Jute Workers Problems

The mills face competition from synthetic fibres and plastics coupled with
poor implementation of centres pro-jute initiatives for mills functioning at
less than capacity. The working hours have been cut for workers with
reduced wages. The unwillingness to invest in modernisation even during
good times is one of the reasons. Dominance of jute from Bangladesh in
domestic market. The jute packaging act 1987 that made it mandatory to
jute packing of foodgrains, sugar and cement is diluted gradually.
Technological upgradation, competent management and fair labour
relations are the need of the hour.
IB and NGO
Intelligence agencies are important for securing the internal and external
securities of a country. But it is also important that the civil liberties are
not encroached upon in this affair. In Indian context, political master have
misused these agencies for their political gains(Gopal Subramaniyam).
NGO receive foreign donation under FCRA and are required to submit
periodic report to MHA. NGOs provide a public space where marginalised
groups can raise their voice and assert their right for public services. These
organisations also help in proper implementation of government
programmes at the ground level. SC observed RTI as inherit in Art. 19
under a case filed by an NGO. ADR working for electoral reforms.
Donations from foreign entities have led to change in the character of
NGOs. The doners objective have came in conflict with the ruling party
and hence they try to leverage their donations to create an environment
with the help of these NGOs to further their ends. But this would be unjust
to say that all NGOs are involved in this kind of activities. This is not
confined to NGOs, political parties are also funded by foreign companies
to further their needs in violation of RP Act and FCRA. The IB report on
vendata bauxite mining project said that with foreign donations the NGOs
are trying to stall the development projects without mentioning the rights
of people so that government can take a balanced view. The reality is that
the clearance are granted without letting the GS exercise its right under
PESA and FRA. MoEF had appointed a committee that concluded that the

clearances are grave violation of the autonomy of 3 rd tier. Later, GS

revoked the project after involvement of SC. The accountability of NGOs
is needed but these reports should focus on genuine concerns and not a
blanket approach with one sided facts. NGOs provide public space for
debates and empowerment of disadvantaged and hence should be
promoted.
Environmental Regulator
Lafarge judgement 2011. SC asked government to constitute a regulator
for forest policy and environmental clearance driving it from environment
act. The body will be a proactive body unlike tribunal or courts. The
problems with clearance are: 1) conflict of interest of MoEF with it
playing multiple roles 2) Lack of expert project appraisal committee
relying on data provided by developers 3) Absence of reliable independent
data 4) Poor monitoring and enforcement of clearance conditions. The
proposed regulator will carry out independent appraisal and approval of
projects based on independent assessment and also post clearance
monitoring. The main question is that will the regulator be any better than
current structure. Keeping the new regulator separate from political
interference in difficult in terms of appointment, funds and infrastructure
provisions will certainly come from the government. Keeping the
clearance procedure outside the democratically elected representatives will
not be desirable because the clearance will have socio-economic impacts.
Court did not debated on the crucial aspects of the proposed regulators
working. The benefit of regulator will be that it will separate process from
politics and will be based on scientific data and independent assessment.
Incorporating the best practices in the new system will be simple instead
of overhauling present structure from the bureaucratic inertia. The main
problems with clearance process are: 1) The EIA is funded and completed
by developer with the help of agencies affiliated by the government. This
leads to conflict of interest 2) The appraisal committee meet for few days
only and does not enough time to take comprehensive view of the report.
The new regulator can fix this malaise. A simple replacement of the
current process with regulator will not be the solution. Proper divided
functions and power of regulator needs to be laid down. Amendment to

EIA notification in this respect is important which does not lay down the
guidelines for EACs and who will prepare the EIA. Power to EACs for
public consultation of EIA report should be given to EACs which it does
not enjoy now.
Debt Management Need For Separation
The new body will take a holistic view of public debt and manage it. It
also establishes strategy for low-cost financing in the long run. RBI has
conflict of interest as it sells government securities to get the necessary
finance and also manages the debt. This will facilitate proper scrutiny, risk
assessment, pricing, audit and approvals by parliament. This will ensure
better co-ordination, accountability and responsibility. Role of this agency
will be limited as it belong to state government. But it will undertake
exercises which influence centres debt. The agency will support states in
debt management. It was proposed in the FLSRC report that the agency
will be under central government. This will loosen its power of
independently conduct its business.
LGBT
Court accepted that pre-constitutional laws if violate FR are
unconstitutional but said that as parliament was close to amendment of
CrPc but did not, which means it has accepted the law under law or preassumption. But union does not challenge the delhi HC order has not been
taken into account and filed an affidavit in SC supporting HC judgement.
SC also refused to apply the doctrine of severability to water down section
377. HC read down this law under this doctrine to apply it to only nonconsensual sex. Justice verma report also asked for this amendment. SC
judgement said it only criminalises acts and not identities or orientation of
LGBT. 377 also valid under Art 14 as it classify natural and non-natural
sex but who will define what is natural and what is not. The argument that
it harasses LGBT community is not taken by court and it said that it is the
misuse of the law and not the defect in law itself.

