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Cover

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LETTERS 3

NEWS 34-38

EDITOR

Ajey Bharti

ASSOCIATE-EDITOR

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CONTENTSCOVER STORY 6

Making

China Pay

for its Deeds

Dr. Ashwani Mahajan

Vol-25, No. 7

Aashad-Shravan 2077 July 2020

1 Cover Page2. Cover Inside Page

08 DISCUSSIONJunk Jugaad, Innovate India....................................................................... K.K. Srivastava

10 ANALYSISChina’s BRI trap.......................................................................... Sandhya Jain

12 CONSIDERATIONG-12 must include respect for human rights......................................................................... Sanjaya Baru

14 INTERVIEW'Business and war cannot go side by side': Dr. Ashwani Mahajan.................................................................................................

16 FARMINGJaivik Bharat.................................................................. Dr. Vandana Shiva

20 PERSPECTIVEWhy India Needs a Stronger Essential Commodities Act.............................................................. Indra Shekhar Singh

22 ISSUEEnable migrant workers to return....................................................... Dr. Bharat Jhunjhunwala

24 FARMINGA case to make MSP legal right of farmers................................................................... Devinder Sharma

26 AGRICULTUREReforms in agriculture marketing................................................................. Kailash Choudhary

28 OPNIONPM Modi Helped Lockdown Become A People's Movement............................................................. Feroze Varun Gandhi

31 HISTORYHistorical background to the Bishnoi Movement..................................................... Prof. Nandini Sinha Kapur

33 REPORTReport on Swadeshi Warriors: Meetings and Trends

39 Back Inside Cover40 Back Cover

4

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�Letters

Countering the Chinese: Military,

Trade, and Digital

If the history has taught us one lesson right from the 1962 war till recent Galwan

is to never trust the Chinese. The recent clash at Galwan valley is one such example. The

Chinese troops tried to enter the Galwan valley and tried to claim the forward post of

India as Chinese territory. The Indian soldiers met the Chinese soldiers gallantly and

inflicted a heavy loss on them. The Chinese have been following the expansionist policies in

the South Chinese seas, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong and most of its neighbours. The

entire world has appreciated the stand taken by India in putting a check to Chinese

aggression and expansionist policy.

While the soldiers have taken a stand at the forward posts, within the country there

is huge apprising to ban everything that benefits China. The areas in which Chinese can be

countered will be in trade, investments and digitally. In trade, India still has a trade deficit

of $48.6 billion. Though the deficit has been reducing lately due to tariff policies of the

government , it is still not enough, the government should increase its tariff and import non-

tariff measures on as an The Indian consumers and shopkeepers have been systematically

trying to ban every Chinese good and looking for alternative. India has also launched a

digital strike by banning 59 apps including the Tiktok and Help Swadeshi Jagaran

Manch has been the foremost in raising the privacy concerns associated with these apps.

Taking the cue from India more countries including USA may put a ban on Chinese apps.

The Chinese companies so far have strategically invested in Indian startups over the

years. The cumulative investment of Chinese stand at a staggering $6.2 billion. The

ministry has already promised to re-look into the said investments. It is in India's best

interest if the Indian venture capital firms can replace the existing Chinese investment

with Indian funds. A consortium of funds together could replace the existing Chinese

investment in the Indian startups. While the soldiers gallantly defend the borders of

India, it is important for us to fight Chinese in all aspects related to investments, trade

and also digital.– Harsha Vardhan, Hyderabad, Telangana

The age of expansionism is

over, this is the era of de-

velopment… whenever we

have seen expansionist

tendencies, these have

spelt danger for world

peace.Narendra Modi,

Prime Minister, India

In the wake of the ban

which we have imposed...I

think it is a great opportu-

nity. Can we come up with

good apps made by Indi-

ans? Let the dependence

on foreign apps, with their

own agenda for a variety

of reasons, stop.Ravi Shankar Prasad

Electronics and Information Technology Minister, India

Self-reliance can be

achieved by rejuvenating

the country’s indigenous

industry, including small

scale industries, small

businesses, artisans, rural

industries and other non-

farm activities with an aim

to generate inclusive

growth with impetus on

employment.Dr. Ashwani Mahajan

Co-convenor, SJM

5

EDITORIAL

Swap Chinese Investment by Indian Investment

China has also been making huge profit through social media apps, e-commerce apps and other types ofapps; apart from collecting valuable information from our people and sending the same to China, causing securitythreat. The Government of India has also toughened its stand against all these acts. Recently, the Government ofIndia has banned 59 Chinese apps and has cancelled many of contracts to Chinese companies. Preparations arebeing made to increase import duty and adopt other non-tariff measures to curb Chinese imports.

In the past, Chinese companies and investors who cannot be separated from Chinese government have beeninvesting heavily in Indian startups and other businesses. Although China's investment in India directly is hardly $8 billion, actual investment is slated to be much more than that. Some people say that we should not stop Chineseinvestments, because it can hamper the growth of our startups and impact the businesses and employment in thecountry. Similar argument is also given about Chinese imports that cheap imports from China should be allowedas they help reduce the cost of production and that only can make us globally competitive. But we should notforget that our startups are the enterprises and businesses of future. If due to Chinese investments, their owner-ship and management goes into Chinese hands, nothing will remain Indian. Not only their business decisions,valuable market share and data will also go into Chinese hands. The example of Paytm is before us. Today, Paytm,with the largest market share in digital payments is in the hands of China's Alibaba. They are now venturing intobanking as well. Recently Alibaba, which has a large stake in Paytm, has tried to enter the insurance businessdirectly by purchasing a defunct insurance company Raheja QBE General Insurance Company through Paytm.

We can conclude that Chinese investments should not be seen as a merely money coming in, but should be seenas entrusting our businesses into Chinese hands. Secondly, due to the boycott of China, business of Indian enterpris-es, apps, payment companies, infrastructure companies are booming. In such a situation, if the Chinese investmentin these companies is not stopped, then these companies too will sooner or later, go into Chinese hands and thecountry may be a moot spectator. Need of the hour is that Indian investors start investing in Indian start ups. It isimportant that even today Indian venture capitalists have been investing in Indian start-ups, though their contribu-tion in quite low. This Venture Capital, is funded by the big industrial houses, big corporate and high net worthindividuals. It is well known that a startup means an idea, through which our youth build their venture with theirskills. These enterprises are mostly working in e-commerce, social media apps, consumer services, industrial produc-tion services, agriculture related businesses etc. Since these startups carry high risk, banks and other financialinstitutions are reluctant to lend money to them. But venture capitalists readily agree to provide equity capital tothem, as the profits from successful entrepreneurs more than make up for their losses even if some startups fail.

Venture capitalists are Indian as well as foreigners. Foreigners include funds from China, America, Europeand other countries. It is seen that the investment in startups in e-commerce and digital payments in India hasincreased significantly. It is a matter of concern that through the ownership of these ecommerce, social mediaand payment companies, China has been transferring huge amount of valuable data from us to their country,which poses danger to not only our business but even internal and external security, apart from disturbing oursocial fabric. For this, it is necessary not only to prevent further Chinese investment, but also to find ways to swapChinese investments by Indian capital.

It is well known that the cost of capital in India is high, so companies have been taking loans from othercountries, including China, at low rate interest. Many a times, China has been giving loans at low interest to Indiancompanies, for the purpose of selling their equipment and machinery. Due to all these reasons, China's invest-ment in the country has been increasing. Apart from this, the cost of finance for Indian venture capitalists is alsovery high. People who invest in most venture capitalist funds provide funds to invest in startups after paying fulltax on their incomes. Though, the importance of Indian investors is no less than foreign investors, however, theyhave been at the receiving end in terms of tax treatment. If we see the Indian Angel Individual Investor wouldpay tax at 20 percent (indexed) and a non-resident individual angel investor would pay tax at 10 percent un-indexed. Since, after indexing also Indian individual investors would end up paying more tax than the foreignindividual angel investors. There are other ambiguities also with regard to relative tax treatment of Indian versusforeign individual investors, which put Indian investors at disadvantageous position.

Perhaps foreign investors were given concessions over Indian investors in order to woo foreigners. Buttoday in the changed circumstances where investment from China is unwelcome, we can encourage Indianinvestment by applying the principle of equity in tax liability. The country will get many benefits from stoppingChinese investment and swapping the earlier investment. It will help retaining startups in Indian hands; stopoutward migration of ideas and intellectual property; stop outflow of data and dent China's supremacy.

6

COVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORYYYYY

Today, almost all countries around the world are bat-tling the virus from China, which has so far infectedmore than 9 million people and has also killed half amillion people. There is a belief in the world that Chinawas researching this virus, in its laboratory, for its bio-logical warfare designs, which suddenly leaked andspread through the city of Wuhan, China. Even if it isnot a conspiracy of China, it is well known that Chinahid its spirit from the world and continued its air traveland spread the virus around the world. Due to this irre-sponsible behaviour of China, not only people aroundthe world are facing a health crisis but they are alsofacing a terrible economic crisis because over the last 3

months, economic activities have almost stalled and it seems that the situation willnot be normal before December of this year. So even though people from allover the world have generally postponed all purchases other than their essentialrequirements, the world still appears to be dependent on China for the purchaseof some essential commodities. The reason for this is that in the last nearly twodecades, since China became member of the WTO, it has captured markets glo-bally with its cheap goods. America, Europe, Africa, Latin American countriesare all dependent on Chinese goods, as their industries have been generally de-stroyed due to not being able to compete with cheap goods from China.

In such a situation, China is emerging as a superpower of the world com-pared to America. With trillions of dollars of foreign exchange reserves, it hasstarted a mega project, namely, Belt Road Initiative (BRI), involving 67 countries,so that it can control the infrastructure over a large part of the world and couldtrap most of the countries under its debt. With designs to enhance its strategicpower in the world, it has already started snatching away strategically significantterritories from member countries of BRI. The capturing of Sri Lanka’s Ham-bantota port is an example of China’s nefarious designs.

China, meanwhile, has expanded its strategic power with the help of itseconomic power. The history of China so far has been of an expansionist, cap-turing of thousands of kilometers of land is the example. Since 2001, it hasstarted expanding its expansionist designs even more rapidly. All its neighboringcountries always remain apprehensive of China that it can forcefully stake itsclaim on their land at any point of time.

USA has already waged a trade war against China’s fraudulent trade policyand is also expelling Chinese companies like Huawei from its telecom sector.After the Corona crisis, almost every country is moving away from China. ManyEuropean countries have also clearly expressed their displeasure by returning ship-ments of cheap and fake test kits back to China. Whereas, America’s trade war

Making China Pay for its Deeds

In the name of

cheap, we cannot

put our country to

hardships. After

Corona, a

challenge has

come, which we

can convert into

an opportunity.

And this effort of

converting crisis

into an

opportunity is

Atmanirbhar

Bharat (Self

Reliant India).

Dr. Ashwani

Mahajan

7

COVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORCOVER STORYYYYY

against China continues unabated,the countries of the EuropeanCommunity have also decided toimpose special import duties ongoods coming from China. Theyare apprehensive of act of Chinain subsidising its exports, which iscausing damage to their industries.

It seems that China’s belt roadproject is also going to fall intodisarray. Significantly, China hasbuilt road and other infrastructurein the name of China Pakistan Eco-nomic Corridor (CPEC), on Pa-kistan Occupied Kashmir (POK),despite the opposition from India,due to which India boycotted andprotested the expansionist BRI. Butdespite that 67 countries hadjoined BRI. However, many ofthem have already realised the ex-pansionist intentions of China andhave started distancing themselvesfrom BRI. Significantly, Malaysiahas already considerably trimmedits project. The Sri Lankan peopleand government are very annoyedwith China after losing of Ham-bantota port to China. The peopleand governments of many othercountries are no longer enthusias-tic to take that project forward.Many countries including Maldives,Mongolia, Montego, Pakistan, Ka-zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos etc,have already been caught in Chi-na’s debt trap.

Even European countries likeItaly, which, despite oppositionfrom the US, had previously par-ticipated in the Belt Road Plan, af-ter getting exposed to Corona vi-rus from Chinese workers com-ing from Wuhan, are now recon-sidering its ties with BRI of China.Other countries, who were en-gaged with China economically,namely African countries, LatinAmerican countries and Australia,

all are now unhappy with China.Australia’s growing engagementwith India has been worrying Chi-na. It can be said that countries allover the world, including India, areboycotting Chinese goods. Gov-ernments there are breaking tieswith Chinese companies and arecreating tariffs and non-tariff bar-riers to curb Chinese goods, andsee China as a strategic threat, giv-en China’s expansionist attitude. Wecan also call such a situation a ‘glo-bal boycott’ of China.

Why question the successof boycott?

China is in deep trouble dueto public anger, boycott and in-creasing opposition from the gov-ernments all over the globe. Writ-ings of Chinese government’smouthpiece Global Times arepointing to this more clearly. Thereare still many people in India whobelieve that the boycott of Chinawill not fructify, because we haveextreme dependence on China.Our country’s dependence on Chi-na, including mobile phones, elec-tronics, active pharmaceutical in-gredients (APIs), healthcare equip-ments, chemicals, metals, toys,components and raw materials forindustries; is so high that Chinaboycott is not possible, and ban onimports from China could beharmful to India’s economy. Theyalso say that even if a completeboycott of Chinese goods is done,it will not cause any harm to China,because its exports to India are only$ 68.2 billion as against its globalexports of $ 2498 billion, which isonly 2.7% of its total exports.

