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Date:21-02-17

Make in India needs an efficient retail sector

The government reportedly wants to free up foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, but only for domestically manufactured goods. That shows confused thinking, not reform to enrich the economy and empower consumers.

The country needs inflow of foreign capital. Real reform requires lifting curbs in FDI on all types of retail, both online and physical. It will boost investment, both in real estate and in manufacturing, bring in business expertise, and modernise the country’s retail sector. The notion that allowing 100 per cent FDI — only in e-commerce and brickand-mortar companies that make and sell stuff locally — will boost domestic manufacturing is misplaced.

What will or will not be produced in India should be left to tariffs and industrial policy, apart from inherent competitiveness of local production relative to production abroad. The need is to freely allow foreign investment in retail, so as to offer manufacturers a ready distribution platform. It would also end complaints by organised physical retailers over unfair competition from online retail that receives oodles of cash from venture funds that it converts into discounts.

General mistrust of organised retail is unwarranted as the benefits outweigh harm caused to small traders. Organised retail chains do away with tiers of stocking and distribution between the producer and consumer. This, in turn, lowers the cost for consumers, expands the market and boosts tax collections. By derisking distribution, domestic manufacturing can draw more investment, including investment by mid-size foreign companies that can make products, but are too tiny to invest or build their own distribution network.

Whether retailers should hold inventory or function as a marketplace should be left to the logic of commercial efficiency, rather than diktat, as at present. For a variety of goods, the marketplace model is just fine and would be chosen by the industry of its own accord. When selling directly to the customer by the online retailer is desirable, as it might be in the case of some specialist goods, why should policy come in the way and obstruct commerce?

Date:21-02-17

Amend constitution and set the women of Nagaland free

Nagaland chief minister T R Zeliang quit on Sunday. His party, the Naga People’s Front, has 46 lawmakers in a house of 60. Its allies, the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, have the rest: Nagaland has no elected opposition. Yet, Zeliang’s ouster shows the real opposition comes from conservative outfits like the Naga Hoho, an all-male body of tribal elders. Trouble started last year, when the Supreme Court upheld an appeal by the Naga Mothers’ Association to allow 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local body elections.

Zeliang wanted to conduct municipal polls on February 1, with such reservations. Tribal organisations protested, saying the Constitution upholds tribal customary law, which allows little space for women in public life. After protests paralysed administration, Zeliang called off municipal polls. But that was not enough: zealots prevailed upon cowed legislators, who got Zeliang to quit. This has revealed the deep patriarchal bias in Naga society. Since Nagaland’s first election in 1964, there has been no woman representative in its assembly.

Male chauvinism prospers on the back of a constitutional ambiguity. Article 371 (A) says, “No Act of Parliament shall apply to Nagaland in relation to religious or social practices of the Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to the Naga Customary law, ownership and transfer of land and its resources.”This contradicts not just Article 243(D) that guarantees reservations for women, but the basic right to equality and the overall principle that when custom conflicts with fundamental rights, rights must prevail. The Constitution should be amended to make this explicit. Nagaland’s women have the right to be part of the democratic mainstream.

Date:21-02-17

मातृ भाषा से ही खुलते हैं अन्य भाषाओं के द्वार

Date:21-02-17

श्रम में सुधार

भारत के श्रम कानूनों की लंबे समय से पहचान बेहद सख्त और उत्पादकता-विरोधी के रूप में रही है। इस वजह से अर्थशास्त्री अक्सर इन श्रम कानूनों में सुधार की वकालत करते रहे हैं। पिछले कुछ समय में राजस्थान, हरियाणा और मध्य प्रदेश जैसे कुछ राज्यों ने आंशिक मात्रा में श्रम कानूनों को संशोधित भी किया है। अब महाराष्ट्र ने भी स्थानीय श्रम नियमों को लचीला बनाने की पहल शुरू की है। उसने अनुबंध श्रम (नियमन एवं उन्मूलन) अधिनियम (सीएलआरए), 1970 में कुछ संशोधन किए हैं। इस अधिनियम से अनुबंध पर श्रमिकों की नियुक्ति संबंधी नियम निर्धारित किए जाते हैं।

Date:20-02-17

Russia engaging in talks with Taliban over percieved Islamic State threat plays into Pakistan’s hands

New Delhi and Kabul need to remind the global community of dangers of turning the clock back vis a vis Taliban.

India was not invited to a Russia-led conference on Afghanistan last December, which included China and Pakistan. The three countries then agreed to start an outreach for reconciliation with the Taliban, the Pakistan-backed terror group which wants to militarily unseat the democratically-elected Afghan government. New Delhi and Kabul registered their protest with Moscow, which led to an invite to last Wednesday’s conference for the two countries, along with Iran. The outcome of the meet was, however, not to New Delhi’s liking. India and Afghanistan wanted these countries to respect the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution on terrorist groups. Russia, Iran and Pakistan agreed to respect the international red lines but refused to end the ongoing channels of talks with the Taliban.

The issue at the heart of the matter is not the Taliban, but the so-called Islamic State (IS). Moscow and Tehran see the IS in Afghanistan, which they fear will extend into the region, as a greater threat to their internal security. Russian fears are compounded by the presence of 5,000 Russian-speaking fighters in the IS, which could shift to Afghanistan as the war ends in Syria. They could then expand into the central Asian nations, a theatre Moscow considers as its strategic backyard. As a Shia republic, Iran remains firmly opposed to the IS and worries about the terror group targeting Shias in Afghanistan and then threatening Iran. Considering IS a bigger threat, these countries want to open negotiations with the Taliban, perceived by them as a lesser danger because it does not wish to expand beyond Afghanistan. The United States also seems to be buying into this narrative. This plays into Pakistan’s hands, which will again gain a position of pre-eminence for the United States, Russia and China, as it exercises all the levers of control over the Taliban. Besides opening new channels of funding and support, it would hurt long-standing Indian efforts to have Pakistan recognised globally as a state which supports terror.