Cleansing Politics
SC has mandated that candidate should disclose their asset, educational
qualifications and cases against them.
Parliament and Bifurcation
Art 3 violates federalism as consent is not needed while bifurcating. At the
time of constitution writing the country faced the problem of unity and
integrity which is not the case today. The supporting argument is that the
bifurcation alters the relationship of union with states and not among states
which is not under federalism. India is not federalism like US and hence
consent is not needed.
New Green regulator
Administration is not sensitive to environment and recasting the institution
will not make much difference. Involvement of local people and
strengthening their institutions is important. The capacity building and no
interference is the need of the day.
Undermining 5th Schedule
Forest department harasses and undermine laws by not supporting and
proving adequate information in time to PRIs for making judgements.
Distrust exists between local population and government agencies.
Government does not follow the laid procedure during the development
projects which leads to increased discontent. Deforestation, land
encroachment, illegal mining, suppression of voices leads to undermining
the tribal culture and their rights. Creation of protective areas lead to
displacement of tribal because they were not included in conservation
process. The political decision by Zilla Parishads which involve MP and
MLA does not take into account tribal welfare and overrule local bodies.
Inter-state water dispute
Historically adopted documents are prejudiced to one state. These
documents have asymmetrical sharing taken from colonial times. The
regional feeling bring this injustice to fore in terms of disputes. Limitation

of technology to predict the unevenness of rainfall in also a cause for

dispute which with politics turns red on face of states. Lack of efficient
and accurate monitoring mechanism can lead to misrepresentation of
availability and use of water resources. Politics could well reduce the
disputes. Political relation matter in mitigation of these disputes. Lack of
institutional is a critical link missing in todays apparatus. The problem is
due to institutional and governance failure than the award itself.
Politicisation helps in accentuating mutual independence and obligations.
It also helps in addressing local discontent. Inter-state council is highly
unutilised.
NJAC
Collegium is ridden with secrecy and favouritism. When CJI is under
consideration then the two SC judges have to rescue themselves. Fitness of
judges is not defined. Shortlisting, selection is also secretive in NJAC. No
RTI is allowed in collegiums. Irrespective of merit seniority is the norm.
Women, SC/ST were excluded. Collegium did not laid down any set of
guidelines for selection of judges and no system to call for application.
The judges faced impeachment threats who were selected under this
system.
Planning Commission
PC encroached financially in state domain by allocating plan funds. After
1991, role of state in planning diminished with private became stronger.
There is a need for co-ordinating bodies to consolidate the efforts of
different ministries and settle their disputes. An agency is also needed for
evaluating, monitoring the new policies to suggest changes after learning.
Dismantling of PC will lead to centralization of power under FM and
PMO. Government intervention in market can promote innovation and
competition. Public goods and services cannot be left to profit driven
private payers. Eliminatio of social ills cannot be left to CSOs.
Government investments in capitalist countries are far higher. There is a
chance in function needed and not dismantling. Appraisal of projects of
various ministries should be retired. Monitoring of projects cannot be left

to ministries as it will cause conflict of interest. Top-down approach

should be discarded.

