Paradox of Plenty: Foodgrains Rot In Govt Godowns In India, Millions Go Hungry
By Subramani Arumugam   India ranks 102 out of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index report for 2019, trailing behind many South Asian countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. As per UN-FAO report, 194 million people go hungry every day in India, comprising about 23 per cent of the world's undernourished population.     On the contrary, India has reached self-sufficiency in agricultural production long back. We produce more than what is estimated to feed the entire population (2018-19, India produced 283.37 million tons of foodgrains). We rank first in millets and second in rice and wheat production in the world. Our horticultural crops like fruit and vegetables production also in surplus (2018-19 313.9 million tons). The total agricultural exports are also on increase.     The contrasting scenarios of record agricultural production and grinding poverty illustrates what is described as the " paradox of plenty" in the agricultural sec...

Can 'Negative Interest Rate' Overcome The Present Economic Crisis?
By Prof. Syed Farhat Husain  The whole world has been facing a severe economic crisis for the last two decades. The present coronavirus pandemic has further brought the global economy to a standstill and plunged the world into recession. To mitigate this extraordinary financial crisis, some Western countries decided to implement an unconventional monetary policy called ‘Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP)’. European Union (EU) member countries Sweden and Switzerland, and Japan initiated to embrace this policy. Negative interest simply means that instead of paying interest, a fee is charged on deposits. This Policy occurs when Central Bank sets its interest rate called Bank Rate at less than zero percent. If surplus funds are piled up and they intend to keep these funds with Central Bank as deposits, they have to pay an amount as service charge. This is termed as Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP). Before embarking on its details, it would be pertinent to look into ...

Viral Video of English Speaking Woman Vendor with a PhD Takes Social Media by Storm
Rasheeduddin Khaja | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, JULY 24—A Muslim fruit and vegetable seller from Indore hogged the limelight when a video of her protest went viral on the social media.   The reason for her instant fame of the woman, Raisa Ansari, was her relatively fluent English. A vegetable wonder speaking in English!   What was all the more surprising about her was her claim that she holds a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Material Science from Indore's Devi Ahilya University. In Indore a vegetable vendor Raisa Ansari protested against the municipal authorities when they came to remove the handcarts of vegetables.The woman later claimed that she has done Phd in Materials Science from DAVV Indore. @ndtvindia @ndtv @GargiRawat #lockdown #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/RieGffTMyP— Anurag Dwary (@Anurag_Dwary) July 23, 2020   Protesting against the civic agency for allegedly removing the pushcart on which she was selling vegetable, the lady raised many vi...

Delhi’s Ghazipur Slaughter House To Reopen From Tomorrow
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 21—The slaughter house at Ghazipur in North-East Delhi will open from tomorrow after a sudden closure for four months since the announcement of lockdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to check the spread of COVID 19 pandemic in the country.   However, the livestock market attached with the slaughter house was reopened two days ago so that livestock traders can stock animals for slaughtering”, said East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) mayor Nirmal Jain.   Besides slaughter house and livestock market, all the markets in Delhi including Sadar Bazar, Asia’s biggest wholesale market of general items, Azadpur fruit and vegetable market, Asia’s biggest fruit and vegetable market, Okhla Mandi, Ghazipur Mandi, Keshavpuram Mandi, Shahdara Mandi, Khari Baoli wholesale market for grains, spices, chocolates, chemicals etc, wholesale cloth market in Chandni Chowk, Bhagirath Place which is the wholesale...

Road To Revival of Economy Post Covid1-9
Hashmat Ali(Special to India Tomorrow) NEW DELHI, JULY 18--While the economy has been encountering a slowdown since 2017, the covid-19 broke out and ravaged the economy of the country. According to Goldman sachs and IMF’s world economic outlook, India’s GDP growth rate likely to be contracted by 5% in financial year 2020-21. This will lower tax revenues, and limit government’s ability to spend and support growth. The negative growth rate is primarily contributed by negative growth in gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), which broadly is the investment in the economy. The government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) has supported the growth momentum, however, the increase in consumption expenditure followed by cutbacks in capital expenditure, which are reflected in the negative growth in investment in real GDP data.   No wonder, despite strong pressure from corporate for large fiscal stimulus, the government has primarily banked on credit guarantees and...

