Reflections

This is the first part of a 3-part analysis on the Union Budget 2018-19, in which I propose to go into the basic strategy behind the budget, and look at its  pluses and the minuses pointwise – in two parts;. The third part will be the background, history and Macro-Economic Framework analysis, which has been my standard approach in studying the budget. And my first impression of this budget, was listening to it / reading about it, was “ interesting ”, but requires deeper analysis. My second impression, after talking to various people, reading extensive opinions, and going through the entire set of budget documents : “ Excellent Budget ” THE UPPER AND MIDDLE CLASSES A lot of my friends are disappointed in the budget; all of them are highly educated, and are from the top 10% of the population – exceptions prove the rule, so please excuse me. To them, I can only state: India is about the rest of the 90% as much as it is about us, privileged top of the heap. We, the people...

Today’s Indian Express carries an interesting article on the rural landscape of India, bringing to the fore a superbly balanced presentation of the farm gate prices issue: should farmers be able to sell as per their choice, and not just through the APMC-demarcated regulated market   yards and auctions. This raises many questions, as we shall see. But first, the article in question: APMCs were originally established with a view to prevent exploitation of farmers by intermediaries, who compelled them to dispose of their produce at the farmgate at very low prices. By mandating all farm produce to be brought to regulated market yards and sold through auctions, the APMC mechanism was meant to ensure fair prices to farmers. But in many cases, these bodies have themselves become dens for cartelisation by traders, who control prices and charge hefty commission fees on produce transactions. An extreme case that surfaced recently was of Devidas Maruti Parbhane. Thi...

INDIA 2020 – A VISION FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM BY DR. A P J  ABDUL KALAM & DR Y S RAJAN This is perhaps one of the best known books penned on India’s Growth Imperatives in its search for developed country status, penned by one of India’s favourite sons-  our beloved Late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President, Nuclear Scientist – and, as it turns out, thinker extraordinaire with a tremendous passion for India and all things Indian.  It has been co-authored with Dr Y S Rajan, who used to be the Scientific Secretary to the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. He was also associated with ISRO and the Department of Space This book, as it turns out, is far more than a mere problems/challenges-and-solutions stuff... it is the dream of a great Indian, a man who had given his entire life in the service of the nation. It is in every way a vision, a passionate dream; but one that is well presented, sorted out, supported with...

This is the 3 rd and concluding part of my ongoing conversation into the Budget and The Indian Economy with Mr Amitabh D Sinha, carried on from : http://reflectionsvvk.blogspot.in/2016/03/indian-economy-msme-problems.html This discussion started with my contention that the recent budget is now on the right path, having focussed on Rural India; and that Rural economy should get preference over the Urban. The contention of Mr Sinha, an expert in Service Culture, Business strategy and the Director of Finance and Investment for the SME Chamber of India – is that we can do both; that the path of growth will be smoother and faster if we think out of the box and attempt the seemingly impossible In the story so far, the two {or three-four} of us had got to the point of systemic competence in the Indian Economy to gear up to meet the new paradigm facing India, Inc; and the preferabality of a model that focussed on both Urban as well as Rural segments of the economy. This goes...