How govt’s March policies set up the road ahead

Political situations vary from state to state. What we did in Gujarat was good. Shankersinh Vaghela wanted to leave the party and we decided to keep the option open. The tradition in the Congress has been to fight th

BIG ISSUE:

The NITI Aayog and farm ministry held consultations to ensure farmers get the minimum support price (MSPs) for 24 crops, which will be at least 50% of the cost of production.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Farmers are protesting poor returns and meagre incomes. The response to growing dissent in the countryside was a budget announcement to ensure that MSPs are 1.5 times the cost incurred by farmers. While farmer bodies are demanding that the government use a wider measure called C2, which includes an ‘assumed cost’ of land and machinery, the government has said it will continue calculating input cost on an existing formula called A2+FL which covers all out-of-pocket expenses of a farmer.

WHAT NEXT:

The government will take a call on one of two models in April. The first is the so-called market assurance scheme, under which the states can procure produce directly from the farmers at MSP. The second is the “pricedeficiency” scheme. If the sale price is below the “modal” price — a kind of average price — then the farmers are paid the difference between MSP and the actual price.

BIG ISSUE:

The thorniest issue for the ministry in March was the Cauvery water dispute. With a six-week deadline for implementation of the February 16 Supreme Court order expiring, the ministry prepared to file a clarification petition asking the court for elaboration on the mechanism of distribution of water in the four basin states.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The decision of the court will have an impact on how soon distribution of water between the three states and one Union territory— Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,

Kerala and Puducherry — can begin The decision is also likely to impact the Karnataka assembly elections on May 12. The Siddaramiah government has gained in the process as people feel their case was well represented in the court.

WHAT NEXT:

The court’s judgment in April will shape the direction of work of the ministry over the next month.

BIG ISSUE:

India and China are seeking to improve bilateral ties. This month, commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu and his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan co-chaired the 11th meeting of India-China Joint Group on Economic Relations, Trade, Science and Technology. There was also a bilateral meeting in Beijing on trans-border rivers that concluded on March 29. After the meeting, China agreed to resume sharing hydrological data on the Brahmaputra.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Both meetings dealt with critical issues. The growing trade deficit with China is a cause of concern for India. India had a $51.1-billion trade deficit with China in 2016-17. And China not sharing water flow data on Brahmaputra was an outcome of the Doklam standoff.

WHAT NEXT:

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are expected to visit China in April. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will head to the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting, where India will play a greater role.

BIG ISSUE:

The government decided to grant greater autonomy to better performing institutes to ensure they are relatively free from clutches of regulation that often result in delays. The government also introduced the concept of graded autonomy, wherein depending on the performance of universities, they have been granted autonomy.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Institutes such as JNU, University of Hyderabad and others have been selected. They will not have to approach the UGC for taking a number of decisions including starting new centres, departments and changing syllabus. The move was criticised by a section as it gives universities the option to hire foreign faculty, and to start self-financing courses, which many felt would lead to a fee hike.

WHAT NEXT:

A government-appointed committee is likely to submit the draft report of the National Education Policy (NEP). This is a major policy document that will set priorities and direction.

BIG ISSUE:

The defence ministry released a draft defence production policy visualising India as one of the top five countries in the aerospace and defence sectors, with defence goods and services accounting for a turnover of ~1.7 lakh crore by 2025. It said that achieving the goal would require an investment of ~70,000 crore and generate up to three million jobs. Another goal set out in the policy is to clock exports worth Rs 35,000 crore by 2025.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The policy is significant as India has been the world’s largest weapons importer for a decade. The draft policy seeks to cut down by 2025 the dependence on imported military hardware such as fighter jets, helicopters, warships, combat vehicles, missiles, small arms and ammunition. India spent more than $100 billion on buying new

weapons and systems during 2008-17.

BIG ISSUE: WHAT NEXT:

The ministry is organising DefExpo-2018, a biennial military systems exhibition, in Chennai.

A recent Supreme Court judgment that barred automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 set off concerns it would hamper delivery of justice.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Apart from anticipating an adverse electoral impact of the judgment, BJP and NDA MPs cautioned that watering down the provisions of the law would exacerbate the pendency of cases filed under it. As on date, most states are yet to set up special courts to hear cases filed under the PoA Act. High pendency and low conviction rates are other issues that have been flagged.

WHAT NEXT:

After getting a nod from the law ministry, the social justice and empowerment ministry, which is the nodal ministry for implementing policy for marginalsied communities, will file a review petition against the Supreme Court order, which was seen to dilute the provisions of the

PoA Act.

BIG ISSUE:

March proved to be lethal for paramilitary forces battling left-wing insurgency. While a major offensive was launched by the Central Reserve Police Force across Jharkhand in February, killing almost 30 Maoists, an IED blast in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar claimed the lives of nine paramilitary troopers in the second week of March.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The incident laid bare the vulnerability of CRPF troopers posted deep in Maoist strongholds. Though a CRPF commandant was transferred out of Sukma following the blast for ignoring intelligence inputs, the incident raised questions on issues such as the quality of equipment used by security forces, pace of road construction in Maoist areas and overall government strategy.

WHAT NEXT:

The home ministry will also face the annual challenge in Kashmir, where the advent of summer sees infiltration attempts by militants. While security agencies say the summer will be smooth, there has been an increase in attacks by fidayeen squads and increasing tensions over the past month.

BIG ISSUE:

On March 8, the Union cabinet cleared amendments to the existing Arbitration and Conciliation Act that, once effective, will create a legal framework for making India a hub of both domestic and international arbitration.

SIGNIFICANCE:

This bill along with the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre bill (pending in Parliament since January 5) will reduce the burden on the judiciary by making arbitration the first choice for settling commercial disputes and make India a more acceptable business destination. The average time taken for a commercial dispute to get resolved in the country is 1,445 days.

WHAT NEXT:

Though the bill is ready, it has been stuck due to a logjam in Parliament. If it is not taken up by either House before the end of the budget session on

April 6, legal reforms needed to better India’s doing business rankings will suffer.

BIG ISSUE:

After a delay of several months, the information and broadcasting ministry and public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which paved the way for release of funds to pay salaries to employees of the broadcaster.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The ministry pays the salaries of all permanent employees who were on rolls before 2007, when Prasar Bharati was carved out as an autonomous entity under the ministry. As per rules, autonomous organisations receiving grant-in-aid must sign an MoU with the ministry

WHAT NEXT:

What concerns many in PB, however, is the ministry’s insistence on asking the broadcaster to foot the expenses incurred on salaries of those who have been engaged on contractual basis after 2007.

The board has submitted that it is facing huge revenue deficit and paying salaries for contractual employees will add to its financial crisis and lead to job-cuts.

BIG ISSUE:

The government this month amended a key rule to allow fixed-term or contractual employment in all industrial sectors, a provision that until had now applied only to apparel manufacturing. It was first proposed in the Union budget speech of finance ministry Arun Jaitley on February 1.

SIGNIFICANCE:

With this, the government has finally put in place a hire-and-fire policy on the factory floor by doing away with existing retrenchment norms that apply to workers. The amendment is to serve the government’s overall aim of amending labour laws to improve the ease of doing business in India.

WHAT NEXT:

Policy implementation will be key. Labour unions are opposed to the move and preparing to protest. They say substitution of permanent and regular employment with contractual, fixed-term employment is no solution.

The government says fixed-term workers, will still be entitled to benefits like wages, allowances and others statutory benefits, given to permanent workers.