We have to understand thatChina enjoys a total trade surplusof $ 50 billion from our countrywhich is 11.6% of its total trade

surplus ($ 430 billion). Also, let’snot forget that the US has a tradedeficit of $ 360 billion, which ismore than 83% of China’s tradesurplus. If both India and Ameri-ca join hands to shun Chinese im-ports, then all the trade surplus ofChina will vanish. So far as India’sdependence on China’s imports isconcerned, it is not right to under-estimate India’s capability. Until 15years ago 90 percent of activepharmaceutical ingredients (APIs),the raw materials for pharmaceu-ticals were manufactured in India,but due to dumping by China, ourAPI industry was ruined. To re-build the same, the government hasalready announced a package ofRs 3000 crore. Many productscoming from China are of ZeroTechnology, which can easily bestarted getting manufactured inIndia immediately.

Recently in just 2 months In-dia has become self sufficient inmany requirements including PPEKits, Testing Kits and so far morethan 50,000 ventilators have alsobeen manufactured in India. India’stalent and capability should not bedoubted. It will not be prudent totake our procurement decisionssolely on the basis of the price ofproducts coming from China.Imports of products dumped byChina have led to the collapse ofmanufacturing in India. We mustconsider the cost of cheap Chineseimports in terms of rising pover-ty, unemployment and destitute ofthe people. In the name of cheap,we cannot put our country to hard-ships. After Corona, a challengehas come, which we can convertinto an opportunity. And this ef-fort of converting crisis into anopportunity is Atmanirbhar Bhar-at (Self Reliant India). ❑❑

8

The goal of Make in India or Atmanirbhar Bharat can be concret-ized only on the foundation of products of world quality manufac-tured in India. For this India needs an innovative culture, mind set,and eco-system. Alas, it is sorely lacking.What prevails is the accep-tance of jugaad – patchwork – technology. Better late than never,however. India needs to identify limited key sunrise sectors – artifi-cial intelligence, blockchain, electric mobility, high value pharma etc.– in which it should attempt to leapfrog at global level so as tobecome a hub of creative destruction (to borrow a phrase fromSchumpeter) and catapult in the category of developed nations. Weshould be able to research, develop, prototype, manufacture, and de-

liver world class products to cater to entire globe including the vastly untappeddomestic economy. The Indian entrepreneur must get size and scale for this.

Alas, Indian govt. remains under ambitions and feeble hearted. To take oneinstance, the govt. is trying to move rapidly on Artificial Intelligence (AI) front.Both start ups and established corporate are seeking to develop AI solution, inareas spanning from agriculture to armaments. Old economy entities are deploy-ing the technology to improve product and processes for better delivery andsatisfaction to end users. Having said that, however, the focus is on AI applica-tions of incremented value addition kind, not on fundamental research. Even inthat, the work pertains to improving existing solutions, and innovations alreadyavailable with tech giants. The race for leadership in the field is between the US,China and EU. All of them have systematically planned to dominate the globalAI scene, spending huge dollars on one hand and setting up the appropriate ecosystem on other. Indian govt. needs to think big and take a long term view.

Models of successful innovators from China and West would be instructivehere. Chinese companies first adopted Silicon Valleys’ technologies for Chineseconsumption initially and then attempted to improve upon it. The Chinese rou-tinely monitor which apps world over are successful, then duplicate them, andfinally improve upon them. Silicon Valley itself works like that. Zoom, for exam-ple is an evolution and work in progress from WebEx, Skype, and Blue Jean.Most technically advanced companies first try to copy (steal …) an innovationand if that does not work, then they buy. However, real success lies in whatSchumpeter calls creative destruction. Apple cannabalises its own technology byrepeatedly coming out with better version. An iPad replaces its own laptop. Bewarned, however. We are not suggesting intellectual properly theft itself whichwould lead to retaliation and legal action. Chinese companies are adept at it.Huawei is being accused of stealing from Cisco, Nokia …. That is why they arefacing backlash worldwide.

Then Chinese blocked Google, Twitter, Netflix and many more, while-put-ting obstacles in the path of companies like uber so as to grow its own techgiants. Alibaba, Baidu, DJI, WeChat, and more raced ahead. Huawei is a real giant

Junk Jugaad, Innovate India

An innovative

economy is the

key to unlocking

growth potential

and ride on an

upward

trejectory.Prerequisite

for this in turn are

first class human

capital build up

and supporting

eco-system.

K.K. Srivastava

DISCUSSIONDISCUSSIONDISCUSSIONDISCUSSIONDISCUSSION

9

DiscussionDiscussionDiscussionDiscussionDiscussion

in 5G. Protectionism created a fer-tile grand for local start ups toavoid foreign might, while the stateprovided them all enablers. SiliconValley moghuls themselves are mo-nopolies which gain an unfair com-petitive advantage by throwingmoney around. Copy or buy, is themantra. India has been negligentboth in providing support formeaningful innovation and estab-lishing effective data protectionpolicies. Taking advantage of it, theWestern and Chinese innovatorshave explanted the Indian marketto the hilt.

The Indian govt. has to mini-mize obsessive restrictions andprovide enabling conducive envi-ronment to Indian companies;these should be encouraged andsupported to become behemothslike Reliance Jio, Hero Motors andBajajhave been able to hold on inan intensely competitive sector be-cause they have significantly invest-ed in R&D. When you don’t in-vest, say, as in case of domestic cellphone market, the foreign maraud-ers attack and take over. In 2015,Indian companies had 30 percentmarket share of domestic smartphone market; in 2019, less than10 percent. Meanwhile the Chinesecompanies dominated the entirevalue chain, from basic technolo-gy to market channels.

In India a vicious circle exists.Higher R&D needs higher sales, buthigher sales would require en-hanced R&D. We must break it byestablishing collaboration betweenindustry and academia, as in theWest and even China. Indian com-panies that cannot invest enough inR&D can internalize – recognize,assimilate, activate and marketize –the technology developed by aca-demic and research scientists in

various institutions. Of course in-ternal R&Dwould still remain rel-evant. Collaborative researchprojects can be set up both fornascent and well understood tech-nologies for possibility of comingout with incremental and disrup-tive outcomes. What is needed isbuilding up of seamless lab tomarket capability. A governmentcan perform four roles, planning,producing, facilitating and control-ling. In order that we are able tosubstitute imports and become glo-bally competitive we need to un-derstand certain ground realities.First, companies produce, the govt.should ideally only provide en-abling environment and let com-panies attain size and scale. Second,don’t scorn at monopolies – onlythey have the resources and mus-cle – like Reliance Jio,since they arethe norms (Google, Amazon, Ap-ple). A company initially attainsmonopoly domestically and thenit takes size advantage globally.Chinese govt’s support for Hua-wei, Alibaba and many more is il-lustrative. Third, the govt. shouldfacilitate global entry of large do-mestic players by providing allkind of support - incentives, lob-bying – abroad. That is how restof the world has been doing busi-ness. And, finally, realize, that theIndian companies can become partof global supply chain only on thebasis of needs of the buyer, andnot on government prompting. Inbrief, govt. including at India, is nota creator but it can be a facilitator.

A strong edifice needs a solidfoundation. This is where the mosttrouble lies. While Indian highereducation has been constantly reg-istering improvement in QS glo-bal rankings, two questions stillhound us. First, while India initiat-

ed steps in technical education atsame time as did Japan and China,the latter have paced much ahead.Quality of investment, administra-tion, and the intellectual climate –all have to share the blame. Thepursuit of pseudo-scientific theo-ries about Indian knowledge (evenin nuclear physics, and plastic sur-gery) can hardly provide stimulusto real innovations. Second, 7 Chi-nese universities figure among thetop 50. India’s IIT, Bombay standsat 172th position! Why? Partly thisis because of lack of free flow ofinformation. There exists a con-strained universe of quality aca-demic research on one hand andlarge incentive for brain drain onthe other. India has a score of 0.32(out of a maximum of 1) on In-dex of Academic Freedom. IfIndia wishes to meet military mightof China or beat China in globalvending, then first it needs to rivalit is R&D where it lags China bymiles. India comes nowhere nearBeijing in supply of globally com-petitive talent in areas of futureimport like AI, Internet of things,etc. To move ahead, India needsstepping up investment in educa-tion. But the telling fact is thatwhereas the tertiary grossenrol-ment ratio (GER) is over 50 per-cent for China, for India it is merely28 percent; a decade back it was20+ for both. Not only GER, thelearning levels need to improve sig-nificantly. Sobering fact s that theseare dismally poor; nearly half thestudents in class V can read onlyclass II text (in 2011); while only athird enrolled in class III could reada word in 2010, which fell to onein five in 2018.

Rhetorical shibboleths aboutinnovative India have only createda chimera! Time to get real. ❑❑

10

China’s BRI trap

As its domestic

strain increases,

Beijing may turn

more aggressive

abroad to show

that it is

unperturbed by

the pandemic or

slowdown. That its

chutzpah is

unparalleled.

Sandhya Jain

ANALYSISANALYSISANALYSISANALYSISANALYSIS

The unbearable tragedy at the Galwan Valley has little to do with territorialclaims and is instead a distraction “with Chinese characteristics” to cover the

fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship project, the Belt and Road Initia-tive (BRI), is floundering. At the National People’s Congress in May this year,Beijing announced a military budget of $178.6 billion for 2020 and said it wouldgrow by 6.6 per cent year-on-year, while foreign affairs spending was cut by 11.8per cent. The military budget stood at $175 billion in 2018 and $177.5 billion in2019. Helena Legarda, analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MER-ICS) mused, “Beijing clearly does not feel safe enough domestically or interna-tionally to slow down its military buildup and modernisation, even at a time whenthe economy is suffering.”

China’s outstanding debt claims are estimated at $5.5 trillion, that’s 40 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Institute of Inter-national Finance. The institute estimates that China’s debt-to-GDP ratio rose by11 percentage points in 2019 and is now pegged at 317 per cent. It could behigher as the calculations do not include all categories of debt. Moreover, China’sreported GDP seems too high and the excess of liabilities over assets of China’sfinancial institutions has not been factored in.

Data for the first quarter of 2020 showed a hike in bad loans, defaults anddelayed repayments as the Coronavirus hit the economy and first-quarter GDPshrank for the first time in China’s recorded history. The rise in defaults wasdespite lenders agreeing to delay $124 billion in repayments from smaller compa-nies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts the Chinese economy wouldgrow only 1.2 per cent in 2020-21 as against 6.1 per cent in 2019-20. However, atthe National People’s Congress in May 2020, Premier Li Keqiang said China

11

would not set a target for GDPgrowth for 2020-21. He an-nounced a stimulus of $672.4 bil-lion, which many considered inad-equate but China cannot affordmore debt.

China’s economic slowdownbegan before the Coronavirus pan-demic derailed the world econo-my. After the second Belt and RoadForum meeting in Beijing in April2019, several Western think-tanksscrutinised BRI finances from pub-lic records and found an opaqueweb of reckless lending, restruc-tured loans, renegotiated loans,debt forgiveness, refinancing anddeferrals. Now, Zou Jiayi, ViceMinister at the Finance Ministry,who repeatedly warned about thedebt risks from the project, hasbeen asked to make the BRI “moremanageable and financially practi-cal.” Observers expect it to besharply downsized, with viableprojects getting priority and the restignored. The objective is to some-how avoid a massive default.

The BRI has become fiscallyunsustainable because China’s pol-icy banks gave huge loans to fragileStates and then extended and evenexpanded credit lines. The Washing-ton-based consultancy, RWR Advi-sory, notes that around $461 billionhas been given for transport andenergy projects from the Horn ofAfrica to Central Asia from 2013under the BRI umbrella.

China’s total lending to Afri-can Governments, firms and Stateagencies is around seven per centof its external debt, valued at $2.06trillion at the end of 2019 by Chi-na’s State Administration of For-eign Exchange. Ernst & Young es-timates that Chinese firms invest-ed $72.2 billion in Africa between2014 and 2018. Herbert Poenisch,

former senior economist, Bank forInternational Settlements, put thetotal outstanding lending by Exim-bank in all countries at $285 bil-lion. Hong Kong-based bankersbelieve that possibly the Govern-ment “does not know how muchit is owed or by whom.”

Lending slowed down evenbefore the COVID-19 shock. Lo-gan Wright, director of China mar-kets research at Rhodium Group,reported that net outbound lend-ing has been negative since 2019;lending by mainland policy banksto Africa dropped after peaking at$29 billion in 2016. CommerceMinistry data showed that the num-ber of overseas contracts signedby Chinese construction firms forBRI-related lending fell sharply in2018, reflecting the growing uneasein Beijing that the BRI was “wayout of control.” A Hong Kongbanker said that by 2019, Chinahad exhausted its ability to main-tain the momentum. Beijing’s so-lution to fund BRI by lending inrenminbi did not work as mostborrowers only wanted dollars.

This compelled China to in-crease its dollar-denominated ex-ternal debt. The COVID pandem-ic put Beijing in the unenviableposition of being asked to forgivesome, or even all, of its loans. Atthe G20 in April 2020, China of-fered to freeze all debt repaymentsfor the world’s poorest countriesuntil end-2020, the first time Beijingjoined a global debt relief initia-tive. But it refused to include dis-tressed loans disbursed by Exim-bank or China Development Bankin the G20 programme. Analystsexpect massive downscaling of theproject. A few new and viableprojects will be launched; the restsidelined. Lending to Africa will be

tightly controlled, but gaps couldbe met by “new actors” such astechnology firm Huawei.

The Coronavirus has made itimpossible to ignore the warnings.The Bank for International Settle-ments warned in 2016 that excessivecredit growth in China posed the riskof a banking crisis within three years.In December 2017, the IMF warnedthat China’s growing debt-depen-dency could trigger a new globalfinancial crisis as credit growth hadoutpaced GDP growth, corporatedebt was 165 per cent of GDPand household debt had risen by15 percentage points of GDP overthe past five years.

