✌✌✌✌ THE HINDU ✌✌✌✌
✌✌ Through a storm, safely ✌✌
✌✌ Through a storm, safely ✌✌
year after the devastating deluge, Chennai’s resilience has been challenged by the severe cyclonic storm, Vardah. Equipped with survival lessons from the December 2015 floods and helped by an efficient flow of disaster warning messages, the city and neighbouring districts held together through several hours of fierce winds. Chennai’s trees bore the brunt, many uprooted or torn down irredeemably. The storm hobbled the city’s infrastructure by nightfall, downing power and communication cables, blocking roads, disrupting rail and air transport, and spreading a carpet of darkness. It is to the Tamil Nadu government’s credit that basic mobility was restored overnight, and fallen trees were removed to allow some traffic to ply. Vardah also demonstrated that in the time of social media and the Internet, speedy official and community messages can influence the outcome of a catastrophe. While economic damage was inevitable, cautionary advice put out on social platforms urging people to stay safe helped reduce the number of casualties. Remarkably, the community also responded with alacrity, creating online groups and sharing messages offering help and advice. It is of course possible to learn even more by going back to citizens and harnessing data on their experience using online tools.
Tropical storms are an annual affair, with the more vulnerable eastern coast taking a pummelling from 92 severe cyclones out of a total of 262 between 1891 and 1990, and several more in the years since. Such weather events are a part of the climate system, and their impact in the form of economic losses could well be greater going forward, as development creates more assets in coastal cities. It is vital, therefore, that the learnings from each event are shared nationally, and the capacity of officials and communities to manage disasters built continuously. Such an approach helps coastal regions in the United States prepare for and deal with storms better. Among the securities available to individuals in many countries is insurance against property losses. Viable policies should be made available in India too, as this would bring scrutiny on administrative measures and potentially improve outcomes. A citywide blackout also underscores the importance of rooftop solar and battery storage systems as supplementary power sources for households and corporates. Planting trees with strong root systems and pruning the canopy ahead of cyclone season could reduce uprooting. In the aftermath of Vardah, the Tamil Nadu government should restore infrastructure and provide priority relief to the families of those who lost their lives, and the worst-hit communities.
Tropical storms are an annual affair, with the more vulnerable eastern coast taking a pummelling from 92 severe cyclones out of a total of 262 between 1891 and 1990, and several more in the years since. Such weather events are a part of the climate system, and their impact in the form of economic losses could well be greater going forward, as development creates more assets in coastal cities. It is vital, therefore, that the learnings from each event are shared nationally, and the capacity of officials and communities to manage disasters built continuously. Such an approach helps coastal regions in the United States prepare for and deal with storms better. Among the securities available to individuals in many countries is insurance against property losses. Viable policies should be made available in India too, as this would bring scrutiny on administrative measures and potentially improve outcomes. A citywide blackout also underscores the importance of rooftop solar and battery storage systems as supplementary power sources for households and corporates. Planting trees with strong root systems and pruning the canopy ahead of cyclone season could reduce uprooting. In the aftermath of Vardah, the Tamil Nadu government should restore infrastructure and provide priority relief to the families of those who lost their lives, and the worst-hit communities.
✌✌ Free flow of wheat ✌✌
The Centre’s decision to waive import duty on wheat has predictably attracted flak. Opposition parties have questioned the move, which comes days after the government’s assertion that demonetisation of high-value currency notes did not impact the sowing of the rabi crop, with a greater area being cultivated compared to the same time a year ago. Assembly polls are due soon in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, both large wheat-producing States, making this a plausible rallying point for the Opposition. Farmer unions have warned of dumping of wheat stock in India at a time when the minimum support price (Rs.1,625 a quintal) is higher than international prices. This, they argue, could lead to distress sales when the current crop is harvested over March-April. The government, on its part, has noted concerns about the warmer winter forecast, which could affect wheat output and trigger inflation. This February, when prices of food articles that make up 46 per cent of the consumer price index were cooling off, the government expected the trend to continue if the monsoon was normal after two years of drought. Now at year-end, following a normal monsoon, inflation remains under control but wheat prices have been moving up swiftly.