Political Analyst Nishant Verma Accuses BJP's Sambit Patra of Rs 61.52 Lakh Financial Scam
 Rasheeduddin Khaja | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 17—BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, along with his two associates, a RSS functionary and a jeweller, has been found involved in an alleged financial scam involving Rs 61.52 lakh.   Nishant Verma, a political analyst, who has been keenly observing the functioning of the incumbent BJP government at the Centre, brought the scam to public domain.   Verma rates Patra “the most incompetent politician” in the country whose only claim to fame lies in the cult he has woven around the personality of Narendra Modi during his stint as a national spokesperson of the ruling party. His company, he says came into public domain at the time of demonetisation of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 denominations. Sambit Patra's demonetization scam:In 2010, Sambit Patra set up a company called Centre For Holistic Advancement And Upliftment Of Poor & Landless (CHAUPAL).In 2016, when demonetizatio...

Closure of Slaughter House For Five Months Causing Financial Hardship To Butchers, Others Connected With Livestock Trade
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, JULY 13–Delhi’s only slaughter house at Ghazipur has been closed for the last five months on the pretext of COVID 19 that has so far claimed 3,213 lives with total Covid 19 positive cases of 1,04,864. People involved directly and indirectly in butchering profession–butchers, goat farmers, people in handicraft industry, leather factory and thread made of animal intestine–are facing immense financial hardship and their financial condition will further worsen if the slaughter house is not opened soon.  According to Delhi Meat Merchant Association, Muslims and non-Muslims both are involved in this profession.  Animals are brought to Delhi’s livestock market from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In these states, goat farming is done by Hindus and Sikhs. So, major beneficiaries of the cattle trade are Hindus and Sikhs. Butchers, who are mostly Muslims, form a very small gr...

How Vikas Dubey Scripted His Bollywood-style Arrest
  LUCKNOW/UJJAIN, JULY 9—Uttar Pradesh's dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey, who has had a thing for Bollywood, on Thursday surrendered over a thousand kilometres away from what could be his swan song of a criminal life in the Mahakaal temple premises of Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain as he announced in Sanjay Dutt's "Khalnayak" style: "Mein hun Vikas Dubey, Kanpurwala".   Dubey has been on the run for almost a week, ever since the ambush and killing of eight police personnel in Kanpur. As police searched for him in Haryana, Delhi, and kept a close watch on Indo-Nepal border, the Kanpur boy who had launched himself into crime in the 1990s in the image of Sunny Deol's "Arjun Pandit" and loved the sound of being addressed to as "Pandit" in political and police circles, managed to dodge the bullet as he was nabbed in the safe grounds of the temple complex.   According to sources, Vikas reached the temple around 8.a.m and then informed t...

Delhi's Only Slaughter House Remains Closed Even After Easing of Lockdown, Lakhs Continue As Jobless
 Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 25—While the Delhi government has allowed the liquor shops, fish and chicken markets to operate after easing of the lockdown with effect from June 8, the livestock market and the only slaughter house at Ghazipur on the outskirts of the national capital remains closed since the lockdown was imposed on March 24.   The decision of the government has not only caused problems to non-vegetarian people all over Delhi but also rendered lakhs of people jobless. According to those in the meat trade in the national capital, the number of non-vegetarians in Delhi are over 1.5 crores, out of a total population of 2.5 crores.   The non-veg population of Delhi got their meat supplies-goat and buffalo meat- through 6000 retail outlets all over the city.   Delhi Meat Merchant Association (DMMA) president Arshad Habib Qureshi told India Tomorrow that the meat suppliers got their animals slaughtered in the Ghazipur ...

Jama Masjid May Have To Be Closed Down Again After Shahi Imam’s Assistant Dies Of Corona
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 10—The historic Jama masjid in Old Delhi might be closed temporarily again after personal assistant of mosque’s Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari died of coronavirus on Tuesday night.   The mosque had reopened on June 8 after easing of the lockdown restrictions that were enforced from March 25 to prevent the spread of coronavirus.   Bukhari himself confirmed the news of the death of his PA Amanullah  to mediapersons. Amanullah worked as assistant of Bukhari for the last 20 year. He was 57 years and was suffering from diabetes, heart and liver ailments.   He was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital since June 3 where he was detected to be corona positive.   Hindustan Times reported that Bukhari is contemplating to temporarily shut down the mosque again.   About 200 people prayed daily in the Jama Masjid after it was reopened on June 8.         