Columnist Gordon G Changbelieves that China’s foreign ex-change reserves could be less thanclaimed as there have been deriva-tive transactions to hide the quan-tum of dollar selling to support therenminbi and stuffing of non-liq-uid investments into its reserves. Theincreased budget of the People’sLiberation Army (officially by 6.6per cent) is an extra burden thoughdeft management has marginallyincreased foreign exchange reservesto $3.09 trillion in April 2020 from$3.06 trillion in March 2020.

As its domestic strain increas-es, Beijing may turn more aggres-sive abroad — Ladakh (India),South China Sea, near Taiwan —to show that it is unperturbed bythe pandemic or slowdown. Itschutzpah is unparalleled. In June2020, Naypitaw discovered to itschagrin that China is covertly build-ing a Hong Kong-size city in ShweKokko fishing village in KayinState, on the banks of Moei river,its border with Thailand. Possiblyit would be used to leverage My-anmar debt at a future date. ❑❑

(The author is a senior journalist. Views are personal)

AnalysisAnalysisAnalysisAnalysisAnalysis

12

G-12 must include respect for humanrights, adherence to international law,multilateralism in trade and security

President Trump is

not doing India a

favour by wanting

to invite it into the

new group. As the

world’s largest

free market

democracy India

deserves to be a

member of not just

a G-12 but of even

a new G-7.

Sanjaya Baru

CONSIDERATIONCONSIDERATIONCONSIDERATIONCONSIDERATIONCONSIDERATION

The loud thinking by United States President Donald Trump on the need to en-large the membership of the Group of Seven (G-7), the club of “free marketdemocracies”, is only the most recent of many such initiatives aimed at making ananachronism relevant to a changing world. Formed in 1976, the G-7 no longerdominate the global economy as they did at their founding. It was the Frenchwho first flew the kite of membership expansion when they invited heads ofgovernment of several “emerging economies” for a meeting of the group atÉvian-les-Bains, France, in June 2003. The G-7 became the G-8 in 1997 whenRussia was invited to join. In 2014, Russia was debarred after it took over Crimea.

After 2003, G-8 host countries began organising a meeting on the sidelines oftheir summits with a select group of five or six developing countries. Indiaand Chinawere invited to all those summits. President Trump has, however, gone astep further. Rather than invite “guests” to a G-7 summit, he has suggested expandingthe G-7 to a G-10 or G-11. Trump has come up with an interesting list of newmembers – Australia, India, South Korea and, possibly, Russia. Trump’s pragmatismin including Russia should be welcomed. The advantage of getting Russia in is that thegroup would not be viewed merely as an anti-China gang-up but, in fact, as a clubof “free market democracies”. The group could easily be made the G-12 with theinclusion of Indonesia – one of the few democratic nations in the Islamic world.

Trump’s motivation in expanding the G-7 to include India and Russia whilekeeping China out is transparent. If keeping China out was not the intention, theG-7 could easily have dissolved themselves and revitalised the presently inert G-

13

20. There are, of course, good rea-sons why Xi Jinping’s China re-quires to be put on notice for itsvarious acts of omission and com-mission and disrespect for interna-tional law. However, discipliningChina is one thing, isolating it quiteanother. If the new group is viewedas yet another arrow in the Chinacontainment quiver it would placeIndia and most other members ofthe group in a spot. Everyonewants China disciplined, few wouldlike to be seen seeking its isolation.Asia needs a law-abiding China,not a sullen China.

Even Japan and Australia,which have serious concerns aboutChina’s behaviour, may not like thenew group to be viewed purely asan anti-China gang-up. That maywell be the case with South Koreatoo. Indeed, even India shouldtread cautiously. It has more issueswith China than most others in thegroup, spanning across economicand national security issues and yetit should seek a disciplined China,not an isolated one.

What this means is that theproposed new group should de-fine its agenda in terms that wouldencourage China to return to thepre-Xi era of global good behav-iour. The G-7 came into being inthe mid-1970s against the back-ground of shocks to the global fi-nancial and energy markets. The G-12 would come into being againstthe background of a global eco-nomic crisis and the disruption toglobal trade caused both by pro-tectionism and a pandemic. Thetwo items on the next summitagenda would have to be the glo-bal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising tide ofprotectionism and mercantilism andthe global economic slowdown.

The summit will have to come for-ward with some international dosand don’ts to deal with the chal-lenge posed by these disruptions.

These new rules of interna-tional conduct would have to ap-ply to both China and the US. TheG-12 — and I do think it wouldmake sense to include Indonesia —have a shared interest in ensuringthat both China and the US respectinternational law and desist fromunilateralism in dealing with neigh-bours and global challenges. To beable to alter China’s behaviourwithout isolating it, the G-12 willhave to widen their agenda, gobeyond the purely economic issuesthat the G-7 originally focused on,and include climate change, healthcare and human rights.

In identifying themselves as“free market democracies” the G-12 must issue a new charter of re-spect for human rights, adherence tointernational law and multilateralismin trade and security. This is easiersaid than done. President Trump willhave to re-assure the group’s mem-bers that he has their combined in-terests at heart in proposing a new

group and has an imagination be-yond just an “America First” policy.Even as the world is increasinglywary of an assertive China and ofXi Jinping’s China Dream and hisversion of a “China First” policy, itis also wary of Trump’s unilateral-ism on many fronts.

While many countries shareTrump’s displeasure with China forits manipulation of the WorldHealth Organisation, many of themare equally unhappy with the man-ner in which the Trump adminis-tration has treated the World TradeOrganisation. A G-12 cannot ig-nore such partisan behaviour byeither the US or China. If Trumpdoes issue an invitation to the threeor four new members to join thenew group, they should seek clari-ty on the terms of membership.Russia’s experience, of being invit-ed and then disinvited and nowbeing considered for being re-in-vited should be a salutary messageto all others invitees.

President Trump is not doingIndia a favour by wanting to inviteit into the new group. As theworld’s largest free market democ-racy India deserves to be a mem-ber of not just a G-12 but of evena new G-7. India’s political andeconomic credentials are certainlystronger than those of Canada,Britain and Italy. Indeed, Russia,Australia, South Korea and evenIndonesia may regard themselvesas natural choices for membershipof an expanded G-7. In otherwords, Trump is not doing thenew members a favour. He is, likethe French before him, only com-ing to terms with the reality of anew world order. ❑❑

This article first appeared in the print edition on June 5 under the titile

“An agenda for a G-12”.

The writer is a policy analyst and former media advisor

to Prime Minister of India.https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/an-agenda-for-a-g-12-

donald-trump-china-6443045/

To be able to alter

China’s behaviour

without isolating it,

the G-12 will have to

widen their agenda,

go beyond the purely

economic issues that

the G-7 originally

focused on, and

include climate

change, health care

and human rights.

ConsiderationConsiderationConsiderationConsiderationConsideration

14

'Business and war cannot go side by side'

INTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEWINTERVIEW

The Swadeshi Jaagran Manch has been relentlesslyfighting a battle against Chinese products flooding theIndian market.

The SJM has now asked asll Indians to boycottChinese products as a tribute to the 20 Indian Armysoldiers who were murdered by China's People's Lib-eration Army on Monday night.

"Just because we are a democracy it does not mean that

we can't hit them back when they hit us," Professor Ashwani

Mahajan, the SJM's co-convenor, tells Rediff.com's Shobha

Warrier. The first of a two-part interview:

You have asked people to boycott Chinese

products as a tribute to the slain soldiers. Should

you be mixing business with what is happening

at the border?

Business and war cannot go side by side. That isa simple principle.

We have been asking for a boycott of Chinesegoods because you have to do it when a country isaggressive on your borders, when a country is align-ing with your enemies by helping international terror-ists and building infrastructure on your land againstyour wishes. I mean the China Pakistan EconomicCorridor in PoK. There is one more reason now, andthat is economics.

In 2001, when China became a member of theWTO (World Trade Organisation), exports to Chinawas $1 billion and the trade deficit with China was$0.2 billion. Because of the obsession of past gov-ernments and because of China's status as the mostfavoured nation after joining WTO, Chinese prod-ucts kept getting dumped in India.

Our governments did not heed the rising unem-ployment because of that. They kept saying we wantto increase manufacturing from 17% to 18% to 25%of GDP, and only such a change can create jobs.

The rhetoric continued, but they did not pay anyattention to the real problem which was, China wasdumping goods.

By 2017-2018, the trade deficit with China roseto $53 billion. Now, it is $48.6 billion and for thatyou can pat my back!

We at the SJM have been doing awareness pro-grammes all over India and even sensitising the gov-ernment. The government has now imposed anti-dumping duties on 140 items. This shows our callworked. This also shows we have the capacity to pro-duce goods for our market. When imports camedown, our production increased.

You have asked people to boycott Chinese

products. What about those Chinese companies

that have manufacturing units in India, especially

mobile phones, where the employees are Indians?

The quantum of employment they generate ismuch less than the quantum of unemployment theygenerate by dumping goods in the Indian market.Because of the dumping of cheap Chinese goods,Indian manufacturing has suffered, and many Indianslost their jobs.

Moreover, those who have come here are do-ing so to save tax and are not doing any value addi-tion here; just 5%. They were importing 95% of thecomponents to India and only 5% is made here. Thatis why we say: 'Don't come and Make in India; let usmake in India.' Our slogan is Made by India and notMake in India.

You have urged the government not to al-

low Chinese firms to participate in tenders. When

it is an open tender, how can you ban some com-

panies from participating in it?

When they can continue with their autocracy, whynot? Do you know Indian firms are not allowed inthe telecom or infrastructure sector in China?

But India is a democracy.

Just because we are a democracy it does not meanthat we can't hit them back when they hit us.

There is always a reciprocity clause and we havebeen invoking the clause in telecom and some otherareas, but minimally.

Now it is time to completely boycott the Chi-nese because of the way they treat us.

Why are you saying we should treat them nicely?It is true we have been treating them nicely, welcom-ing their investments, welcoming their leaders, wel-

15

coming their goods. Yes, we have been welcomingeverything. See, what they are doing on the border.

Are you trying to strike an emotional chord

with people when you ask them to boycott Chi-

nese products as a tribute to the soldiers who

lost their lives?

Had it been an emotional appeal, it would havestarted only yesterday. Our efforts started several yearsago. We have just added one more reason to the listof reasons we have been giving. This will give a greaterappeal to people at a time like this. When we firststarted opposing China, around 30% to 40% of peo-ple were with us. They accepted our appeal and weresensitised about everything that China was doing andhow they were impacting our economy. After the coro-navirus pandemic, 90% of the people were with us.

Now, with this action of China on our border,100% of the people are with us. Have you met any-one who said 'I will not boycott Chinese products'?

People of India have become more swadeshi thanthe Swadeshi Jaagran Manch! Now, people are tellingus, 'Do this, do that, don't allow this, don't allow that...'

What has happened on our borders is very un-fortunate. But that is a tactic of China to deflect thereal issues.

There is anti-China sentiment all over the

world. India is trying to use the situation by in-

viting businesses based in China to set up their

business in India.

Do you think China is peeved with this and

business is the real reason behind what is hap-

pening on the border?

China is in the habit of doing it.This time, I think China has gone crazy about

what is happening on the economic front.They thought they were a manufacturing hub and

wanted to be an infrastructure giant by capturing theland of different countries.

They are creating infrastructure in many Africancountries, in Sri Lanka, in Pakistan, in Malaysia andputting them in their clutches.

They were conquering country after country thisway, and suddenly they find country after countryopposing them and criticising them.

They are facing the backlash of not only peopleall around the world, but governments too.

Many governments were asking their companiesto relocate from China. Many companies have writ-ten to India that they want to shift their base to India.

https://www.rediff.com/business/interview/why-indians-must-boycott-chinese-products/20200620.htm

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InterviewInterviewInterviewInterviewInterview

16

Jaivik Bharat

Towards a Self

Reliant

(Atmanirbhar),

Seed Sovereign,

Food Sovereign

India Through

Regenerative

Agriculture (Jaivik

Kheti) and local,

circular, solidarity,

economies.

Dr. Vandana Shiva

FARMINGFARMINGFARMINGFARMINGFARMING

Referring to the food problem India faced as a result of the extractive “Lagaan”based agriculture of British Colonialism which killed 2 million during the GreatBengal Famine of 1942, and had killed 60 million during a few centuries ofBritish Rule, on 10th June 1947 at a prayer meeting Gandhi had said - “The first

lesson we must learn is of self-help and self reliance. If we assimilated this lesson we shall at once

free ourselves from disastrous dependence on foreign countries and ultimate bankruptcy. This is

not said in arrogance but as a matter of fact. We are not a small place, dependent for this food

supply upon outside help. We are a subcontinent, a nation of nearly 400 million (now 1.3

billion). We are a country of mighty rivers and a rich variety of agricultural land, with inex-

haustibe cattle wealth …”

After Independence we became food self reliant through shifting from ex-tractive agriculture that created famines and poverty to a regenerative agriculturethat repaired the broken nutrient and water cycles and guaranteed fair incomes tofarmers and fair food to all, focusing on “food first” policies instead of thecolonial policies of priority for cash crops and raw material for industry.

At a program on Regeneration of Indian Agriculture on 27th Sept 1951 KMMunshi, told the state Directors of Agriculture that the diversity of India’s soils,crops and climates had to be taken into account in making plans. The need to planfrom the bottom, to consider every village and sometimes every individual fieldwas considered essential for the regeneration of Indian Agriculture KM Munshisaid – “Study the Life’s Cycle in the village under your chargein both its aspects-hydrological

and nutritional. Find out where the cycle has been disturbed and estimate the steps necessary for

restoring it … Nothing is too mean and nothing too difficult for the person who believes that the

restoration of life’s cycle is not only essential for freedom and happiness of India but is essential

for her very existence”

17

This process of regeneratingnature’s cycles and our food andagriculture self reliance was erodedby the chemical driven Green Rev-olution and the corporate drivenGlobalisation and so called “freetrade”. We are being recolonizedagain.

