government could look at setting up the zones on the Andhra coast and Gujarat. The idea is to limit these zones to two or three and create clusters around them.This would also help set up new cities and boost demand as well.The view which is emerging is that depending on the domestic market may not help the country achieve its ambition of a sustained 8-10% growth.
The presentation, sources said, pointed to the fact that India, with its large labour force, is in an advantageous position to benefit from the slowdown in China and could tap into the demand from global firms eying alternative manufacturing countries with large and steady supply of labour. Earlier, NITI Aayog had said large firms are missing in employment generating sectors such as apparel, footwear, electronic and electrical products.

Delhi - Varanasi Bullet train in the works

The second bullet train after the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor will run from Delhi to Varanasi, a distance of 782 km, and could complete the journey in just two hours and 40 minutes.
The project connecting the capital to the pilgrimage city , which is also PM Modi's Lok Sabha constituency , while passing through Lucknow has been fast-tracked ahead of the UP polls next year.
Though it will be a while before the service rolls out, the Delhi-Varanasi stretch -part of the Delhi-Kolkata corridor -has been accorded topmost priority for the railways after the national transporter accelerated the Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch. Fast-tracking of the stretch seems to be part of the Modi regime's strategy to project a pro-development image ahead of UP polls.
The Delhi-Varanasi stretch will pass through Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow and Sultanpur.
An official said the interim report by a Spanish firm, which is conducting a feasibility study of the high-speed rail corridor. says the travel time between Delhi and Lucknow (506 km) is likely to be 1 hour 45 minutes while travel between Delhi to Kolkata (1,513 km) will take 4 hours 56 minutes.The preliminary cost, without rolling stock, being worked out is estimated to be about Rs.43,000 crore for the Delhi-Varanasi stretch and around Rs.84,000 crore for the entire Delhi-Kolkata corridor. However, an official said the final cost will be worked out only after field study of the finally chosen alignment.

Shiv Sena @50

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray poured ridicule on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's `desh badal raha hai' campaign, yet refrained from going hammer and tongs at ally BJP .
Thackeray was addressing his party workers on the occasion of the Sena's 50th birthday . In his 30-minute speech in Goregaon, Thackeray spoke of a “respectable alliance“ with the BJP for the BMC elections, triggering speculation that Matoshree may have left the door half-open for seat sharing talks with the BJP .
Yet, in the same breath, he exhorted Sainiks to be prepared to go solo in the civic elections in 10 cities, including Mumbai and Thane, next year. Thackeray had to do some tight-rope walking given the volatile situation in state politics, sources said. “The country may be changing, but the situation (in the country) hasn't changed. The re is non-stop infiltration from China, Pakistan-sponsored terrorism remains unabated and prices of essential commodities are soaring,“ he said. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sa id on Sunday , “We will not go down on bended knees for a poll alliance. We want a respectable alliance...I don't exactly know about the (BJP) alliance's future. We will have to be ready to fight and win on our own strength,“ he added.
Thackeray's speech, which was meant to commemorate the Sena's historic moment, offered nothing new to party workers, said observers. While he couldn't stop targeting the BJP , given his party mouthpiece Saamna's strident stand against the Sena's senior ally in recent months, he struck a friendly note too, offering Sena's help to the BJP to curb price rise and streamline administration. “The Sena is in power. So, we feel the responsibility that comes with the power,“ he said as if in justification of his party's frequent attacks on the BJP .
Thackeray's climbdown can be attributed to a series of clever moves by the BJP over the last few days. For instance, Union minister for urban development Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday asked the state BJP executive committee to soothe Matoshree's ruffled feathers in view of the upcoming civic elections in Maharashtra.
Acknowledging BJP's gestures, Thackeray chided NCP president Sharad Pawar for trying to create a wedge in the saffron alliance. Pawar had recently asked Thackeray to quit the BJP government if the Sena was a suffering partner in the alliance.“We don't need advice from Pawar...the NCP shared power with the Congress in Maharashtra for full 15 years, and the two parties often fought and clashed. Pawar need not worry about the BJP-Sena ties,“ Thackeray said.
Striking a retro note, Thackeray recalled the Babri demolition and the subsequent political turmoil in the 1990s. “The Sena was then dubbed a `goonda' party . We may be goons, but just ask yourself one question. What would have been the fate of Hindus of Mumbai if the Sena was not present on the scene?'' he said. The Ram temple issue has been conveniently forgotten, he remarked.
Paying a tribute to Balasaheb, Uddhav asked, “You may have seen many chief ministers and many PMs, but how many Hindu `hriday samrats' have you seen?“