There is no doubt that fiddling too often with wheat import duties — from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, then back to 10 per cent and finally to zero, all within 500 days — sends mixed signals to farmers and traders, though the latter group will be pleased with the duty-free regime. But equally, it is necessary to change one’s mind when the situation so demands, which it currently does. A record global harvest has lowered wheat prices internationally. With a higher MSP, and speculation about a less-than-adequate harvest domestically, the government is obviously keen on avoiding a surge in inflation following the demonetisation process. With imports remaining duty-free, it is now clear to traders that hoarding reserves and profiteering from the systemic stress won’t pay for long, even though it will take a couple of months or so for the first such shipments to arrive from overseas. Farmers busy with the rabi sowing season may not rally to political provocations immediately. But by the time they harvest the crop four months from now, the Centre would be well-advised to spruce up its procurement act, and raise awareness about the MSP mechanism. A longer-term action plan is needed to increase India’s wheat yields, which in most States are lower than in China and Bangladesh.
There is no doubt that fiddling too often with wheat import duties — from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, then back to 10 per cent and finally to zero, all within 500 days — sends mixed signals to farmers and traders, though the latter group will be pleased with the duty-free regime. But equally, it is necessary to change one’s mind when the situation so demands, which it currently does. A record global harvest has lowered wheat prices internationally. With a higher MSP, and speculation about a less-than-adequate harvest domestically, the government is obviously keen on avoiding a surge in inflation following the demonetisation process. With imports remaining duty-free, it is now clear to traders that hoarding reserves and profiteering from the systemic stress won’t pay for long, even though it will take a couple of months or so for the first such shipments to arrive from overseas. Farmers busy with the rabi sowing season may not rally to political provocations immediately. But by the time they harvest the crop four months from now, the Centre would be well-advised to spruce up its procurement act, and raise awareness about the MSP mechanism. A longer-term action plan is needed to increase India’s wheat yields, which in most States are lower than in China and Bangladesh.
✌✌✌✌ THE ECONOMIC TIMES ✌✌✌✌
✌✌ Watal committee’s recommendations are bang on ✌✌
A committee headed by former finance secretary Ratan Watal has called for a series of doable measures within 30 to 90 days to boost digital payments. While much of the committee’s recommendations are bang on, the suggestion to create an independent regulator for payments is not. Rather than fragment further, financial regulation in the country needs to consolidate. The option of making the Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems that works within the RBI more autonomous, is superior.
The panel rightly suggests an ecosystem of open access and
vigorous competition to speedily incentivise digital payments countrywide. The corollary is to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, to explicitly mandate competition and innovation, open access and interoperability, and consumer protection including mitigation of systemic risk and data protection. The committee has suggested the specific changes that are required, to amend the law swiftly. It wants government departments and agencies to eschew cash and opt for digital payments, and calls for a speedy changeover likewise in the districts and panchayats as well. The panel, rightly, wants mobile number and Aadhaar-based interoperability between banks and non-banks like Payment Service Providers (PSP), and within PSPs as well.
Ubiquitous digital payments call for 24×7 power and network availability across the country. Hence the need to plug infrastructural and attitudinal shortcomings, as well.
The panel rightly suggests an ecosystem of open access and
vigorous competition to speedily incentivise digital payments countrywide. The corollary is to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, to explicitly mandate competition and innovation, open access and interoperability, and consumer protection including mitigation of systemic risk and data protection. The committee has suggested the specific changes that are required, to amend the law swiftly. It wants government departments and agencies to eschew cash and opt for digital payments, and calls for a speedy changeover likewise in the districts and panchayats as well. The panel, rightly, wants mobile number and Aadhaar-based interoperability between banks and non-banks like Payment Service Providers (PSP), and within PSPs as well.
Ubiquitous digital payments call for 24×7 power and network availability across the country. Hence the need to plug infrastructural and attitudinal shortcomings, as well.
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