Background: How the Green

Revolution and Industrialisation and

Globalisation of Food and Agriculture

has contributed to the crisis of livelihoods,

hunger and disease.

The Green Revolution mod-el of energy intensive, water inten-sive and chemical intensive agricul-ture undid the gains of the postindependence policies of regener-ation, and has degraded the soiland the land, destroyed biodiver-sity, created a water crisis and con-tributed to climate change andchronic diseases.

Chemical agriculture com-bined with globalization of foodand agriculture since 1991 has ledto a shift from staple foods tocommodity crops and raw mate-rial for the industrial food process-ing industry, which are perishable.Farmers dependence on costly cor-porate seed and agrichemical inputshas increased, and falling prices ofcommodities has trapped farmersin debt, eroded their seed sovereign-ty and food sovereignty. It has con-tributed to the agrarian crisis.

Pseudo-productivity: A rec-

ipe for displacement of farmers, destruc-

tion of livelihoods and creation of hun-

ger and malnutrition.

Farmers were turned into ref-ugees on their land by industrialisedfarming propelled by neo liberalglobalisation that incentivised agri-culture led by agribusiness corpo-rations. “Productivity” was manip-ulated to drive farmers off theland and also create the illusion that

we were producing more foodand reducing hunger. When Pro-ductivity takes chemical capital,chemical and energy inputs intoaccount, industrial agriculture is infact a negative economy because ituses 10 units of energy to produceone unit of energy as food. In thepseudo productivity calculus, in-stead of taking into account thehigh costs of chemical, energy andwater inputs, productivity is mea-sured falsely by treating humanbeings as “inputs” instead of rec-ognising that human beings arecocreators who take care of theland and the well being of societyis the outcome of any economicactivity. Displacement of farmersis tautologically built into this def-inition of pseudo productivity ofindustrial agriculture.

When productivity takeschemical capital, chemical and en-ergy inputs into account, industrialagriculture is in fact a negativeeconomy because it uses 10 unitsof energy to produce one unit ofenergy as food.

Pseudo productivity is creat-ing an ecological crises, an unem-ployment crisis, and a hunger andmalnutrition crisis.

The farmers who had beendisplaced from farming and goneto cities as agrarian refugees, are

now returning to their villages as aresult of the corona lock down. Itis inappropriate to call them “mi-grant labour” because they are In-dian citizens, and have the freedomto move to any part of the coun-try. They are displaced workers .

According to 2011 Census ofIndia, there were as many as 48.2crore workers in India. Of these,only 3.3 crore are in the formalsector. Of the rest who are in theunorganised/informal sectors,constituting 93% of the total work-force, 11.9 crores are farmers, 14.4crores landless agricultural workers,and 21.9 crore non-agriculturalworkers.

80% urban workers lost jobsand started an exodus back to thevillages.The working people whoare the foundation of our econo-my were treated as throw awaypeople, even criminalised andmade victims of police brutality.

(https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-80-of-urban-

workers-lost-jobs-during-coronavirus-lockdown-survey/

article31569572.ece)

The hunger crisis has grownas millions have lost livelihoods andwork.

Hunger and malnutrition isalso structurally designed into theindustrialised, globalised food sys-tem which is destroying the smallfarms which produce 70% of thefood globally while using only 25%

80% urban

workers lost

jobs and

started an

exodus back to

the villages.

FarmingFarmingFarmingFarmingFarming

18

of the land. In India our entirefood system is based on smallfarms. Small farms are more pro-ductive because they are based oncare for the biodiversity and forthe land, they are based on deepknowledge and multiple intelligenc-es of farmers. Pseudo productivi-ty also becomes an illegitimate in-strument of land grab. Since 1991Structural adjustment, an attempthas been made to grab the land ofsmall farmers through contractfarming or changing the land ac-quisition act. Seed Sovereignty andLand Sovereignty is the foundationfor Food Sovereignty. India will beAtma Nirbhar when our farmersare Atma Nirbhar, the land sover-eignty, seed sovereignty, knowl-edge sovereignty and economicsovereignty of farmers is protect-ed, and no one goes hungry.

The agrarian crisis in India isdeep, as is the malnutrition crisis.We have lost 400,000 farmers tosuicide. India has the largest num-ber of hungry people in the world.In the 2019 Global Hunger

Index, India ranks 102nd out of117 qualifying countries. Millionsof children die every year due tomalnutrition. Of the 1.04 millionunder-five deaths in India in 2017,over 7 lakh (706,000) can be at-tributed to malnutrition, revealsfindings of India State-Level Dis-ease Burden Initiative’s report.

Corporations and billionairesare now talking of Digital Agri-

culture and “farming withoutfarmers” as the next step of in-creasing productivity and efficien-cy. This will increase the degrada-tion of the land, the crisis of hun-ger, the crisis of work, the crisisof knowledge, and deepen depen-dence on external inputs, with dataas the new oil added to the depen-dence on costly seeds, chemicalsand machines. The industrial agri-culture system cleverly and delib-erately hides its intensive use offossil fuel and toxic chemicalswhich are contributing to 50% ofthe Green house gas emissionsleading to climate change, and alsodriving the crisis of extinction.

Agribusiness controlled In-dustrial food systems & thehealth emergency

A resource wasteful, ineffi-cient and greed driven food andagriculture model is constantly oc-cupying new lands, specially for-ests, while local, productive farmsare laid waste by the unfair rulesof free trade.

Science tells us that 70 % ofthe new epidemics, including Co-rona, HIV, Ebola, inf luenza,MERS, SARS, have jumped fromanimals to humans. This is an out-come of resource intensive landhungry industrial agriculture builton destruction of ecosystems.Constant expansion without limitsis built into an agribusiness modelwhich grows commodities like

GMO soya in the Amazon andpalmoil in the Indonesian rainfor-ests. 90% of the GMO soya is usedfor bio-fuel and animal feed. Thiscommodity producing system isnot a food and agriculture system.Agriculture is care for the land. Andfood is supposed to nourish us.Industrial farms based on monoc-ultures of plants and animals, fa-cilitate the spread of diseases, andemergence of new disease epi-demics. Besides, industrialisedfood is closely associated with thespread of non-communicablechronic diseases.

The destruction of local, bio-diverse food systems and artisanalprocessing, increasing dependenceon imports of industrial food, andincrease in industrially processedfood in the diet has contributed toboth the crisis of unemploymentand the chronic disease crisis. TheHealth Minister acknowledged that73% of the deaths due to Covidwas due to comorbidity, in otherwords, pre existing chronic diseas-es, most of which are related totoxics in the environment and un-healthy industrial food.

With the disruption of agri-culture, distribution systems, retailsystems, livelihood systems, if noradical steps are taken, we are star-ing at future famines. The Healthemergency could become a FoodEmergency.

Post Covid Recovery for aLiving Future: Return to theland, Return to our home, tothe earth, to “oikos”

Ecology and economy bothhave their roots in the word “oikos”which means home. Knowledge ofthe home is ecology. Taking care ofthe home on the basis of knowl-edge of ecology is economy.

India will be Atma Nirbhar when our farmers

are Atma Nirbhar, the land sovereignty, seed

sovereignty, knowledge sovereignty and

economic sovereignty of farmers is protected,

and no one goes hungry.

FarmingFarmingFarmingFarmingFarming

19

The dominant model of theeconomy no longer has its roots inecology, but exists outside andabove ecology, disrupting the eco-logical systems and processes thatsupport life in the natural and so-cial world. The unchecked con-quest of resources is pushing spe-cies to extinction and has led eco-systems to collapse, while causingirreversible climate disasters.

Similarly, economy, which ispart of society, has been placedoutside and above society, beyonddemocratic control. Ethical values,cultural values, spiritual values, val-ues of care and co-operation haveall been sidelined by the extractivelogic of the global market thatseeks only profit. Competitionleaves no room for cooperation.More and more people are exclud-ed from the economy, both interms of livelihoods and in termsof basic needs.

A post Corona recoveryneeds a shift to healthy food andagricultural systems that respectnature and biodiversity, so we willavoid future pandemics, that max-imise health and nutrition per acre,that maximise the return to farm-ers through circular economies ofreal, healthy, fresh food and do notfocus on commodity production

and cash crops as raw material forindustrial processing. Circulareconomies intensify livelihoods inrural areas, thus regenerating localeconomies.

A Post Covid just and sustain-able recovery programme needs toregenerate soil, water, biodiversi-ty, protect people’s livelihoods, andcreate new livelihood opportuni-ties while addressing the prevailingextensive health, hunger and mal-nutrition crisis. We cannot return tothe “normal” like before the Co-rona pandemic, for those politicaland economic systems do notwork for and with the earth, andare based on weakening the statusof farmers, and destroying liveli-hoods and creating hunger. If thereis any time to make the shift, it isnow. We need to now shift to anearth friendly, farmer friendly, peo-ple friendly, food and agriculturesystem if we want to prevent thedeepening of the current agrarianand hunger crisis, the health crisisand the livelihood crisis.

We now have to reimagineour local economies and rural econ-omies that put the regeneration ofthe earth, of livelihoods, of healthat the heart of a Post Covid econ-omy.

Let us shift from linear extrac-

tive economies which exploit theearth and people, to local circular,solidarity economies which regen-erate nature and society and createwealth and well being for all, meet-ing everyone’s basic needs by reju-venation of the Earth. Let us shiftfrom the false definition of pro-ductivity which does not assess theresource and energy intensive in-puts in industrial systems, and treatsonly labour as an input, contribut-ing to ecological destruction andunemployment, towards true costecological accounting that takes thefull ecological footprint into ac-count, and creates meaningful workfor all. This involves a shift fromfossil fuel intensive, energy inten-sive models of production, to la-bour intensive economies of care,so no hands are wasted, and therich human energy India is en-dowed with can renew society andregenerate the earth, her biodiver-sity, her productive capacity to sup-port the needs of all. Let us take apledge to regenerate local econo-mies and local production and con-sumption through organic farm-ing and artisanal, hand craftedproducts that are fossil fuel free,poison free and create opportuni-ties for work for those renderedunemployed.

Let us boycott the MNC seedcompanies, chemical companies,junk food industry and the e com-merce giants like Amazon. Let ussow the seeds of a new India whichis free of hunger, disease, unem-ployment and modern day colo-nialism. The path to a Self Reliant,Atma Nirbhar bharat is paved withself reliant local living economiesand self reliant communities,Swaraj.

[to be continued ...]

We now have to

reimagine our local

economies and rural

economies that put

the regeneration of

the earth, of

livelihoods, of health

at the heart of a Post

Covid economy.

FarmingFarmingFarmingFarmingFarming

20

Why India Needs a Stronger EssentialCommodities Act

Government must

keep all seeds for

sowing under ECA

purview and

strengthen this

law.

Indra Shekhar

Singh

PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE

As agribusinesses celebrate the removal of pulses, oilseeds, cereals, etcfrom the purview of the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), Indian farm-

ers and consumers may not be so jubilant. The government’s advisors, in an at-tempt to bring more “agri-dollars” to India, may have misled it and openedthe doors for cartelisation of these commodities, while dismantling consumers’and farmers’ only defence against unfair monopolies.

For evidence, we need to look no further than 2015, when Modi Govern-ment 1.0 was completing one year in office and the prices of pulses had skyrock-eted. Retail prices of Tur/Arhar had climbed to hit over Rs. 200 a kilo in Octo-ber 2015. After the Income Tax Department investigated the matter, the Rs. 2.5lakh crore dal scam was unearthed.

A 2,000-page investigation by the Income Tax department, known asthe ”Appraisal Report in the Case of Pulse Importers and Traders Group” said,“The abnormal price situation in India was created by a coordinated collusiveactivity orchestrated by few trading and financial entities.” The report found that“physical stocks of pulses [were] cornered in domestic and international markets.Significant long positions on the future were taken on exchanges to create anartificial scarcity at the whole sale and retail levels.”

International agribusiness and grain traders had shrewdly circumventedthe Essential Commodities Act, leveraging their overseas presence and created amonopoly by “procuring and hoarding stocks of pulses in national as well asoverseas markets”. They manipulated domestic prices to plummet so thatthey gain the maximum possible from their dal stocks bought at low prices. The

21

super profit earned in this mannerwas not offered to tax and si-phoned off either abroad or con-verted into unaccounted cashthrough entry operators. Finally, thetreacherous agri-commodity giantsgot a taste of Indian dals.

It was then that the govern-ment, using the ECA, raided andseized over 70,000 metric tonnes(MT) of pulses from hoarders andtraders and broke the cartel. Theentire supply chain was complicitand in fact the Income Tax depart-ment investigated the NCDEX too,for their role in aiding this crisis.

The feat was managed bythe involvement of internationalagri-business, local suppliers andtraders, and agri-commodity bro-kers at the NCDEX. But the gov-ernment’s advisors are perhapsonce bitten yet still not twice shy,and hence they have removed allthe barriers to stocking limits etc.So the dal scam can now legallyrepeat itself, or rather operate, andeven past crimes can be absolved.

The curious case of cottonseed

Cotton is not only a fibrouscash crop but also now an oilseed.Many have raised bio-safety con-cerns on GMO Bt Cotton seedbeing blended freely into our edi-ble oils, nevertheless the demandfor cotton seed oil is ever-grow-ing. Much like pulses, oilseeds wereremoved from ECA too. It is al-most expected that the governmentwill deregulate cotton seed as well,as it is also an oilseed.