Impose 'Covid Pandemic Cess' On Super Rich To Kickstart The Economy: Welfare Party of India
India Tomorrow            NEW DELHI, MAY 28—The Welfare Party of India (WPI) has demanded introduction of ‘Covid Pandemic Cess’ on super rich to raise sufficient revenue to kickstart the economy and  generate revenue to fight the corona virus pandemic under the present economic crises.   In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narednra Modi two days ago, WPI national president Dr. SQR Ilyas advised to impose  one time ‘Covid Pandemic Cess’ on the super rich to help kickstart the economy and put it on the track that has suffered badly owing to lockdown to check the spread of the pandemic.   Dr. Ilyas said that many economists had pointed to the gravity of the situation and opined that the corona virus pandemic in India might be the “greatest emergency since Independence” and cautioned that “India should prepare itself for a negative growth rate in financial year 2021”.   ...

Govt's Covid Stimulus Package May Not Spur Growth
By Hashmat Ali(Special to India Tomorrow) NEW DELHI: The Government has announced the package in five tranches and has provided details of how it adds up to Rs 20.97 lack crore and accounts for nearly 10% of the GDP. The circumstances in which it was announced, that is, the destructions of aggregate demand & supply due to covid-19 pandemic, is critical to understand.  Most predictions pegging the negative GDP growth rate, the global financial major Goldman Sachs estimates a negative GDP growth rate of 3.6%, Another financial major Nomura expects India’s GDP growth rate to fall by negative 5% in 2020.  Demand & investment side tumbled low at 0.8 percent against 4 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year, economy is doing worse on all the economic parameters including consumption expenditure, both private and government took a hit, while investment growth crashed  downward. Similarly, the growth rate from the supply side measured in terms o...

Corona Crisis: What is 'Mission Jai Hind' Action Plan Drafted by 22 Economists and Intellectuals?
India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, MAY 23— It is a seven-point Plan of Action with some urgent steps that Central and State governments “must take to rebuild lives and livelihoods” affected by the Coronavirus crisis, says a group of 22 economists, intellectuals and activists who have drafted the plan.   Three most important recommendations are: return of migrant workers to their homes within 10 days, giving cash in the hands of people and ration for six months.   In a joint statement, they said the central government’s Rs 20 lakh crore package has “ignored the urgent need for economic support to ordinary citizens.”   “The central government has announced a “stimulus package” that virtually ignores the urgent need for economic support to ordinary citizens whose lives and livelihoods have been shattered by the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown. Social security measures for all are not only a moral imperative but also...

After Karnataka High Court Order, State Govt. Announces to Fund Train Travel of Outgoing Migrant Labourers
India Tomorrow   BENGALURU, MAY 23— Day after the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to bear the cost of travel of migrant workers who want to go back home, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday announced to fund their train travel from the state exchequer.   “The government has considered the plea of migrant workers who were unable to bear the travel expenditure to go back to their home towns. The Karnataka government will bear the cost of travel of migrant workers and stranded persons to their respective states by Shramik trains up to May 31, 2020,” Yediyurappa said in a tweet on Friday.   He further said: “The government considers migrant workers, who have come from far flung parts of our country, as our own people and it is my firm belief that they too must be supported by the state.”   On Thursday, a two-Judge Bench of Chief Justice A S Oka and Justice B V Nagarathna had ordered the government to b...

Modi Govt. Has Abandoned Any Pretence of Being Democratic: Sonia Gandhi
India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, MAY 22— Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday came down heavily on the central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the way it has been handling the Coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on the economy of the country.   In her opening remarks at the meeting of 22 Opposition parties via video conferencing, Sonia termed PM Modi’s 20 lakh crore economic package as a “cruel joke” on the country.   “Many of us like-minded parties had demanded that cash must be transferred to the poor, that free grain must be distributed to all families, that buses and trains must be arranged for the migrant workers to go back to their homes. We emphasized that Wage Assistance and Wage Protection Funds must be set up to protect the employees and the employers. Our please have fallen on deaf ears,” she charged in her speech.   “A number of renowned economists are predicting that 2020-21 will end w...

