Corona Update: 16th Jan 2022

From the daily data, it seems that the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic has hit its peak (preliminary conclusion). However, to arrive at a strong conclusion, longer duration data with integrity and transparency in reporting by states is a compulsory condition. There have always been questions regarding the transparency and integrity of the reported data. So on the basis of just two weeks’ data, it is too early to arrive at a conclusive interference.

Disinvestment of PSBs is not a Solution

The government of India for decades has been pursuing the policy of disinvestment and was able to privatize many non-performing public sector undertakings (PSUs) since the implementation of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). It has disinvested many non-performing firms from the manufacturing sector to services sector which are now healthy and growing. Such disinvestments have not only brought down the cost to the public exchequers but are contributing towards economic growth too. So as a whole disinvestment efforts should be termed successful. However, there had always been strong resistance to every single effort to privatize any PSU from the employees and political class citing many reasons.

Would the Conversion of AGR into Equity be Enough for Revival of Vodafone Idea

Finally the board of Vodafone Idea (VI) has approved the bailout package rolled out by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to rescue firms from the burden of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. This will make the Government of India the largest shareholder in the company. The DoT rolled out this bailout package to provide breathers to the telecom operators from the burden of AGR dues. However, the most important question still remains unanswered. Would this conversion of AGR into equity be enough for the revival of Vodafone Idea?

Onset of Third Wave of COVID19 Infections

It is less than two weeks since the new cases of COVID19 infections have started witnessing significant increase and India is in the middle of the third wave of infections overtaking the peaks of the previous two waves. The rate at which the new infections are increasing is alarming and everyone must be careful observing social distancing and wearing masks.

The numbers of daily reported confirmed cases as on 9th January 2022 are very high in the very beginning of the third wave in comparison to the previous waves of infections. Daily reported confirmed cases may soon cross the second wave's peak in the month of January itself.

I Love Hating Ambanis and Adanis

The appointment of Mr. Paraga Agarwal as new CEO of Twitter Inc. had sparked the traditional and social media. Every social and traditional media platform was abuzz and floating with millions of congratulatory messages with pride. People are talking about the Indian CEOs of multinational companies from Staya Nadela to Sundar Pichai to Parag Agarwal. It's really good to pride in something good which can symbolize the success of the Indian system. Everyone does this, so we are! It’s very natural. But the irony of the whole story is that the same people hate Ambani, Adani and other businesses in the same breath! Isn't it strange to believe? Yes, but that’s true. Perhaps the constitutional socialist take reside in us!

भारत में सामाजिक न्याय और निर्धनता

नीति आयोग के बहुआयामी निर्धनता सूचकांक के अनुसार क्रमशः बिहार, झारखंड व उत्तर प्रदेश में देश में प्रतिशतता के आधार पर सबसे अधिक निर्धन निवास करते हैं जबकि केरल, गोवा, सिक्किम व तमिलनाडु में क्रमशः सबसे कम निर्धन निवास करते हैं। सर्वेक्षण के अनुसार बिहार के 51.91%, झारखण्ड के 42.16% व उत्तरप्रदेश के 37.79% नागरिक निर्धन हैं जबकि दूसरी ओर केरल में 0.71%, गोवा में 3.76%, सिक्किम में 3.82% व तमिलनाडु में 4.89% नागरिक निर्धन पाए गए हैं। इन आँकड़ों को देखकर लगता है कि ये आँकड़े किसी दो अलग-अलग ध्रुव के आंकड़े हैं जबकि पिछले सात दशकों में भारत सरकार ने एक ही तरह की योजनाओं को पूरे देश में लागू किया है। ये आँकड़े विभिन्न प्रदेशों में सिर्फ आय व संपति के वितरण में अन्तर ही नहीं बता रहे हैं बल्कि विकास की प्रक्रिया व क्रियान्वयन के साथ-साथ राजनैतिक व सामाजिक सोच व विमर्श के अन्तर को भी दर्शाते हैं।

Pollution, Mad Rush for Growth and Delhi

Post Diwali, Delhi had a proposal to impose a 2-day lockdown to deal with the very high level of pollution in the national capital. However, instead of imposing a 2-day lockdown, the government of Delhi ordered all the government offices, schools and colleges to function online from home which is to be lifted on 29th November 2021. The neighbouring city Gurugram had similar experiences and the Government of Haryana had to impose similar restrictions in Gurugram too like Delhi. However, the problem of pollution and high Air Quality Index (AQI) is not a new or once in a year instance but it is now a day to day problem. The average annual Air Quality Index in Delhi always remains above 150 for many years.

Government Cuts Excise Duties on Diesel and Petrol

Amidst pressures of spiralling prices of every commodity in the Indian economy, the Government of India has finally slashed the excise duties on petrol and diesel by ₹ 5 and ₹ 10 respectively. This has brought the prices of petroleum products below the psychological level of ₹ 100 in many states. It is good news for the consumers for some time. However, it would be interesting to watch how long the government would keep the prices of petroleum products below the so-called psychological level of ₹100 as the government has been pursuing a policy of continuously extracting as much taxes from petroleum products.

Book Review: Shades of Saffron: From Vajpayee to Modi by Saba Naqvi

‘When a writer writes a book on a certain event or phenomenon; he is not just airing his opinion but judging it.’

Journalists have the privilege to access information that is often not available easily or is not completely in the public domain. This privilege of the journalists often makes them to be better at psephology not just in predicting the election results but also what the people of a country or geography are thinking or where the tide is headed to. For this ability is also very conditional. To have a clear view one needs to have little or no prejudice and should not be furthering a specific goal or agenda. Prejudiced writers often focused on certain specific issues more while ignoring a large part of the event or phenomenon to prove their theory. When a journalist turned writer has prejudices or agenda to further, it is reflected in her/his writings. Their skill and magic with the words opens the slits wide.

The criticism of any phenomenon or event along with the detailing is necessary to judge the relevance and importance of that phenomenon or the event and help the future generations to make proper amendments so that the positive values created by the phenomenon or the event is gracefully put forth while the negative values are criticized so those who pursue or follow such goals have some ideas about how to navigate or opine and none commits the same mistakes which had been committed earlier. Such criticism helps in building a better society; so the nation. So it's a very important task at the hand of the critic at her/his disposal.

Is the Pandemic Over?

The second wave has been devastating for India with very high numbers of daily new infections and deaths from the coronavirus. Even today, the number of new infections from the COVID19 has been hovering around 40,000 for more than four weeks. Numbers of active cases have fallen down to 4.15 lakhs with daily death falling to the 7 days average of more than 750 (excluding 12th July data). There are seven states which are recording more than one thousand daily cases accounting for more than 80 percent of the national total. Of these seven states, five states are recording more than two thousand cases a day and Kerala is recording more than ten thousand cases a day. Around 24 percent of the total population has received at least one dose of vaccine while only 6.3% of the total population has received both the doses! The average of daily vaccine doses being administered in India is hovering around 3 millions for months. This average clearly indicates that it will take more than a year before half of the population in India is fully vaccinated.