Interestingly enough, the Modigovernment has had a tryst withBt cotton monopoly too, where itused the same Essential Commod-ities Act to prevent unfair businesspractices and to control the prices

of cotton seed. This happened in2015 and it was done because ille-gal “trait value” was being charged.The farmers quoting the PPVFRA(or Protection of Plant Varietiesand Farmers’ Rights Authority)demanded that the governmentstep in to stop this. As a result, theCompetition Commission of In-dia (CCI) had even started an anti-trust investigation into it. The cot-ton seed sector was valued at Rs.24.86 billion in India in 2016.

The ECA had repeatedlycome to the aid of the Indian gov-ernment, legal traders, farmers andconsumers. Of late, it helped breakthe cotton seed and dal cartels.However, the safeguard measuresof emergency control laid out bythe government in the ordinancefor protecting different stakehold-ers is not strong enough.

What the government shoulddo is, first, keep all seeds for sow-ing under the purview of the ECAand second add clauses to strength-en this law. India’s cotton farmersare already highly indebted and 84%of farmers’ suicides are reportedfrom the cotton-farming belts. Noillegal trait fees, royalties, and soon, should be charged and cottonseed should remain under the ECA.

Next, the government needsto study the dal scam and IT de-partment’s findings in the Appraisal

Report. We need to bring pulsesand oilseeds back under the ECA.By deregulation, we are blindlycopying the United States’ postWorld War-II agricultural policy,which has failed for Americanfarmers and led to the creation ofagri-commodity giants. The liberal-isation of farm-gate has destroyedfarmers not just in the UnitedStates, but in Mexico, Brazil, andin each country that has walked theUnited States line. Indian farmerswill be the biggest losers.

And the consumers won’tbe far behind either. Once farm-ers are under control, as we haveseen in the United States, consum-ers gradually feel the burn of suchderegulation too. American con-sumers have experienced the sharp-est food inflation as a result of theconsolidation by agri-business andtrade. India will be no different.

The Modi government musttread carefully and learn fromits own experience with the daland cotton seed scams. And be-fore dismantling the ECA the gov-ernment must revisit the history ofthe East India Company, whichwas the world’s first agri-businesstrans-national corporation. Forwhat lies ahead is best describedby its own Income Tax depart-ment’s report: “...a sad commen-tary on tax compliance behaviourof a global giant who fleeced poorIndian consumers through mo-nopolistic trades and robbed offthe exchequer of its legitimate dues.Indulging in unethical, illegal andmoney laundering activities, [the]Glencore-led cartel seriouslythreatened the economic securityof the country.” ❑❑

The author is director, policy and outreach, National Seed

Association of India. The views are personal.

https://www.newsclick.in/Essential-Commodities-Act-Modi-Govt-Dal-

Scam-Agriculture

The abnormal price

situation in India

was created by a

coordinated collusive

activity orchestrated

by few trading and

financial entities.

PerspectivePerspectivePerspectivePerspectivePerspective

22

Enable migrant workers to return

Advantage of the

return migrant

workers to host

states would keep

the wages states

and cost of

production of

pepper in Kerala

and cloth in Surat

under central

enabling us to

compete in global

market.

Dr. Bharat

Jhunjhunwala

ISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUE

The main reason for outward migration is the mismatch between geographyand population. For example, the construction of the Bhakra Dam led to an

increase in the area under irrigation in Punjab and to a higher demand for labour.Thus, large numbers of agricultural workers are migrating from Bihar, Jharkhandand UP to Punjab; and industrial workers are migrating to Surat. Same situation isleading to migration of agricultural labour from Tamil Nadu to Kerala. Thesame reason holds true internationally, for example, in the migration of nursesfrom Kerala to Italy. The second cause of migration is the poor state of gover-nance in the home states. Today, an industrialist from Bihar establishes a powerloom unit in Surat and employs workers from Bihar. The same industrialist andworkers are unable to work together in Bihar. The cost of raw materials andelectricity and price of finished cloth is almost same in the two areas. The cost oflabour is also less in Bihar. Yet industrialists are fleeing from Bihar. The reason isthat the politics of Bihar sees them as “exploiters.” The politicians extract “bloodmoney” and bureaucracy wants grease money at every step. Perhaps Bihar canimprove its governance yet the mismatch between geography and population willremain and migration will continue.

The consequence of outward preventing migration, that is, preventing thereturn of migrant workers to their host states, will be that the host states willmake increasing use of automatic machines such as harvesters in agriculture androbots in industries. This will lead to less demand for labour in the economy bothin Punjab and Gujarat and nationally. The reduction in demand for labour inSurat will stabilize the wage rates in Surat and this stability will overflow into Biharand prevent increase in wages in Bihar as well. Another consequence will be thatthe cost of labour in Kerala, Punjab and Surat will increase due to less in-migra-tion. The cost of production of pepper in Kerala and cloth in Surat will increaseand we will price ourselves out of the global market. That will harm our econo-

23

my. Therefore, we should con-sciously encourage migration.

The Mumbai-based Interna-tional Institute of Population Stud-ies has, however, recommended tothe Government that efforts mustbe made to readjust and reintegratethe returning migrant workers intheir home states. They should beprovided with food under the Pub-lic Distribution Program (PDS),employment under MNREGAand health and education facilitiesat par with the host states, it hassaid. I think this would be coun-terproductive because such a poli-cy would lead to increase in use ofrobots and increase in the cost ofproduction in the host states andharm the welfare of all our citi-zens. Further, there will be a hugemismatch in the skills of the return-ing workers and demand in thehome states. Say, a worker has theskill of repairing power looms.Not only he would not like to car-ry mud under MNREGA in Dar-bhanga, such an employment willbe downgrading his productivityand such reintegration will be re-gressive. There are limits to em-ployment of these workers in ag-riculture as well. It is seen at a glo-bal level that the share of incomeand employment in agriculture de-clines along with economicgrowth. Less than one percent ofworkers are employed in agricul-ture in the industrial countries to-day. About 80 percent of our citi-zens were dependent on agricul-ture at the time of Independence.This is down to 20 percent today.Therefore, it will not be possibleto absorb the large numbers ofreturning workers in agriculture. Acaveat is that we could yet absorbthem in agriculture if we are ableto develop niche agricultural prod-

ucts like tulips of Netherlands, ol-ives of Italy, wine of France, or-anges of Florida, walnuts of Wash-ington, pepper of Kerala and cof-fee of Karnataka for the homestates of Bihar, Jharkhand and UP.However, this will require deepefforts at research the results ofwhich are uncertain and will taketime to arise, if at all. Another neg-ative impact of retaining migrantworkers will be that the govern-ments of the home states will beburdened by additional expendi-tures on PDS, MNREGA, healthand education. That will lead to areduction in the capital expendi-tures such as on the constructionof village roads and further pushdown their already struggling ratesof growth. For these reasons wemust make urgent efforts to sendback the returning workers to theirhost states. The economies of thehost states will face a permanentsetback if industries close due tounavailability of workers; and thejob opportunities for our workerswill decline if they start using ro-bots. Time is short to repair theimminent permanent damage justas a damaged limb has to be im-puted fast to prevent gangrenefrom spreading through the body.

The Government must take

three steps immediately. One, anew law should be enacted and themigrant workers should be as-sured that in case of any lockdownbeing imposed in future, the UnionGovernment will pay them day-to-day sustenance money. They maybe required to register for this pur-pose. This should not be left to thewhims and fancies of the employ-ers or the state governments. Two,the governments of the homestates should introspect as to whytheir industrialists and workers—both migrate to Surat and worktogether there instead of workingtogether in their home states?These states have to honour thebusinesspersons instead of exploit-ing them. My ancestors were liv-ing at Luharu in Rajasthan. ThePrincely Ruler of Malsisar visitedand implored them to settle in hisvillage and undertake trade. Myfamily sold seeds and bought theproduce from the farmers andhelped develop that village. Suchhonour and respect must be givenby these home states to the busi-nesspersons. These states mustwork closely with the State Cham-bers of Commerce and identifythe corrupt politicians and bureau-crats and take punitive actionagainst them. This will entail con-fronting their own party men whichwill require taking the people intoconfidence and building a publicpressure against such crooks. Three,the Union Government must es-tablish a mission to identify anddevelop hi-value crops suitable foreach district or, at least, division ofthese states along the lines of tu-lips of Netherlands. This will gen-erate some incomes for the work-ers in their home states withoutharming the national economy. ❑❑

Formerly Professor of Economics at IIM Bengaluru

IssueIssueIssueIssueIssue

The economies of the

host states will face a

permanent setback if

industries close due to

unavailability of

workers; and the job

opportunities for our

workers will decline if

they start using robots.

24

A case to make MSP legal right of farmers

If the US, EU,

Canada and other

big players can

subsidise exports

of agricultural

commodities or

export at prices

which are actually

below the cost of

production, why

should Indian

farmers be

penalised for it?

International

prices should,

therefore, not be

treated as a

benchmark for

fixing MSP for

domestic farmers.

Devinder Sharma

FARMINGFARMINGFARMINGFARMINGFARMING

It was in 2003 that the heads of state of four west and central African countries— Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali — wrote a joint proposal to the World

Trade Organisation (WTO) asking for scrapping the massive cotton subsidy sup-port being given in the US/EU, which depresses global prices. At the same time,in a signed letter published in the New York Times, these leaders had said: “Yoursubsidies kill our farmers.” An international uproar erupted, and it virtually led tothe collapse of the Cancun WTO Ministerial Conference.

This particular incident, in many ways historic, is an important lesson to learnfrom in the context of the ongoing debate on whether the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) being paid to farmers is much higher compared to the internationalprices. Also, it allows us to understand that there is nothing sacrosanct about theinternational prices.

As the West African challenge to the rich developed countries on the conten-tious issue of cotton subsidies clearly demonstrated how easily market priceswere manipulated, hitting the livelihoods of farmers in another part of the world.

Several studies, among them from Oxfam International, the InternationalFood Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Catholic social justice organisation,CIDSE, had analysed the issue in depth. Accordingly, the US had spent $14.8billion in just four years, between 1998 and 2002, to subsidise a cotton cropvalued at $21.6 billion. Some other news reports showed how, in addition, theUS provided a subsidy of $1.7 billion every year to the textile industry to buy thesubsidised cotton.

25

This brought down the glo-bal prices, pushing cotton farmersin west Africa to suffer economiclosses.

If these cotton subsidies wereto be removed, studies showedthat nearly 25,000 cotton growersin the US (at that time) would haveincurred an average loss of $871per acre. On the other hand, imag-ine the economic loss for the fourwest African countries (betterknown as Cotton 4) which had onlyfour per cent of the global cottonarea but relied heavily on exports.

Lower international pricesmeant lower price realisation forthe African cotton growers. Whatimpact the artificially low interna-tional prices had on cotton grow-ers from the developing and leastdeveloping countries is provided byanother World Bank study whichworked out that a 40 per cent dropin cotton prices leads to a 21 percent reduction in farm income.Drop in farm income, in turn, re-sults in a 20 per cent rise in poverty.

Subsequently, in a case filed byBrazil against the US cotton subsi-dies, the WTO Dispute Panel in2005 did acknowledge that someof the cotton subsidies indeed re-duced global prices.

In another interesting study,Sophia Murply and Karen Hans-en-Kuhn of the non-profit Insti-tute for Agriculture and Trade Pol-icy (IATP) had worked out the costof ‘dumping’ agricultural com-modities on the global markets forfive major crops America export-ed — wheat, corn, soybean, riceand cotton. This interesting researchproject, initiated by Mark Ritchie,IATP’s founder, has certainly madea significant contribution in under-standing how ‘dumping’ influenc-es global trade.

Accordingly, in 2017, the USwas dumping wheat at an exportprice that was 38 per cent less thanits cost of production. Similarly,cotton was exported at a price thatwas 12 per cent less (despite thewest African challenge), corn atnine per cent, and soybean at fourper cent less. The authors also ob-served a consistent pattern thatAmerica followed in dumpingthese commodities for over twoand a half decades, barring a fewyears in between.

Whatever be the ‘dumping’size, what emerges clear is the rolethat these subsidies, often hidden,have on lowering internationalprices. In 2018, the OECD coun-tries, comprising the richest trad-ing block, provided agriculturalsubsidies to the tune of $246 bil-lion. Along with unfair trade prac-tices, these subsidies have alwaysplayed a significant role in protect-ing developed country farmersagainst price volatilities, cotton be-ing a classic case.

More recently, another IATPstudy entitled Milking the Planetexplains how in a bid to remaincompetitive, European dairy cor-porations are dumping cheap dairyproducts and, in turn, pushing smalldairy farms out of business in de-veloping countries. Along with EU,the US too has been heavily subsi-dising milk and milk products. Ina joint representation before theWTO in 2017, India and Chinahave said that dairy (and also sug-ar) continues to be in receipt of ahigh product-specific support inAmerica for over a decade.

Similarly, the EU provides aproduct-specific subsidy supportof 71 per cent of the value for itsproduction for butter and 67 percent for skimmed milk powder

(SMP), thereby pulling down glo-bal prices.

How the FOB (free on board)prices actually hide the massive sub-sidies is better illustrated by a care-ful look at the wheat subsidies be-ing provided in America. As per thenon-profit, Environmental Work-ing Group (EWG), the US has giv-en a subsidy of $47.8 billion towheat growers between 1995 and2019 (there are 29 heads underwhich these subsidies on wheat weregiven, a few of these may have dis-continued now). These subsidiesactually encourage overproduction,thereby reducing market prices.