Under Trials
In 2005, amendment was made in CrPc that if undertrials have bear half of
the punishment that they can get should be freed. It was never
implemented properly. SC has now ordered its enforcement. There are
people who served full term but are still in prison because they are poor
and cannot fight their cases. There is no mechanism to monitor the
undertrials. Now SC has asked district judges to visit jails and maintain the
data. It creates havoc in life of undertrials. Judicial posts are vacant, no
money to pay for bail, harassement inside the jail, delayed investigation
are the reasons. Police, judiciary and prison authorities together have to
implement the new order.
LoP
Its by convention and not law that 10% criteria was devised. There are
instances in history where no LoP was appointed. Conventions are to
supplement legislation and not to become legislation. LoP carries lot of
responsibilities. Salaries act defines LoP and no other law mentions it.
10% convention is not binding on speaker.
Ganga Clean
There was no engagement of local community and urban planners in
efforts to clean ganga till now. We should ensure that incentives to
implementing agencies as they are the ones who use and maintain these
facilities. PPP should be included.
Nachiket Mor Committee
Payment bank if pay interest will it be viable because they cannot lend
money. If they will charge commission on payments then it will defeat the
objective. When full banks are available then why customers will go for
payment banks.

Bitcoins
Traditional currencies are secure and easily verifiable but become problem
over long distances. Trust on third party such as banks is needed but once
trust has built then transaction charges may increase. Bitcoins combine
both these features as recipient can check the validity of transaction and
transfer cost is low. It is a distributed system and rent seeking is
impossible. There is high volatility in the value of bitcoins on exchange
rate of currencies. Transfers work only on promise of the users. It is
anonymous and difficult to track. State can track real side of the
transaction. FBI unearthed one such racket so it is difficult but not
impossible.
Dilution of Labour Laws
Amendment to IDA in 1982 decreased the limit on workers in an
organization for retrenchment. But it also changed the definition of
retrenchment by including the termination of services due to non-renewal
of contract. This gave firms flexibility in hire and fire regime. In 2003,
another amendment was introduced to allow firms to hire employee for
limited period. Social security facilities are not available to these
employees and hence reduced their bargaining power. IDA also does not
come into effect if enterprise is transferred to some other location. Labour
is in concurrent list, taking the cue several states have increased the
workers limit, exempted SEZ from IDA etc. leading to continuous dilution.
Casual labour act fine is very low and employers do not bother about
paying it. There is no enforcement of core and non-core services. Changes
in trade union law are done in 2001, by these amendments the constitution
of trade union has been changed to include more employees from the
employing company which has lowered the bargaining powers of these
trade unions. Mandays are lost due to lockouts and not strikes. The
inspector raj argument for factories act is untenable as the staffs are highly
deficient to conduct the inspections. The rate is only 15-20%. Judiciary
favour to capitalist has given a severe blow. Kerala high court in 1997 had
said that calling for bandh by any political party, association is illegal and
unconstitutional. SC order to quash automatic absorption of contract

workers was a major blow. SC also said that illegally terminated employee
is reinstated will not be entitled for back-wages. Workers cannot go to
labour court as they lack money power to hire lawyers.
R&D in India
There are three kind of research. First, in academic institutions funded by
government for creating knowledge in terms of publications and cannot be
exploited by industry. Second, in government labs for specific purposes.
Third, in-house in private and public sector. At independence there was
minimal or no R&D. There are now numerous labs for the purpose but
spending is still low in comparison to international standards. Only very
few companies are listed in innovation list worldwide from india.
Advantages that india has are: demographic dividend, good institutions in
science and technology, English proficiency for global exchanges and
lower cost of R&D. Growing domestic market with favourable factors
have increased the private R&D centres in india. Increasin investment in
india is also reversing brain drain. But the R&D services are beneficial to
parent companies of MNCs and hence are little beneficial to india. Low
hingly qualified personnel for R&D in india. Late awakening in india
about the benefits of R&D. Higher govt. allocation is needed. Low
academia-industry collaboration in india. Scaling up manufacturing
contribution will help in growth of R&D. Venture capital funds should be
made available. Private participation in terms of in-house R&D is needed.
Aggressive patenting regime should be put in place. Tax and other forms
of government support is needed.
Decentarlised power generation
Off-grid pay high tariff than their counterparts owing to high input cost.
The support system in terms of maintenance is poor in india. Rural areas
lack manpower and infrastructure. This lead to dumping of off-grid
installations after sometime. Pre-payment meters and smart grids helped
the entrepreneurs to collect metered money easily. Mobile technology
helps consumer to pay with ease. Grid failure can be avoided in
decentralised way. Reduction in cost and increased manufacturing in
domestic market are the reasons. Low transmission cable means low loss.