Welfare Party Urges President Not to Give Assent to State Labor Law Ordinances
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, MAY 22— “The state governments, under the cover of COVID-19 pandemic, are exploiting the situation to weaken labor laws and undermine the workers’ rights to attract investors,” said the Welfare Party of India in its letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and urged him not to give his assent to the ordinances passed by the states.   In the last couple of weeks, some states including Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh had decided to bring ordinances to suspend labor laws to attract investment as the economy of the country and states have been badly hit by the Coronavirus-driven lockdown. Civil society groups and child rights activists had opposed the move.   In his letter, Welfare Party president Dr. SQR Ilyas said: “These ordinances not only violate the International labour laws which India is a signatory member but will also be in gross violation of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Polic...

After Hungry Migrant Laborers Scramble for Biscuits at Bihar Railway Station, Passers-by Loot Mangoes on Delhi Road
India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, MAY 22— Are we heading towards a situation called ‘food riot’ due to the huge economic devastation and joblessness thanks to the continuous lockdown? Even if not, two incidents in the last one week have brought out crisis-driven worst in us.   On May 14, a video from the Katihar railway station went viral on social media. A man, apparently a migrant laborer, looked standing with a carry bag full of biscuits on the platform. Within no time, some hungry co-passengers charged toward him and about one dozen soon began scrambling for a packet of biscuits. They snatched it from each other.   Exactly one week later, on May 21, something similarly shameful took place in the National Capital. A video of the incident went viral on social media. The video shows dozens of people – passers-by, auto drivers and others – looting mangoes from unattended crates of a street vendor.   “I had 15 crates of mangoe...

Savage Cyclone Amphan Leaves Death, Destruction in West Bengal
KOLKATA, MAY 21— Scenes of large uprooted trees, damaged houses and flown off roofs were just the beginning when Super Cyclone Amphan made its appearance less than 24 hours back, as it pummelled through the night over Kolkata and large parts of West Bengal it left behind a trail of deaths as at least 12 people were killed.   Scenes from Kolkata airport showed the damage left behind as large airliners stood in a river of water with facilities damaged. This is the most devastating cyclone that struck the city in centuries, some wondered since the 1737 when the Calcutta cyclone killed many, while others said nothing like this have they crossed in the past few decades. Houses were flattened, massive number of trees uprooted as many feared damage to iconic structures in the city as well, and reports still pour in   Amitav Ghosh, the renowned author, who along with many others tweeted concern for their old parents stuck alone in the city amid the covid-induced lockd...

Gujarat High Court Directs State Govt. to Distribute Food Packets among Migrant Workers, Others in Ahmedabad
India Tomorrow   AHMEDABAD, MAY 13— The Gujarat High Court has taken suo motu notice of the reported miseries caused by the weeklong complete lockdown in Ahmedabad and directed the state government to distribute food packets among hungry migrant workers and other people in the city, on its outskirts and in other parts of the state.   On May 7, the state authorities had imposed a complete lockdown in the capital city for a week. Barring milk and medicine shops, everything was ordered to shut down till May 14 as the Coronavirus cases witnessed heavy surge in the city in the previous week.   On Monday (May 11), the High Court took suo motu notice of media reports on the miseries of people, particularly migrant workers and daily-wagers, who were hungry for some days due to the complete lockdown.   “It appears that people at large are hungry. People are without any food or shelter. It seems that it is the outcome of complete lockdown. Whatever l...

Waive Off Farm Loans On The Lines of Corporate Loan Waiver To Help "Food Warriors": Demands AIKSCC
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow    NEW DELHI, MAY 11—All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an all India body of agriculturists and farm labourers, has demanded complete waiver of all loans of peasants and agriculture workers all over the country.   At its Working Group meeting held through video-conferencing a few days back, the farm body said that if the Central government could waive off Rs. 68,607 crores of its ‘crony capitalists’ and fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Mehul Chowksi and Nirav Modi, there should not be any problem to forgo the loans of farmers and agriculture workers.   AIKSCC general secretary S. A. Avik told India Tomorrow that the Working Group also appealed its members all over the country to felicitate farmers as “Food Warriors” of the nation on May 16 and also organise a protest on May 27 to focus attention of the Central government towards problems of the farmers.   “If industr...