The big trading agencies gainin the process. Also, what needs tobe understood is that if marketswere offering a higher price to wheatgrowers in America, I see no rea-son why the US should have pro-vided such a huge subsidy supportto wheat growers over the years.

If the US/EU/Canada andother big players can subsidise ex-ports of agricultural commoditiesor export at prices which are actu-ally below the cost of production,why should Indian farmers be pe-nalised for it? International pricesshould, therefore, not be treated asa benchmark for fixing MSP fordomestic farmers.

India must ensure that regard-less of the global prices, domesticfarm incomes grow in the sameproportion as other sections of thesociety. To begin with, make MSPa legal right for farmers, as theCommission for Agricultural Costsand Prices (CACP) had earlier rec-ommended. Follow this up withdirect income support to fill the in-come shortfalls so as to realise thedream of Atmanirbhar Bharat. ❑❑

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/a-case-to-make-msp-legal-

right-of-farmers-102423/

FarmingFarmingFarmingFarmingFarming

26

Reforms in agriculture marketing

Two landmark

Ordinances were

recently

promulgated by

the President of

India, which have

the potential to

fundamentally

transform the

agriculture sector

and facilitate more

holistic

development of

agriculture

markets, from farm

to fork, furthering

the Government’s

vision of doubling

farmer income by

2022.

Kailash

Choudhary

AGRICULTUREAGRICULTUREAGRICULTUREAGRICULTUREAGRICULTURE

For a very long time, reforms in agriculture marketing have been debated, butno decisive action had been taken. It required leadership and political will to

unshackle the farmers from the vice like grip of intermediaries who take away alarge slice of farmer’s income by resorting to cartelization and unfair arbitrage.Two landmark Ordinances were recently promulgated by the President of India,which have the potential to fundamentally transform the agriculture sector andfacilitate more holistic development of agriculture markets, from farm to fork,furthering the Government’s vision of doubling farmer income by 2022. Aim isto help farmer become an entrepreneur rather than being subservient to unholynexus of regulated markets and intermediaries.

The first of these Ordinances, The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion & Facilitation) Ordinance 2020, provides freedom to farmers to sellwhen they want, where they want and in whichever market they want, which wasrestricted by stringent (and variable) APMC regulations. There were previouslyfour key restrictions for farmers – location of market (restricted to the nearestgeographic market), number of buyers (limited to licensed traders leading tocartelization, restricting competition and reducing farmer price realization), infra-structure availability (due to lack of private investment outside the mandi) andprice transparency (limited visibility of inter-state prices, potential for intermedi-aries to gain through arbitrage at the cost of farmers). In addition to these restric-tion, farmers face multiple operational challenges including prohibitive transpor-tation costs to the nearest market, long queues at market and delays in auction,local mafia raj, etc. Further, the choice of APMC mandi and procurement atMSP, will continue uninterrupted. Finally, in order to protect the interest of farm-

27

ers, the government has mandatedan expedient and simple disputeresolution process.

With the new Ordinance inplace, a vibrant ecosystem will becreated for farmers and traderscreating an unrestricted marketwith 3 key benefits –

First, choice of market, allow-ing a farmer to sell in any state ornational market that offers the bestprices. This will limit the high de-pendence on local traders and en-able farmers to realize the bestprices for their produce, withouthaving to pay commissions andfees to middlemen. A competitivemarketplace will be created withlarge number of buyers leading tohigher price realization for farmers.

Second, choice of place, al-lowing farmer to sell from any lo-cation – including farmgate, stor-age points like warehouses or si-los, private mandis or the APMCmarkets. With the option to sell atfarmgate or warehouse, farmerscan reduce transportation over-heads and improve net realizationin addition to sidestepping thechallenges faced in current markets.

Third, choice of timing, al-lowing farmer to store produceand sell post price discovery. Pre-viously, farmers would have totransport their produce to the man-di, incurring significant transporta-tion costs. This would result in aneed to sell irrespective of prices,in order to avoid incurring a re-verse transportation cost. Underthe new Ordinance, a farmer canstore and sell, due to choice tomarket and place.

While historically there hasbeen limited investment in infra-structure along the value chain, inorder to support smooth imple-mentation of the Ordinance the

Government of India has an-nounced an Agri Infra Fund of Rs.1 lac crore. The fund will catalyzeotherwise stagnant investmentfrom cooperatives, FPOs and pri-vate sector to facilitate creation ofphysical infrastructure like assayingand grading facilities, cold chain etc.,allowing farmers to store and sell,and reduce wastage or distress sales.

While the first Ordinance fa-cilitates better price realizationpost-harvest, the second Ordi-nance, The Farmers (Empower-ment and Protection) Agreementon Price Assurance and Farm Ser-vices Ordinance 2020, enables

market linkages at the sowing stage,thereby limiting both productionrisk and price risk.

The lack of a legal frameworkfor contracting between farmerand buyer in India has historicallyled to limited private sector par-ticipation in production. This Or-dinance provides a uniform frame-work for private investment inmarkets, without challenging afarmer’s ownership rights or rightto cultivation – which will providefarmers three benefits.

First, risk mitigation andgreater predictability of income.Farmers will have the option toenter into agreements with buyersbefore sowing, securing the price

for their sale. Further, they may beable to enter into agreements thatprotect them from harvest lossesas well, thereby insuring againstoutput risk. This provides greatercertainty for farmers in scenarioswhere either the crop output ormarket prices are highly variable,but enables them to grow riskycrops and benefit from the upside.

Second, access to market in-telligence and hence higher valueper acreage. With limited forwardlinkages, farmers don’t have accessto consumer demand trends andhence, are not able to optimizecrop and varietal mix. This Ordi-nance will enable stronger linkagewith both domestic and exportmarkets.

Third, access to better tech-nology and knowhow for farmmanagement and hence, higheryield. As private sector will nowhave framework to better integratewith farming practices, they canchannel expertise to farmers aswell as make direct technology in-vestments (e.g. geo monitoring set-ups, IoT, etc.) driving higher yieldand promoting sustainable agricul-ture over long term.

Beyond the benefits, this Or-dinance also safeguards farmers byproviding clear guidance and sup-port to enter into fair trade prac-tices, a stringent dispute resolutionmechanism, penalties for miscon-duct by buyers, etc.

Collectively, these reformswill herald a new dawn for agri-culture in India, transformingfarmers into vibrant producers,integrated with the national andglobal economy, who have free-dom, choice, higher price realiza-tion for their produce and securityof livelihood. ❑❑

(The author is Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare)

https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/reforms-in-agriculture-marketing/

AgricultureAgricultureAgricultureAgricultureAgriculture

The lack of a legal

framework for

contracting between

farmer and buyer in

India has historically

led to limited private

sector participation in

production.

28

PM Modi Helped Lockdown Become APeople's Movement

The Modi

government has

shown leadership

in handling an

unprecedented

crisis, with India

doing better so far

than certain other

countries, despite

the challenges of

our large

population, high

density and

poverty. Under

this leadership,

India will

overcome this

virus and rise

again.

Feroze Varun

Gandhi

OPINIONOPINIONOPINIONOPINIONOPINION

In 1918, India was beset by an influenza pandemic which lasted till 1920. Thedisease affected individuals between the age of 20 and 40 in particular - the

Ganga, it was stated, was swollen with dead bodies (Suryakant Tripathi, the famedpoet). In its aftermath, the pandemic killed over 14-17 million (~5% of the pop-ulation), the highest in the world. India's population actually fell in the decadebetween 1911 and 1921.

In March 2020, India was faced with grave predictions about the COVID-19 outbreak - It was even predicted that India would see ~60% of its population(700-800 million people) getting infected in the near term in the worst-case sce-nario. While ICMR officials were more circumspect, the centre took necessaryaction by pushing for a "hard" lockdown (notably the most stringent in the world)of the entire country in March 2020. For any country, pursuing such stringencywas a hard ask - India clearly attempted this to provide a window to build uphealthcare capacity (across beds, PPEs, testing kits). The lockdown was fairlysuccessful in creating space for policy measures to build up state capacity to dealwith a long struggle with the disease - even now, we are at ~1 million confirmedcases (with ~342,000 active cases, of which ~1.94% are in ICU; Ministry ofHealth, July 2020) basis existing testing capacity.

It is important to note that the outbreak has seen significant recoveries too inIndia - the number of recovered COVID-19 patients exceeded the number ofactive cases by ~3lakh on July 19, 2020, reaching a total of ~6.77 lakh patients

29

OpinionOpinionOpinionOpinionOpinion

recovering (a recovery rate of~62.86 by that date). This, in theMinistry of Health's words, hasbeen due to "effective clinical man-agement of the moderate and se-vere cases through a well-execut-ed standard of care protocol hasensured high rate of recoveryamong the COVID patients".Meanwhile, testing infrastructurehas also been ramped up signifi-cantly - ~3,58,127 samples weretested on July 18, 2020, with a cu-mulative total of 1,37,91,869 sam-ples tested so far (effectively a rateof 9994.1 tests per million). Thediagnostic lab network has alsobeen significantly expanded, reach-ing 1,262 labs, of which 889 are inthe government sector.

We must also note the re-sponse by the Centre and variousstates in terms of implementing thelockdown. India notably issued~4,000+ notifications over the~60 day period of the lockdown.Under the Prime Minister's direc-tion, much of this was to enablethe creation, from scratch, of asystem to keep citizens indoorswhile keeping them well-suppliedfor essential goods. This was anactivity without precedent - noth-ing in independent India's historyshowcases a government responseto enable the country to survive,amidst a pandemic, and then moveback towards economic vitality.However, under Prime MinisterModi's direction, both the centreand the states showed alacrity inresponding to a rapidly-changingsituation. After an initial focus onunderstanding the scale of the pan-demic, the Centre quickly changedtack to emphasise greater produc-tion of PPEs. Meanwhile, thePrime Minister's exhortations alsomade this into a people's move-

ment - without buy-in from a will-ing and motivated public, no na-tion could have stayed at home for~2 months. While the US and UKfaced challenges from recalcitrantcitizens, India showcased unity forthis purpose across its urban andrural landscape. Motivated by thePrime Minister's regular speeches,this nation stood as one during theinitial grim days.

Consider PPEs. In January2020, when the COVID-19 out-break occurred in India, there wasvery limited capacity for produc-ing PPEs (including N95 masks) inIndia, with most products actuallyimported (Ghosh, Kamalika, Mon-

ey Control, Jul 2020). The Minis-try of Home Affairs (MHA) con-stituted an empowered group ofofficials on January 30 to enablethe availability of such medicalequipment. Since then, India's do-mestic production of PPEs hasramped up significantly - by May2020, for an order of ~22 millionPPEs from the Government ofIndia, domestic producers wereable to fulfil 14.2 million PPEsfrom ~111 manufacturers. The in-dustry has scaled up significantly,with an estimated turnover of~7000 Cr. While in March 2020,India was producing ~3,000 PPEsdaily, by June 2020, India was pro-ducing 700,000 - 800,000 PPEs ona daily basis. Now, India is even ex-porting PPEs in various categories.

Even on the vaccine front,India shows potential. Zydus Cadi-la is currently planning to completelate-stage trials for its COVID-19vaccine candidate by March 2021,with a push to producing 100 mil-lion doses annually, if successful.Bharat Biotech, in collaborationwith the National Institute of Vi-rology and the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR), has avaccine candidate, Covaxin, whichhas now been approved for Phase

The US and UK

faced challenges

from recalcitrant

citizens, India

showcased unity

for this purpose

across its urban

and rural

landscape.

30

I and II human clinical trials - trialshave already begun in Hyderabad.The government is making all ef-forts to fast-track these vaccines (inline with clinical trial procedures)with fast regulatory clearances.Meanwhile, Indian firms have beenencouraged to tie-up with key re-search institutes conducting clinicaltrials with a push for sharing ourvaccine-manufacturing capacity toproduce vaccines for the world.The Serum Institute of India (SII)has tied up with Oxford Universi-ty and AstraZeneca for a licensingarrangement to manufacture an

experimental COVID-19 vaccinewhich is in Phase II trials - the firmalready has manufacturing capaci-ty to produce 500 million doses ofvaccines in a year. India's regulato-ry authorities have partnered withthe firm in expanding its manufac-turing capacity, which will help tosmoothen out procedural road-blocks.

Meanwhile, with backingfrom the Department of Biotech-nology, SII has pushed for devel-oping recombinant TuberculosisBacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)vaccine shots; this could potential-ly improve the innate ability ofIndians to fight the disease (trials

pending), and perhaps reduce thefatality of the disease in India. Thispublic-private partnership is the keyto ensuring access to a vaccine formost Indians within the next year.

The danger is not yet past - itwill continue. Localised outbreakswill continue, even more so, at astate level. With health a state sub-ject in the constitution of India, thepost-lockdown containment initi-atives by various state governmentshave shown varied effectiveness.Consider the case of Delhi - itsDeputy Chief Minister highlight-ed in late June that Delhi could

reach 550,000 cases by July 31.Fortunately, the Centre stepped inat a timely point to assist the stategovernment - the state's contain-ment zone strategy was revamped,with contact-tracing activitiesstrengthened. Meanwhile, supportwas provided in expanding thestate's bed capacity with the launchof the largest COVID-19 care cen-tre. Credit should be given whereit is due - the Home Minister ShriAmit Shah's timely interventionmay have saved the day for thecapital.

