Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0

Indian economy before the pandemic induced shock was already under stress. The economic activities were de-accelerating and the financial sector was struggling to get back into the shape. The previous doses of stimulus have helped the supply and demand side of the economy to a huge extent. As a result there is growth in the economic activities across all the spectrums. Different indicators such as e-way bills, PMI and credit growth are improving.

Modelling Stock Returns in India: Fama and French Revisited

Since reforms, Indian security market has gone through significant changes and as result the efficiency of many models developed earlier might have been affected. The same may be true with three factors CAPM. This study aims to test the validity of three factors CAPM model proposed by Fama and French (1993) in changed Indian context. For the study, assessment period is 1999-2013 and BSE-500 has been taken as proxy for market. Results show that in Indian market, no size effect and a weak value effect exists but size or value of stocks cannot discriminate stocks robustly. Beta is significant and none of the three factors alone can explain the variations in the expected return but two or three factors together can explain to some degree. The ability of three factors CAPM in explaining the expected return increases during low GDP growth period and falls during high GDP growth period.

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Reservation in Private Sector Jobs: A New Malaise in Making

Over decades it has been witnessed across the world that the governments have tendencies to resort to protectionism when things at domestic level get tough and their economic policies fail to perform. The protectionist tendencies of the central governments of the nation are often found to transact to the states to inspire them to indulge in such protectionist practices ignoring the fact that such practices in domestic markets often have only emotional outrage than any empirical evidence of bringing in any substantial benefits.

The empirical evidences suggest that protectionism often leads to inefficiencies in economies. However, to some extent, the limited protectionist approach to the economic responses at national level against import and dumping has quite a different dynamics due to heterogeneous global market conditions than such protectionist practices in domestic (homogeneous) markets.

Impact of Globalization on Distribution of Income, Poverty and Inequality in India

This paper uses qualitative analysis for assessing the impact of the globalization on distribution of income, poverty and inequality in India and arrives as different conclusions. It has been concluded that the absolute poverty in India with the increasing globalization has fallen significantly by at the same time inequity has increased. To measure globalization KOF Index has been used and for inequality Gini Index has been used.

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The Assault on Arnab Goswami and the Freedom of Press

The tone and vendetta journalism of Arnab Goswami can never be appreciated in any way. His activism in the name of journalism in cases of Sushant Singh suicide, Kangana Ranaut, Rhea Chakraborty as well as the personal attacks on different politicians and personalities than asking uncomfortable questions using the platform of a TV channel was uncalled for. However in the heightened emotions of political hue and cry, this hooglism seemed justified to millions of Indians who enjoyed it but at their own deadly cost (to be paid in future)!

An Absurd Comparison between India and Bangladesh

Post the World Economic Outlook Report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there has been an absurd comparison between India and Bangladesh. This comparison is highlighting that the per capita GDP of Bangladesh will overtake India’s per capita GDP this year. However, in this politically hot discussion many important and vital issues mentioned in the same report, remain in background which have far higher impact on the economic future of India.

Socio-Cultural Impact of Globalization in India

This paper is analysing and summarising the impact of globalisation on social and cultural values of India. For this, a number of research papers have been reviewed, presented and corroborated in this paper. In this paper social and cultural issues like gender inequality, equal opportunities, family structure and values, social security net, life style, administration, education, technology, healthcare system, festivals, language, music, literature, cinema, television and drugs and trafficking been discussed on the basis of prior research works. The findings from those works have been summarized and presented in this paper.

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Opportunities for Growth and Investment in Jammu and Kashmir

The economic base of Jammu and Kashmir has turned so weak as a result of continued disturbances in the state that finances of the state are almost dependent on central grants in aids. However, there are huge opportunities in hydro-power generation, transportation, tourism, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology, horticulture, seri-culture, dairy products, food processing and real estate etc. but it could not be exploited in lack of private investment in the state’s economy due to the law and order situation. If there is proper policy response from the government and the confidence of the private investors is restored, these opportunities can be exploited over short to medium span of time. As a result, not only centers like Srinagar and Jammu but many other centers like Anantnag, Samba, Baramula and Pulwama would also be turned into hub for economic activities.

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COVID19 India: Observation from 17th September 2020 Data

A few observations from 17th September 2020 (National Data) on coronavirus pandemic:-

1. COVID19 new case count increased by 96,792 to the total of 52,12,686 on 17th September 2020 with 7-days growth rate of 1.93% and the doubling period falling to 36.25 days. After a consecutive fall for the last three days, daily counts again started increasing. This has been happening since the beginning. It clearly indicates that this pandemic wouldn’t be over soon.

2. The 7-days growth rate of the active cases was 1.1% with a doubling period of 63.42 days with the active case count of 10,18,454 on 17th September 2020. Active cases are continuously increasing everyday. The pressure on the healthcare infrastructure in India is increasing.

COVID19 India: Observation from 15th September 2020 Data

A few observations from 15th September 2020 (National Data) on coronavirus pandemic:-

1. COVID19 new case count increased by 91,096 to the total of 50,18,034 on 15th September 2020 with 7-days growth rate of 2.0% and the doubling period falling to 34.94 days. After a consecutive fall for the last three days, daily counts again started increasing. This has been happening since the beginning. It clearly indicates that this pandemic wouldn’t be over soon.

2. The 7-days growth rate of the active cases was 1.51% with a doubling period of 46.22 days with the active case count of 9,96,832 on 15th September 2020. Active cases are continuously increasing everyday. The pressure on the healthcare infrastructure in India is increasing.