Raju Vernekar
While we are celebrating 71 st Independence Day, continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistan and in addition the recent skirmishes at Indo-China border has heightened the tension, even as the financial condition of the country continues to be delicate.
The Sikkim border dispute between India and China shows no sign of abating and the Indian Army has settled in for the long haul and has pitched in tents, indicating that it is unlikely to retreat unless there is reciprocity from China’s People’s Liberation Army in ending the face-off at an altitude of around 10,000 feet in the Sikkim section.
Besides, a Chinese Yuan-class diesel-powered submarine which entered the Indian ocean in May this year, is said to be still lurking. It’s an unwelcome reminder of China’s rapidly expanding naval strength. China’s underwater fleet boasts of five nuclear-powered attack submarines and 54 diesel-powered attack submarines. By 2020, it is likely to grow between 69 to 78 submarines, according to the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military.
In contrast, India’s attack submarine fleet has dwindled to 13 diesel-electric vessels from 21 since 1996, because Indian Navy has been unable to replace retired boats. The entire fleet — a mixture of Russian-origin Kilo class vessels and German HDW submarines — is at least 20 years old. All have been refitted to extend their operational lives. However in a positive development, now Indian Navy, is preparing to take delivery of one of the world’s stealthiest and most deadly fighting tools: the “INS Kalvari”, an attack submarine named after a deep-sea tiger shark. The commissioning of this Scorpene class submarine, will be a milestone in India’s effort to rebuild its badly depleted underwater fighting force.
As for as India’s efforts to thwart incursions by Pakistani army, the Government of India is planning to install a 24X7 seamless virtual fence with sensors along the India-Pakistan border to curb infiltration bid by the neighbouring nation. But certainly the country is required to be more alert now since it is facing two enemies.
Space technology
However country’s progress in space technology is remarkable. The successful launch of 104 nano satellites into orbit, onboard a single rocket, a few months back, from the Sriharikota space centre by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is a mile stone. This launch overtook the 2014 Russian record of 37 satellites in a single launch. Also, the recent launch of GSAT 17 from Kourou, French Guiana by Ariane-5 is yet another feather in the cap of ISRO. It is designed to provide continuity of services on operational satellites in C-band, Extended C-band and S-bands.
Economy
While attempts to ensure economic stability are on, the Government of India’s mid-year economic survey itself has stated that to achieve 7.5 per cent GDP growth now seems difficult. The rupee appreciation, farm loan waiver, increasing stress on power sector, telecommunications, agricultural stress, and the transitional challenges from implementation of GST has led to this situation. It is pertinent to note here that in January, a survey had forecast country’s gross domestic product or GDP to be in the region of 6.75 per cent and 7.5 per cent in 2017-18. According to the Central Statistics Office, the growth rate has declined – under demonetisation impact – in manufacturing, mining, trade, hotels, transport, communication, services related to broadcasting, financial, real estate and professional services. The construction sector was the hardest hit by demonetisation as it saw a contraction of 3.7 per cent from 6 per cent in 2015-16. At the moment the rupee seems to be bullish. On 14 th March it had moved from 66.61 a dollar to 65.82 a dollar. But the brokerage firm Edelweiss expects rupee to weaken to 68-69 a dollar level by December on global political risk and strengthening of the US dollar.
Unemployment
As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), there has been marginal increase in both rural and urban unemployment and the urban-rural differential has been increasing and the unemployment, is projected to increase from 17.7 million in 2016 to 17.8 million this year and 18 million next year. In percentage terms, unemployment rate will remain at 3.4 per cent in 2017-18, as per International Labour Organisation’s report.
By and large around 77 percent families have no regular wage earner and more than 67 percent have income less than Rs 10,000 a month. Add to this the consistent march towards labour reforms which make it easier for industries to sack workers. Not even the courtesy of a ‘pink slip’ for them. The total number of jobs created in the first three years of the BJP government, till October 2016 was 1.51 million-which was nearly 39 per cent less than the 2.47 million created during the three previous years.
BPL
According to a World Bank report, India has the most number of people living below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. The report, ‘Taking on inequality’, in India 224 million live below BPL, more than 2.5 times as many as the 86 million in Nigeria, which has the second-largest population of the poor worldwide. India leads in sheer volume due to the size of its population (nearly 312 crore).
Housing
As of now nearly 78 million people are homeless in the country, despite several schemes announced time to time. According to studies, the number of homeless people is more in urban areas. Rajasthan has the highest proportion of homeless. Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh account for about half the country’s homeless population. The lowest homeless proportion is found in Mizoram (about 0.01 percent) and Andaman (about 0.02 percent). The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-urban) launched by PM Narendra Modi in June 2015 seeks to construct 20 million houses by 2022, to make available affordable housing for all by 2022.
Malnutrition
The progress in eradicating malnutrition has been uneven, and child malnutrition rates still remains high in many parts of the country, as per the data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) shows. There are the districts such as Purulia in West Bengal and Nandurbar in Maharashtra, where every second child is undernourished. As per the survey, the proportion of underweight children is 36 per cent, while the proportion of stunted children (those with low height-for-age, a measure of chronic undernourishment) remains at 38 per cent,
Essential commodities
Despite legislations to keep prices of essential commodities under control, the country witnesses abnormal rise even the prices of vegetables. The latest being the unusual hike in prices of tomatoes which were priced at Rs 100 a kilo in several states in the country, proving that the government authorities do not have any control over market fluctuation. Last year the sky rocketing prices of onion had brought tears in the eyes of housewives. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to lead to a drop in prices of commodities. But its impact is yet to be seen.
The NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a series of welfare measures, but its implementation lives much to be desired. Probably the bureaucracy is required to be more strict in implementation.
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel