THE HINDU EDITORIAL – MAY 3, 2022
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GST signals Record revenues
can smoothen upcoming Centre-State reform parleys The first month of the new financial
year has yielded a sharp surge in Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections,
taking them well past 1.67 lakh crore rupees – the highest, by a wide margin,
in the five years since the levy was introduced by subsuming myriad State and
central duties. In fact, GST revenues have scaled fresh highs in three of the
last four months, having hit 1.41 lakh crore rupees in January and 1.42 lakh
crore rupees in March. Overall GST revenues had grown 30.8% in 2021-22 to
14.9 lakh crore rupees, despite slipping below the 1 lakh crore rupees mark
for two months when the second COVID-19 wave raged. The 20% year-on-year revenue
uptick this April could be seen as a comforting signal about 2022-23 revenue
prospects for policy makers at the Centre and the States, whose treasuries
are fretting about the prospect of income falling off a cliff from this July
when the assured compensation for implementing the GST comes to an end.
Compensation cess levies will persist till at least March 2026, but they will
be used to pay off special borrowings of 2020-21 to bridge revenue shortfalls
and recompense States. The Centre needs a mechanism to expedite payment of
outstanding compensation dues to States (78,700-odd crore rupees, or four
months of dues). The Finance Ministry has blamed ‘inadequate balance’ in the
Compensation Cess fund, and promised to pay up ‘as and when’ the requisite
cess accrues.
If overall GST collections sustain around April levels, a dialogue
with States on their pending dues along with those that will accrue from now
till June, could become less thorny. But the conversation needs to begin
soon. The GST Council, which has not met properly since September 2021, must
be convened at the earliest. Higher tax inflows backed by improved
compliance, should give the Council more flexibility to approach the
impending rationalization of the GST rate slabs, beyond a mere scramble to
fill coffers and factor in larger socio-economic considerations. The Centre,
which called the April inflows a sign of ‘faster recovery’, must also state
whether these revenue levels warrant a rethink of its concern that the
effective GST tax rate had slipped from the revenue-neutral rate envisaged at
its launch. A clear acknowledgement is also needed that the higher revenues
are not solely driven by a rebound in economic activity. Persistently higher
input costs facing producers for a year and their accelerating pass-through
to consumers, seen in higher retail inflation, have contributed too, along
with tighter input credit norms introduced in the Union Budget. That revenue
growth from goods imports has outpaced domestic transactions significantly in
recent months, also suggests India’s consumption story is yet to fully
resurface. Urgent policy action is needed to rein in the inflation rally and
bolster consumer sentiment, so as not to sink hopes of more investments,
faster growth and even greater revenues. No short circuits Safety is an
imperative and should be built into the cost and utility of electric vehicles A spate of incidents related to the
burning of electric vehicles (EV) has resulted in the Union government
announcing an expert panel to investigate the battery explosions causing them
and a few manufacturers recalling batches of electric scooters after some
caught fire. EVs have increasingly become a viable transportation device,
with more than 11 lakh electric/battery-operated vehicles registered in India
(Vahan database, April 2022). The increase in the utilization of EVS has also
been largely helped by the significant reduction in costs of lithium-ion
batteries that have fallen by an estimated 89% since 2010. With climate
change concerns driving governments, including India’s, to incentivize the
shift to EVs, their manufacture for commercial use has undergone acceleration
with an increase in indigenous companies in the Indian market as well. The
enhanced use of EVs and utilization of the underlying technology is welcome
as despite the institution of fuel emission norms and building these into
fossil fuel-driven vehicles, the shift to EVs from petrol and diesel ones is
expected to gain significant net environmental benefits. But it must also be
remembered that the Li-ion battery packs that form the core of the
technology, are sophisticated devices and there should be no compromise on
the inbuilt safeguards.
As an energy storage scientist explained in The Hindu (‘FAQ’
page, May 1, 2022), battery fires occur due to the convergence of heat,
oxygen and fuel, and the controlled manufacturing of devices is specifically
required to prevent these. Engineering higher safety into EVs can result in
higher costs but the smooth functioning of Li-ion batteries without accidents
is reliant on the absences of “shoddy engineering” and “cutting corner
approaches”. With long-term device changes in Li-ion batteries such as the
use of solid state electrolytes, special safety switches, etc. still some
time away in implementation, the onus is on manufacturers and regulators to
ensure that testing and certification standards related to battery management
systems such as devices that prevent accidental shorting of the cells, and
thermal management solutions among others are met in existing EV systems and
supply chains. Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the
Ministry of Road Transport will issue guidelines for EVs which would include
tests for compliance with specific safety norms. While the regulation of a
fledgling albeit growing sector that has shown a lot of promise but requires
adequate safety norms to be put in place is an imperative, manufacturers and
other companies in the EV supply chain should also proactively work in
recalling defective hatches of vehicles and ensuring safety compliance to
prevent the recurrence of mishaps. A grand old
party, the demanding path to its revival The Congress’s
decline is to be seen in the context of majoritarianism as well as internal
factors ZOYA HASAN The Congress party is no stranger to
crises, but those it has faced since 2014 are unprecedented and probably the
worst in the course of its long history. The party reached a historic low of
44 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and that only increased to 52 in 2019. It has lost
39 out of 49 State elections since 2014. It managed to win only 55 of the 690
seats in the recent Assembly elections held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. A series of leaders have deserted the party –
even those close to the Gandhi family. These defeats and desertions have
raised questions and concerns about its very survival. The fact that Congress
leaders held extensive talks with a much sought-after election consultant,
and was planning to employ his services to revamp the party, brings into
sharp relief the existential crisis of the Congress. How do we understand
Congress’s existential crisis, and what are the prospects of revival? A platform that
does not work Historically, the Congress had always
come to power on a centrist platform reflecting its varied social base, but
centrism does not work in a deeply divided polity dominated by a politics of
polarization and communal mobilization. Essentially, the old form of
accommodative politics, which for long held together the Congress’s social
coalition, is not capable of galvanizing the imagination of new India. The
Gujarat model of politics marked by an exclusive focus on individual
leadership as the driver of election campaigns, a strong sense of Hindu
pride, a shift in popular attention to aggressive nationalist appeals
regardless of reality or facts, and a complete rejection of the entire
democratic past and superimposition of perception over performance appears
to hold voters in thrall. Changes unleashed by liberalization, globalization,
and the information-communication revolution initiated by the Congress have
undercut its political ethos and ideological architecture to a greater degree
than that of its principal rival. The Congress’s decline (and that of other
Centre-Left and Left parties) transformations provoked by the growth and
expansion of neoliberalism and majoritarianism, and other factors that are
internal to the Congress, most notably, the strong resistance to structural
changes within the party. The party’s main
problems The Congress has faced three major
structural problems in a political conjuncture defined by ‘the great moving
Right show’, to borrow a phrase from cultural theorist Stuart Hall, and the
polarization engendered by it. These include the leadership issue,
organizational stagnation, and the need to project and propagate a clear
ideological alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). I have explored
these themes in my recent book on the Congress and am taking up some aspects
of that here.
The Congress’s leadership crisis has undoubtedly played a role in its
decline; however, the challenge facing the party is not just about the
ineffectual leadership. Simply appointing a non-Gandhi will not dramatically
alter the party’s dwindling fortunes. In fact, removing them might well
reinforce the right-wing agenda. What the Congress needs is an organizational
regeneration, with democratization at the front and centre. But fundamental
issues concerning organizational change have been repeatedly set aside and weighed
down by the debate on dynastic leadership and an obsessive focus on the
Gandhis.
It is however, important to reconstitute the party’s leadership at
various levels through internal elections. This can transform the Congress
into a more representative Organisation and could give a boost to the party
by changing the perception that it is a family business. At present, the top
decision-making bodies are occupied by people who have either never contested
a Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha election or did so decades ago. Their influence
has however grown in direct proportion to the weakening of the party across
India. These structural problems have existed for years, and yet the party
has not faced them head on. It has demonstrated no urgency for drastic remedial
measures despite defeat after defeat. The feeble attempts at revitalization
have focused more on regaining quick electoral viability than on addressing
long-term structural issues. Short on
communication By far the Congress’s biggest
short-coming is its inability to communicate its ideological positions and
values clearly. The great challenge is to define its message and communicate
it to the electorate as an underpinning for political mobilization. For this,
it must unequivocally reaffirm its inclusive vision for a democratic India,
and take credit for its past achievements, which resulted from an adherence
to these commitments.
One big failure has been the Congress’s reluctance to tell its own
story. The party did not publicise or highlight its distinctive approach, and
that was one reason why it did not play to its strengths during the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule, allowing itself to be outsmarted by its
critics. The BJP has correctly calculated that so long as it sustains the
argument that the Congress was elitist, corrupt and dynastic, it can prevent
the Congress from emerging as a credible alternative. What aids and abets
these half-truths is the passivity of the Congress in defending its record
and letting its achievements to be dismissed and derided, even as the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government successfully obfuscates data on
its own underperformance in the last eight years. Combating the
communal The key issue for the Opposition is
defining its response to Hindu nationalism. While the Congress is largely
agreed on the necessity of combating communal ideas, politics and policies,
it has swung between making ideological compromises with majoritarian
nationalism and plotting a frontal battle against it. It has often adopted a
majoritarian tenor on certain controversial issues in the name of religious
sentiment. However, this makes no sense amidst the growing influence of the
Hindu Right. Both as a strategy and as an actuality, the mixing of
religiosity and politics does not guarantee electoral dividends. Moreover,
the conflict in India is not about the growing prominence of Hinduism in our
public life, which most parties accept and promote, but about the BJP’s idea
of nationalism, which is utterly exclusivist, pitted against the inclusive
nationalism championed by the Congress during the freedom struggle.
Indian politics has never been more polarized than it is today; never
before has the gulf been so wide. Hence , today, the battle is more
fundamental; it is about the very idea of India – the idea of a diverse,
pluralistic nation committed to liberal values. By remaining silent on the
way in which nationalism has been redefined, the Congress has ceded the
nationalist space to Hindu Right which poses as the pre-eminent torch-bearer
of nationalism today even though organizations associated with it made no
contribution to the freedom struggle, the crucible which defined Indian
nationalism from which they were absent. Yet, its conception of Indian
nationhood which it has fought for has prevailed, over the past decade and
more against the Congress’s inclusive ‘Idea of India’
Defending a pluralist view of politics and governance is one aspect of
the political strategy; the other is grounding its politics in the idiom of
social justice which both sidesteps identity politics and resonates with an
aggrieved population, alienated by the current dispensation’s policies and
politics. Overall, the 137-year-old party’s revival depends on three things –
a consistent narrative to counter divisive politics, the will to restructure
the organization, and drawing strength from constant public action rather
than just elections. DC and Delhi
engagement as a two-way street Shaping opinion
in Congress is a continuous process and needs efforts beyond formal and
informal official interactions K.V. PRASAD The recent visit of Congress-woman
Ilhan Omar to Pakistan and her trip to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir received
condemnation from India, and the United Stated swiftly drew distance
clarifying that the administration did not underwrite the journey by the
Member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota. As the centre The Capitol Hill has a distinct place
in the United States Constitution and its separation of powers. Members of
the legislative branch work independently to write laws for the
administration to implement. The Members of Congress take a special interest
in foreign policy and carry out regular oversight over policies pursued by
the government across the globe. These could be on a track different from the
official policy pursued by the administration of the day. It is said each
member’s thoughts on foreign policy are like that of the Secretary of the
State.
Over the past couple of years, much water has flown down the Potomac
in Washington DC and the nature of representation in the United States
Congress has undergone a change in terms of the issues member pursue. There
in turn also depend on the nature of the districts, its constituents, issues
of interest to the member and the larger political debate.
One issue with reference to countries or developments, views on the
Hill are shaped by a combination of factors including outreach from the
country at the official level, engagement of the diasporas with Members of
the Congress and staff, advocacy and professional lobbies at work. These
provide continuous inputs that supplement independent status papers published
by the Congressional Research drafted by subject experts.
At times, the House or the Senate organizes hearings on
country/issue-specific subjects, for example the Senate Sub-Committee on Asia
held last month on U.S. policy towards India, where, among other issues,
Jammu and Kashmir figured. Some of these concerns do translate into a
resolution, in turn having an amplifier effect. In the final run-up, what
matters is a Congressional determination or passage of a legislation that
binds the government. Adding
perspective, support Today, while there are more
Indian-Americans serving as Members of the House of Representatives than ever
before, correspondingly, there is an exponential growth of the second
generation of the community members who work in separate branches of the
administration and the legislature, adding a different dimension. They bring
to offices their own perspective which has been accumulated through personal
exchange of information from friends in India and various public sources.
It is well established that there is bipartisan support for India in
the U.S., especially the Congress, which means both the Democrats and the Republicans
favour engagement and developing ties with the country, which in turn
smoothens the work of successive administrations irrespective of which party
enjoys a majority in Congress and has a President in the White House.
For instance, it took over two years of sustained work at all levels
in the Congress before it passed the historic Civil Nuclear Cooperation
Agreement (with India) amid determined opposition from the non-proliferation
advocates on the Hill, a majority of them belonging to the Democratic Party.
In the final stage, over 100 members on the House side and 13 Senators
(including Independent Bernie Sanders) voted against it. It did not reflect
the party line unlike the GOP Senators and a majority of Representatives who
went with the decision of Republican U.S. President, George W. Bush.
Among the Democrats who called a Nay was Congressman Jim McDermott, a
founding member of the India Caucus. The vote reflected his commitment to
non-proliferation that overrode his affection for India. A vote and stand
taken by the Member does not follow party dictates but is driven by
individual choice, unlike in India where the party takes a decision and
members vote accordingly and on important pieces of legislation through a
whip.
Ilhan Omar raking up Kashmir in an Indian territory under occupation
attracted sharp comment from New Delhi. Ms. Omar is known to advocate on
issues such as education, environmental justice, immigration, and health
care, while in the pursuit of foreign policy, the Congresswoman feels human
rights, justice and peace should form the core and also represent domestic
values. Her policy prescription does not favour sanctions or interventionist
measures. Much of her public life work is well known as is her stand on
issues of religion. Last December, she sponsored a Bill Combating
International Islamophobia that was cleared by the House and is with a Senate
Committee.
Migrating to the U.S. as a child from civil-strife torn Somalia, she
got drown towards public office, winning a seat in the Minnesota House five
years ago by unseating an established incumbent from a district with majority
consisting of while population. In her book tracking changing political
landscape, People Like Us – The New Wave of Candidates knocking at Democracy’s
Door, author Sayu Bhojwani noted: “Omar’s …campaign [for state legislature] mobilized
multiple stakeholders… the young, immigrants, and progressives… beyond
individual voters... Organizers in the Back Lives Mater movement, the
business community, local imams and media in the East African Community…around
issues that directly affected these communities.” Today, Ms. Omar is in a
leadership role as the whip in the Democratic Party’s Progressives Caucus
which remains influential. Is many layered There are voices reaching out to
offices across the aisle on the Hill which projects a different perspective
of what is happening in India and other parts of the World. There are a
number of Members who form opinions based on varied inputs and articulate
these at various fora.
The need to continue engagement with offices in the Congress, its
emerging leadership and build a counter-narrative would require effort beyond
formal and informal official interactions. It is a continuous process and a
two-way street. |