Grid extension can be avoided. With improved CFL and LED lights the
load on grid has decreased leading to improved efficiency. With gradual
withdrawal of diesel subsidy solar looks more promising. High capital cost
is needed for setup. Business model is difficult to sustain in rural areas.
Crowd funding is a boon for this.
Inflation Targeting
6% by 2016 with a band of +-2%. Inflation targeting was goal of central
banks across the world before eurozone crisis. It neglect assest price and
obsessed with low inflation. It did not anticipate the crisis. When asset
price goes up banks neglect them but when it slides down they have to act.
Single CPI does not capture the substantial inflation in food and fuel.
There is a trade-off between inflation and output and RBI cannot abandon
it. Cut in monetary policy rates lead to cut in interest rates hence one
cannot be sure of inflation targeting. Inflation targeting does not consider
cost-push inflation and targets only excess demands with interest rate
policies.
Gold Monetisation Scheme Under Budget
India has high demand of gold putting pressure on Fiscal Deficit. This
move is an important instrument to contain the impact of high demand for
gold. Gold is imported in final form or unfinished form which is then
refined in the country generating employment and revenue for
government. Banks lack in assessing the quality of gold to put it in
meaningful use. This is why there is limited success of gold mobilization
policies. The import of unfinished gold provides infrastructure for
assessing quality of gold, transport etc. for success of new gold
mobilization scheme: 1) assessing the quality of gold. 2) secure storage
and transportation 3) end-to-end resource planning software. There is no
standardised assessing technique of gold. First thing is to open assessment
centres. After assessing the quality equivalent amount of gold to be added
into the depositors account instead of 90 day lag under gold deposit
scheme right now. For redemption in short period, standardised set of gold
to be made available to bank to reduce time. The gold transfer can be inter

or intra state. Hence CST should be abolished on them. There is no IT on

interest earned on gold asset as well as capital gain tax.
Fourteenth Finance Commission
Union is giving more than half of its revenue to state before FFC but most
part of it is outside the statutory grants. Uncertainty in fund flow will
reduce and fiscal autonomy of state will increase. Union is restructuring its
revenue by: 1) changed pattern of funding to CSS 2) Abdicating some CSS
3) schemes to be fully financed by union. It has impact on union health
and FFC recommendation are not neutral. Augmenting of union revenue
by additional surcharges and cess which is not under divisible pool. FFC
makes the governments to have expenditure priorities right. Now union
has to be extra cautious to announce new CSS which can best be delivered
by states.
66A IT Act
Court not only stuck down the act but by its reasoning it clarified that mere
discussion or advocacy of a cause howsoever unpopular is not restricted
under Art. 19. Only when such cases reaches a level of incitement can
these restrictions come into picture.
Inclusion of men in gender quality
Men remain the holder and broker of power in community and hence they
should be involved in order to have sustainable benefits. Challenges to
men are coming from women and have involvement of both is necessary.
In neo-liberal times mens space over resources is shrinking and hence
mens anxieties need to be addressed because it may lead to more blockade
to women and children. Without men, the sole responsibility of change
dumps on women. It is no true that all men are powerful over women.
Patriarchy not only sets rules for women but also for men. To challenge it
both have to work together. NGOs working for women see serious
backlash with women only approach as practical solutions to problem are
not possible without them. Aggressive advertisement that masculinity is to
protect women and not harass them is also a part of the problem. Family
planning initiatives cannot work without involvement of men. Women

organisation says that they have carved a little space for women and will
not let men hijack this space by their involvement as there is a fight over
resources between men and women. UN agencies and bilateral
organisations are beginning to work with men and mens organisation for
gender development. Donor support is shifting away from womens
movement building and pressure to bring men under their umbrella. In
india, dowry act, domestic violence and sexual assault laws have given
preference to men. Organisations to get the mens privilege back are also
started to work.
Curbing NGOs
Priya pillai is policy officer with greenpeace. She was offloaded from
London bound flight after look out notice. Right to go abroad is personal
liberty under Art. 21 under menaka Gandhi vs UOI in 1978. India is a
signatory of UN human right defenders. MHA states in court that USA
also has no flying list but failed to mention that the list is facing legal
hurdles and also this list does not include peaceful protesters. Protest when
rules are not followed under FR act and fraud signature of gram sabha are
taken is seen as anti-national. The truth that consultation is not done
properly is also put forward by HLC on socio-economic, health and
educational status of tribal communities in 2014. In neo-liberal regimes,
not letting the people to raise voices is not right. Prosecution was not
granted to CBI in ishrat jahan case against IB officer.
Off-grid electricity delivery
Till 2003, policy was to just carry the grid extension to villages to consider
them electrified. In 2004, 10% household with connection and village
electricity infrastructure was made as benchmark. Off-grid electricity are
for remote habitations where people are economically weak and also
lifeline tariff is lower than cost of supply. DISCOMS are reeling under
loses hence they do not resort to off-grid extensions. MNRE under remote
village electrification programme and village energy security programme
filled this space. NGO with aid and CSR also progressed to this end. In
recent times, this area has become lucrative for private and PPP modes.
Initial cost is subsidised but operational and maintenance cost is still high.