While India's current strategymay sound opportunistic in nature,a whack-a-mole tactic, this is in fact

the model that the world at largeis increasingly adopting. The UKhas announced measures to openup its public areas and loosen re-strictions, while pursuing a strate-gy that seeks to contain localisedoutbreaks - the UK's health secre-tary, Matt Hancock, stated "Eachweek, there are more than 100 lo-cal actions taken across the coun-try - some of these will make thenews but many more are swiftlyand silently dealt with". The COV-ID-19 outbreak will not be re-solved by a silver bullet solution(for e.g. a simple drug or a vac-

cine) - we are now in the new nor-mal, where countries usurp the en-tire supply of relevant drugs (e.g.Remdesivir and the United States).This will be a prolonged strugglewhere the internal resilience of acountry and its government willmatter. The Modi government hasshown leadership in handling anunprecedented crisis, with Indiadoing better so far than certainother countries, despite the chal-lenges of our large population,high density and poverty. Underthis leadership, India will overcomethis virus and rise again. ❑❑

(Feroze Varun Gandhi is a member of the BJP and a three-time

member of parliament.)

https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/pm-modi-helped-lockdown-become-a-peoples-

movement-2266187

Indian firms have been

encouraged to tie-up with

key research institutes

conducting clinical trials

with a push for sharing our

vaccine-manufacturing

capacity to produce

vaccines for the world.

OpinionOpinionOpinionOpinionOpinion

31

HISTORYHISTORYHISTORYHISTORYHISTORY

Historical background to the BishnoiMovement

Bishnoi

Philosophy of

Western Rajasthan

offered a

sustainable

economy to

the society of Thar

Desert through

conservation of

vegetation, cattle

and water

resources in

historic times.

Prof. Nandini

Sinha Kapur

Environment and ecology played a crucial role in delaying the territorial and po-litical integration of western Rajasthan in the medieval times. Desert and ariditylimited economic viability to sustain large regional states. While the Bhati state ofJaisalmer did not emerge before the thirteenth century,” the Rathaur states ofJodhpur and Bikaner emerged only in the fifteenth century. Prior to political andterritorial unification accomplished by the Rathaurs (in which horses played animportant role, western Rajasthan was being ruled by chiefs of different Rajputclans controlling very small areas in the desert. An examination of the inscriptionsof the Bhatis of Jaisalmer, and Rathores of Jodhpur and Bikaner clearly indicatesthat agriculture was a scarce economic activity (mostly seasonal) and the socioeconomic bases were trade (mainly long-distance interregional trade) and pastoralactivities. The important trade routes between northern India (Gangetic plainsand Delhi-Agra grid) and Lahore, Multan and Sindh passed through northern andwestern Rajasthan.” These were supplemented by artisanal activities.

However, the pastoralists led a semi-nomadic life owing to scarcity of fod-der and water in the desert. They had to seasonally migrate to the fertile plains ofSindh with their flock (trans humane). The semi-nomadic nature of the pastoraleconomy imposed severe restrictions on the resource base of the emerging re-gional states in the fifteenth century: A study of Nainsi-RiKhyât reveals that raids,particularly cattle raids, formed an important part of the economic base of thesmall chieftainship, in western Rajasthan in the pre-Rathaur period (Mohil Chau-hans of Mohilvati, SankhlaParmar, Bhatis of Pugal). The ember gence of Rathaurstates created pressure on the pastoralists to contribute to the revenue-base of thegovernment. The Bishnoi religion and their philosophy of conservation of natu-ral resources of the desert-vegetation (particularly khejri trees, the life line ofdesert), cattle-wealth and water, and thus helping in economic resources and sed-entarizing the semi-nomadic pastoralists-facilitated the processes of regional stateformation in medieval western Rajasthan. Bishnoi encouragement towards con-servation and agricultural activities within the climatic and spatial limits of desert-villages brought royal patronage to the Bishnoi saints and their ideology.

Bishnoi philosophy of conservation of vegetation and movementfor environmental protection

The Bishnoi movement had a wide following in the desert community ofwestern Rajasthan in the medieval period. Its philosophical and socio-economiccontent enjoyed popularity among the local population of Rajputs, Jats and Ra-baris or Raikas (the caste of camel breeders) because it made a significant differ-ence to their life. The Bishnoi concern for environmental protection ensured im-provement in the living conditions of the desert community. This concern as-sumed significant proportion against the background of the famine of AD 1450-1485 and 1490 in western Rajasthan followed by those of 17421747 1792, 1796,1804, 1812-16, 1837-8, 1866-9, 1890-2, 1898-1900, 1901-2 and 1938-9. Bikaner

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region witnessed a series of fam-ines in 1834, 1849, 1860, 1868-9,1889-92 and 1899. The fact that theBishnois of Rajasthan and Haryanaare a living culture today, despite therecurrent famines indicates the con-tinuing relevance and contempora-neity of the philosophy and teach-ings of the medieval saints.

• Following Jambhoji’spreaching, Vilhoji widened thescope for conservation of natureby highlighting the environmentaland economic importance of veg-etation, particularly the khejri tree.

The Bishnois were not onlyinspired to sacrifice their lives forthe protection of cattle but also forthe preservation of trees. Vilhojiwarned his disciples that theywould go to hell if they did notdemonstrate kindness towardstrees.” He instructed his disciplesto plant the right kinds of treeswhich would bear nectar-like andnot poison-like fruits. He comparedtruth and falsity with two types oftrees: sweet and salty. Vilhoji nar-rated the story of Jambhoji disci-ple Karamni who sacrificed her lifein 1604 for the protection of khe-jri trees-the lifeline of the desert asthe trees can survive severe droughtconditions. Shivani and Netu aretwo other heroes who laid downtheir lives for saving trees.

Their accounts assert that iftrees are not protected then gurud-harma (teachings of Jambhoji)

would be disrespected.Bhati Rajput are condemned

for felling trees and another Jam-bhoji follower Mote gave up hislife fighting against these Bhatis.Glorification of these martyrs issought as hero Netu attains heav-en and immortality. Jambhoji seatSambharthal is hailed because itabounds in forests and is inhabit-ed by devout pastoralists. Jambhojiwandered in these forests but nev-er cut any for wood.” He onlypicked up broken twigs to lightfires. Jambhoji encouraged his fol-lowers to grow mangoes out ofthorny desert oaks. Among hismiracles, the story of conversionof lime trees into coconut treescontinues to be popular among hisdisciples. When human beings andanimals seek shelter in the shadowsof trees, they get respite from heat.

Interestingly, Vilhoji lamentsthat trees shed their leaves as soonas they are surrounded by humanbeings and animals.” This is a clearindication of the Bishnoi preferencefor conservation of vegetation.

Water resources & agricultureVilhoji popularized conserva-

tion of the other scarce item ofthe desert: water. Conservation ofwater was not only to meet thedaily needs of a desert society butalso for agricultural activities.

According to Vilhoji, whenrain comes, cows get green grass to

eat and water to drink. Hence, wa-ter is the foundation for good qual-ity of milk and not any hymn ormantra. It was imperative to con-serve rainwater at the local level bothfor drinking purposes and pastoralactivities. Vilhoji prayed to Devji(Jambhoji) to bestow kindness onearth by sending rain-bearing clouds.

It is significant that the needfor water and water-conservationwere sanctified though such com-parisons as ‘Water can exist with-out fish but fish cannot survivewithout water, just like guru Jam-bhoji does not need his disciplesas much as his disciples need him.When it rains, cattle grow uphealthy and give plenty of milk.”Milch cows graze on green grassthat only grows after 5.36 rains.”Good quality fodder like bagruand chandler grass (also used inkitchens) too grow only if it rains.To sanctify the most scarce re-source of the desert, water isclaimed to be the sacred Bangan-ga of the Puranic traditions.

The need for generation andconservation of water perhapswas the most important factor inthe cultivation of grains for thesustenance of the local population.The Bishnoi concern for agricul-tural activities to meet the local re-quirements are evident in Vilhoji’snarrative of the famine of 1542 inKatha Guggalki. The famine wasso terrible that the starved popu-lation began to migrate elsewherein search of livelihood. When Jam-bhoji attempted to stop the peoplefrom migrating, they petitioned thatif their daily requirement of 1.25maunds of grain were arranged for,they would not migrate in searchof livelihood.” Jambhoji promisedthem daily their food through di-vine intervention. ❑❑

HistoryHistoryHistoryHistoryHistory

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REPORTREPORTREPORTREPORTREPORT

The focus of the meeting was to understand SJMand its role in nation-building. The audience wereupdated with the thoughts of Dattopant ThengadiJee and suggested to read the book titled Third Way.The participants discussed in detail about strategies tobe followed and developed for twitter trends. Partic-ipants were encouraged to choose their area of inter-est and highlight the issues if it goes against the con-cerns of Swadeshi philosophy. All participants of themeeting agreed that all the warriors should liveSwadeshi and promote Swadeshi wherever they are,and whenever the occasion arises. The attendance ofthe meeting was about 20.

The latest trend happened on 12 July 2020 from6 PM onwards. The topic was: "Ban Cancer Causing

Glyphosate". The best rank attained by this trend was29 in twitter trends across India. The #pkbuk eqDrLons'kh Hkkjr trend happened on 28 June 2020 from 5PM onwards. This trend had more than 15500 tweetsand the best rank attained was 30 in twitter trendsacross India. The #Swadeshi_digital_signature trendhappened on 10 June 2020 from 5 PM onwards.Despite having little more than 7000 tweets, this trendmanaged to attain the best rank of 25 in twitter trendsacross India. The #VocalForLocal_Swadeshi wasperformed on 17 May 2020 from 5 PM onwardsand with more than 12000 tweets its best rank at-tained in twitter trends was 15. The trend on #iks[kj.kLokoyacu dk ladYi was done on 11 May 2020 from3:45 PM onwards which had more than 15000 tweetsand attained the best rank of 22 at the national levelamong twitter trends. The #Swadeshi_Self_Reliancewas performed on 9 May 2020 from 5 PM onwardsand with more than 7000 tweets it attained the bestrank of 16 at the national level among the twittertrends. The first trend happened on 25 April 2020from 6 PM onwards on topic #Lons'kh ladYi fnoland it also managed to trend successfully.

The Warriors are committed to increase theirstrength and add new people to the fraternity. ❑❑

The Swadeshi Warriors is a group of people onsocial media platform having a strong belief in thephilosophy of Swadeshi. The objective of the war-riors is to support and expand the reach of the ideasof Swadeshi Jagran Manch using twitter platform.The aim is to prioritize and to bring to the notice ofthe policymakers and the general public about the is-sues of concern of SJM. Till 13 July 2020, the grouphas promoted 7 trends. Two meetings of the war-riors have been arranged with the central leadershipof the SJM.

The first meeting of Swadeshi Warriors happenedon 21 June 2020 from 6 PM onwards. The meetingwas coordinated by Pooja Madan and Govind Trip-athi and was moderated by Phool Chand. It was ad-dressed by Kashmiri Lal and Dr. Ashwani Mahajan.Kashmiri Lal welcomed the new members and thankedthem for their active participation and updated themwith the role of Swadeshi Jagran Manch in nation-build-ing. Ashwani Mahajan talked in detail about the issueswhich the nation and the world are facing and the ne-cessity to follow the Swadeshi economic policies in allthe domains of life. All the participants were very en-thusiastic about the meeting. The attendance of themeeting was about 28.

The second meeting of Swadeshi Warriors hap-pened on 5 July 2020 from 4 PM to 6: 45 PM and itwas coordinated by Pooja Madan and Govind Trip-athi. The meeting was chaired and moderated by PhoolChand. In this meeting, all the participants receivedsufficient time to speak and talk among themselves.

Report on Swadeshi Warriors: Meetingsand Trends

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NEWS

SJM says attempts to cutimports from China are visible

Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), the organisationthat is at the forefront of the call to end India's de-pendence on Chinese imports by strengthening localmanufacturing, says India has already demonstrated thatit is capable of cutting down imports from China.

"It is true that today there is too much depen-dence on Chinese imports. But this is equally true thatin the last couple of years, there has been some re-duction in imports from China," Ashwani Mahajan,National Co-Convener of SJM points out.

Mahajan's logic is that there has been $8 billionfall in the import of electrical and electronic itemsfrom China in 2018-19. It declined further by anoth-er $1.5 in 2019-20, he notes. Interestingly, the importof iron and steel from China also declined by 12.3per cent in 2018-19 and further by 22 per cent in2019-20. The import from China of organic chemi-cals declined by 7.3 per cent and fertilisers by 11.4percent in 2019-20. Overall, in last two years, importsfrom China came down from $76.4 billion in 2017-18 to $65.3 billion in 2019-20.

"Imports from China, which were rising in leapsand bounds earlier have shown a significant down-ward trend due to anti-dumping duties on Chineseproducts, hikes in tariff rates on goods where ourdependence on China is more, and imposition of non-tariff barriers by way of standards. Due to this, pro-duction of all these items has also increased in thecountry," Mahajan argues.

The flipside is that India still imported $65.3 bil-lion worth of goods from China in 2019-20. Elec-tronics, telecom equipment, chemicals, steel and oth-er metals, machinery and parts etc continue to comefrom China. Further, a reduction in imports from

China in itself will remain less meaningful unless al-ternate routes of Chinese products, Hong Kong forinstance, are plugged. A general decline in demandcould have also contributed to the reduction in im-ports, though to a lesser extent.

As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi'sAtma Nirbhar call, India is now attempting to en-courage production of electronic items and basicchemicals that go as ingredients into the manufactur-ing of pharmaceuticals. The success of these initia-tives will have a long-term impact on Indian importsfrom China.

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/rss-affiliate-says-attempts-to-cut-imports-from-china-are-

visible/story/410001.html

SJM welcome banning of59 Chinese apps

After the Indian government’s decision to ban59 Chinese apps for ‘engaging in activities which areprejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, de-fence of India, security of state and public order’, thetraders’ body Confederation of All India Traders(CAIT) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) have wel-comed the move.

SJM said “We would like to thank governmentas they realised the sentiment of people of the coun-try and banned Chinese apps. Swadeshi Jagran Manchhas been demanding for a long time that a strongstep should be taken against China. We would like tosay that our country will give a befitting reply to Chi-na. We all shall continue our pledge to boycott Chi-nese goods.”

CAIT said, “We thank PM Modi on the deci-sion to ban 59 Chinese apps. We have been campaign-ing against Chinese goods and this has come up as abig boost for that campaign. We also request that thecentral government should terminate all the contracts

35

News

with Chinese companies.”SJM and CAIT have been staging a protest for

banning of Chinese products in India after 20 Indiansoldiers got martyred in clashes at Galwan Valley. Aprotest has been going on throughout the countryechoing the chorus for a ban on Chinese Goods inIndia. CAIT, on June 29 wrote a letter to CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal and demanded that all prod-ucts which are sold in India through e-commerce oroffline shops should mandatorily have the country oforigin and content of value addition in the said item.

https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/traders-body-cait-swadeshi-jagran-manch-welcome-banning-of-59-

chinese-apps/614069

SJM activists burn Chineseproducts in Delhi

Swadeshi Jagran Manch burnt Chinese productsin East Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar in a protest against killingof Indian soldiers in a violent face-off with troops ofthe neighbouring country in Galwan Valley last week.

“This protest is a symbolic homage to the mar-tyrs and we appeal the people to boycott Made inChina items, we want to hit China economically tomake it realise that it will not be spared by Indians forkilling our soldiers while earning money through itsgoods,” SJM said.https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/swadeshi-jagran-manch-activists-burn-chinese-products-in-

east-delhi-120062800021_1.html

SJM gets support from over13 lakh people for its boycott

Chinese goods campaign

Swadeshi Jagran Manch’s (SJM) digital signaturecampaign aimed at supporting Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision and boycott-ing of Chinese goods has received over 13 lakh sig-natures so far. The campaign, which is a part of theSJM’s Swadeshi Swavlamban Abhiyan (Swadeshi Self-

Reliance Campaign), was launched on 25 May. Peo-ple can join the campaign by clicking on this link.

“Swadeshi Swavlamban Abhiyan was started on20 May 2020. Under this, we started an exercise fordigital signatures, with people taking the pledge toboycott Chinese goods. Until now, more than 13 lakhsignatures have been received and the number is fastrising,” said SJM.

“On an average in the past few days, we havebeen getting one lakh signatures every day,” he added.

The tagline of the campaign is ‘SwadeshiSweekar, Chinese Bahishkar, Swavalambi Bharat,Bhavishya Ka Aadhar’.

“This would be a true tribute to those who diedwhile working tirelessly for the country. Boycott Chi-nese goods completely. This is what a true patriot willdo – become part of the campaign,” according to acampaign leaflet. Talking about the campaign, Ma-hajan said the objective is to arouse awakening andcommitment for swadeshi and self-reliance.

“Self-reliance would be achieved by rejuvenat-ing indigenous industry, including small scale indus-tries, small businesses, artisans, rural industries includ-ing food processing industry and other non-farm ac-tivities with an aim to generate inclusive growth withimpetus on employment,” SJM said.

The government has already imposed restrictionson Chinese investments by making it mandatory toseek approval first.

“After that, several restrictions have been imposedon imports from China, tenders by Chinese compa-nies are being cancelled in big numbers and a fewdays ago, 59 Chinese apps were banned with imme-diate effect,” SJM added.

Last week, senior RSS leader Suresh BhaiyyajiJoshi had said boycotting Chinese products is a natu-ral reaction as swadeshi feeling is developing fast. Healso pointed out this is a good opportunity for India

36

News

to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirb-har Bharat’ vision.

Last month, the Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) had condemned the Chinese “mili-tary aggression” along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh and decided to step up its nation-wide campaign to boycott Chinese goods.

Following the violent face-off with Chinese sol-diers in Eastern Ladakh that resulted in the death of20 Indian soldiers in Galwan, the CAIT gave a call toboycott 450 broad categories of commodities, whichhave over 3,000 Chinese products.

https://theprint.in/india/rss-affiliate-gets-support-from-over-13-lakh-people-for-its-boycott-chinese-goods-campaign/

455612/

Atmanirbhar Bharat’s developmentwill be women-centric

Senior BJP leader and Member of Parliamentfrom Sirsa in Haryana, Sunita Duggal, said that wom-en-centric development will guide the AtmanirbharBharat and added that the MSME sector will raceahead through schemes announced by Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi.

Duggal was speaking at the webinar ‘’Atmanir-bhar Bharat, and People’’ s participation’’, jointly or-ganised by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Kerala, and theCentre for Policy and Development Studies. “Throughwomen-centric and agriculture-based programmes,the Indian economy will grow. People should be moreself-reliant and lead the country to become self-reli-ant. Solar energy offers huge potential, one exampleof which is Abu Dhabi in the UAE,” said Duggal.

Former Union Minister P.C. Thomas opined thatonly through people’s participation will the Prime Min-ister’s dream for Atmanirbhar Bharat become a reality.

“Indian entrepreneurs are capable of bringingout excellent apps to replace Chinese ones banned by

the government of India. The MSME sector will gainheavily owing to the Modi government’s policy ofproviding collateral security to the loans taken by theentrepreneurs. All expect that there will be a majorsurge in the agriculture sector owing to the govern-ment policies,” said the former minister in the AtalBihari Vajpayee government.

Swadeshi Jagaran Manch national convener Ra-mamritham Sundaram said that the PM’s call for ‘’Vo-cal for Local’’ was the idea relentlessly campaignedby the SJM and pointed out that they had conducteda year-long campaign across the country against im-port and use of Chinese products as well as Chineseincursions in the economic sector.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/atmanirbhar-bharats-development-will-be-womencentric-bjp-mp/1886465

Let our venture capitalists swapinvestment made by China in

Indian startups: SJM

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) urged the Indianventure capitalists and industrialists to come forwardand swap the Chinese investment in companies likePaytm.

According to SJM national co-convenor Ash-wani Mahajan, this is the only logical way to showChinese investment in Indian startup an exit door.

The investment that has been made by China inIndia is only 6 billion dollars in comparison to ourforeign exchange reserves which stands at 500 billiondollars, he explained.

“We should not worry at all. I want to requestventure capitalists to kick out Chinese firms, swap theinvestment and take over their companies. It’s a gold-en opportunity for India’s venture capitalists and in-dustrialists to establish our hegemony and kick outChina,” SJM suggested. Responding to questions be-ing asked by the Opposition on limiting actions againstChina to banning apps, Mahajan said, “We are cancel-ling Chinese orders and tenders. I would request ven-ture capitalists to come forward and swap the Chi-nese investment from these countries. I am gettingfeelers that they are ready to do that.”

Speaking to ANI, he said that the Oppositionattempts at belittling the government’s move to ban59 Chinese apps is unfortunate. The Opposition crit-icism of banning the Chinese apps by calling it “sym-bolic” is no less feat, said Mahajan. He asked the op-position why it did not talk about not allowing Hua-wei in 5G trials or Chinese companies participating in

37

News

tenders and flooding its apps posing a national threat.“There is great consensus between the Congress,

the Communist Party of China and the CommunistParty of India. These political parties should rise tothe occasion. I want to ask why did you not opposeTikTok or Chinese investment. Why are you creatingan environment that China is a superpower and thatwe should not upset it? We need to protect our in-dustries first,” he said.

The national co-convenor of the SJM also urgedthe Central government to stop Huawei from partic-ipating in 5G trials. Huawei has been designated as anational threat by the Federation CommunicationsCommission of the United States.

“The UK is withdrawing its approval fromHuawei. The UK and the US don’t share borderswith China, we do. Despite this, they are cautious andkicking them out. It is unfortunate that Huawei is get-ting a chance, but it is not too late,” Mahajan added.

https://www.newkerala.com/news/2020/117406.htm

For long-term gains one shouldbe prepared for momentary

discomfort: SJM

Amid reports of customs authorities at Indianports conducting extra scrutiny and holding consign-ments from China much to the worry of Indian trad-ers, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has said “for long-term gains, one needs to be prepared for some mo-mentary discomfort”.

Talking to The Tribune, SJM, said, “The painwill be momentary but will lead to long-term favour-able situation and gains for the country.”

“Besides, the government has not said it will notallow any Chinese imports. It only wants to help Indi-an manufacturers to produce more,” SJM said.

There was a bit of a controversy when follow-

ing a representation that imported agriculture equip-ment consignments were delayed at ports Ministerfor Road Transports and Highways, Shipping andMSMEs Nitin Gadkari wrote to Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and IndustriesMinister Piyush Goyal, seeking early clearance of con-signments.

Later Gadkari said there was “no arbitrary stop-ping of goods” at Indian ports and the governmentwas initiating path-breaking reforms to help MSMEsand businesses and make the country self-reliant.

SJM added that his concerns over stopping ofgoods at Indian ports were “purely context specific”and that he was among the strongest proponents of‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

According to SJM, the Narendra Modi govern-ment is moving in the right direction through the self-reliant India plan and the decision to hold on ship-ments was also correct.

“There has to be 100 per cent check on all as-pects if India has to reduce dependence on Chinesegoods, which are not just ruining the Indian industry

but are also cheating consumers by way of their infe-rior quality,” SJM said

“One part is increased dependence on Chinesegoods, the second is complaints against the Chinesethat they evade taxes through under-invoicing andmisrepresentation,” SJM said.

“Many times the marking/details on the coverof the shipment is different from what it actually con-tains. All this requires thorough investigation. Manythings cannot be investigated if it is life as usual,” SJMadded.

“It is not impossible to displace Chinese goods.The government has also not said it will not allowChinese goods. It only wants to help Indian manufac-turers produce more and make India self-reliant. Therewill be a proper policy on imports. For now, holding

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News

shipments is essential otherwise no one will know whathas been happening till now,” SJM pointed.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/for-long-term-gains-one-should-be-prepared-for-momentary-discomfort-

swadeshi-jagran-manch-107163

‘Cheeni Kum’: Womennovator

Amid the current anti-Chinese sentiment triggeredby the Sino-India border tension and talks of an im-port substitution policy and when the world is suffer-ing from a deadly pandemic, India plans to convertthis crisis into an opportunity and strengthen its fight-back by becoming Aatmanirbhar.

In order to follow the vision of self reliant In-dia, Womennovator (Gvriksh) organized an interac-tive webinar on ‘Why Say No to China, Cheeni Kum:Chinese Free India Movement’ on 12th July at 7 PM.

The event was honoured by Sh. Satish Kumar,Rashtriya Vichar Vibhag Pramukh, Swadesh JagranManch (SJM).

Founder of Womennovator, on banning ofChinese Products, said “Whenever there is a talk ongiving up Chinese Products, it should be given ade-quate thoughts.”

As proud Indians, one often wonders how he/she can be a part of this movement and contribute tothe efforts of our soldiers on Border. As per Mrs.Somani, “For starters, one must be aware of all theitems around and checking everything starting fromone’s daily consumables to household items is a time-consuming process. Add to that, checking whetherthe product is Chinese or not while procuring them,add to the woes.”

Requesting the Government, Mrs. Somani said,“It will be a great aid to the common man, if a listwith the names of all imported items can be madepublic, especially the ones imported from China, whichin her opinion won’t be difficult, as the database is

already prepared on all the ports for everything thatcomes and leaves the country.”

Guest of Honor, Shri Satish Kumar, mentionedthat the Swadeshi Jagran Manch launched SwadeshiRashtriya Suraksha Abhiyan in 2017 which focusingon India-China trade deficit, before Doklam issue.The consequence is lack of employment. Presently,there is anti China sentiment all across the world. Thekilling of our 20 army men in Galwan adds to theproblem. This gives us all the more reason to stoptrade with China.

“We should not only Cheeni Kum, but do Cheenibandh,” he said.

Major (Gen) G. D. Bakshi, a speaker at the event,said, “We cannot trust the dragon especially after reg-ular intrusion of Chinese Army in the Indian Territo-ry through Arunachal, Leh and Sikkim, Latest beingGalwan valley in Ladakh. In the present scenario, In-dian troops hold an advantage over their counter-parts. But with that, the economic pushback is alsorequired. Galwan should not be the only reason tostop trade with China, we shall do it irrespective ofit. They earn profits from us, taking away our jobs,Chinese goods have led to shutting down of manysmall-scale industries in India and such retaliation isnecessary. And with the Government showing the in-tent, we as citizens of India shall extend our supportin cutting off Chinese Goods.”

Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor at JawaharlalNehru University spoke about China’s trade, invest-ment and market interactions with India have comeunder sharp focus recently.

“Due to the 1988 policy, we will develop bilat-eral relations in fields other than resolving territorialdispute led to burgeoning trade but in favour of China.Every year, china had over $50 to 60 billion in surplustrade over India. Secondly, China restricted trade im-ports from India by non-tariff barriers. In terms ofPower Sector, we have requirements, if we want togrow around (7 - 8) percent of GDP growth rate,we need to have installed capacity of 1,30,000 MegaWatts. China has been supplying 40,000 megawatts.BHEL and Other companies are not able to meet thedemands that we have right now. If we go to Mit-subishi and Siemens, the cost will go slightly higher.Secondly, We have also high dependence of nearly85% on APIs (Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients) forour Pharmaceutical companies,” Kondapalli said. ❑❑

https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/womennovator-organises-cheeni-kum-conference-

senior-central-rss-leader-motivates-entrepreneurs-to-convert-crisis-to-opportunity-807782048.html

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