Tariff is subsidised for grid consumers but no subsidy is there for off-grid
customers. USOF can be used for this purpose.
FFC
Increasing share of states suddenly is not welcome as state are not
prepared to reorganise themselves and also CSS which are valuable have
to be quickly altered. The increase should be phased. Union has in
principal accepted the recommendation to give revenue deficit grant to 11
poor states conditional on the point that they should adhere to fiscal
discipline. This is in violation of Art. 275(1) where FFC can allow these
grant when required. Union has not put forward anything on FFC
recommendation of empowering inter-state council, reform of fiscal
transfer and institutional mechanism necessary.
Health Policy 2015
Policy said that 70% of the population will be financed from taxes for free
primary care with strategic purchase for secondary and tertiary sector from
public and private sector. Health insurance policies will also be aligned
with this view. It also said public service should not be seen as free but as
pre-paid from taxes. Policy aims at reinforcing competition between
private and public hospitals. Public services will be assessed for cost
efficiency in monetary terms i.e., basic cost of salaries, infrastructure is
met from budgetary support but remunerative cost will be based on the
quantifiable data of patient offload. This approach means that if a new
facility is opened in the start the rate of patient cure is low which means
according to this policy it will receive fewer funds as there will be low
measurement of efficiency. Making public facilities to work with private
criteria is not right. The idea is that funds in public facilities are not used
efficiently. NHP is fostering private criteria in public facilities. Health
sector is receiving huge FDI as venture capital. This is welcome as it
promotes medical tourism and also generates employment but shaping the
growth is required but there is nothing on this in policy. Corporate health
care is becoming dominant, policy says that in making strategic purchase
primacy will be given to public sector but it also says that in urban areas as
private has more presence collaboration will be done with profit and not

for profit entities. There are issues with insurance mechanism such as
denial of service, preference to tertiary and secondary services over
primary, fraud practice etc. there is no mention of how to tackle these.
Policy indicates dominant role for public sector but there is no listing of
ways to augment the infrastructure, personnel and quality of services in
them. Policy acknowledge that private players lack regulation and these
are necessary but only mention some proposed changes in clinical
establishment act by way of accreditation and setting standard but this is
voluntary. It also put forward the concerns of private institutions regarding
the act as intrusive without expressing the concern of civil society. On
issue of reforming the educational sector of medical the policy only use
general words like reforming the system etc. without putting forward
concrete idea or roadmap to stop capitation fee which distort the system.
There is nothing solid for pharmaceutical industry which is facing flak
from multinational which are trying to dilute the Indian patent act. There is
also no serious mention of pricing of drugs. The essential medicine list is
very small and covers very low percentage. Rest of the medicines are sold
at very high prices. Though policy says that NELM will be revised
regularly along with price control on generic drug but most drugs are
branded and not generic. The policy has left the UHC issue to the
background.
Cheap oil and climate change
Increase in real income, low inflation and lower cost of production. Most
countries are not passing all the benefits to customers but trying to
improve fiscal condition, coping with increasing social spending, eliminate
energy subsidy etc. countries are moving to higher efficiency regimes with
low dependence on oil. Worldwide oil has 5% share in electricity
generation. Moving to public transport, high speed rail are competing with
air fare on short routes, reduction in cost of renewable energy sources etc.
have gained much strength and lowering of oil prices will not change this
scenario significantly. India has much to gain in short term. In long term it
should support clean initiatives. National electric mobility plan should be
strengthened, supporting industry to move to stringent standards of fuel

from the surplus of oil import, funding in infrastructure etc. adding more
renewable power.
Introducing petroleum, gas and electricity in GST