India to see 'some important' reforms in next 6 months: Kaushik Basu

April 22, 2012

basu

Washington, April 22: After the flak over his remarks to a think tank here, chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu feels India will see some important reforms in the next six months, including on subsidies and may be partial diesel decontrol and FDI in retail.

However, he feels the biggest reform GST (Goods and Services Tax) may be tougher because it is good and not everybody wants it to happen under the present regime.

Basu, whose remarks on Wednesday that no big ticket reform is possible till 2014 elections raised a political flutter back home, said there is a serious risk of another European crisis in 2014 and appropriate measures need to be taken to avert another global economic crisis.

"Among the reforms that will happen, I hope, is, subsidy reform. The finance minister talked about this in his budget. We will try to use the UID system that we are developing to cut down leakage in subsidy," he said in an interview to this news agency.

"In India the leakage is so big that if we can cut this down, it will help cut down our fiscal deficit ... So that's a very important reform, which I think will happen," he said.

On FDI in multi-brand retail, he said, "you can't be 100 per cent sure, but I feel that it's very likely that it will happen. This can be a big boost to Indian farmers and small producers. It will also have an uplifting on investor confidence."

The other one, which is more difficult politically, is diesel decontrol, Basu said. "May be what can happen is a partial decontrol. This is not a very well defined term. There are different kinds of partial decontrol that you can have.

"What we should ideally do is to have a small subsidy that is fixed per liter. This will partially shelter the consumer but will allow the rise and fall of global price to be mirrored in India. This is essential for market efficiency," Basu said.

The chief economic advisor said his remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace were clear and addressed towards the possible European crisis and had nothing to do with the 2014 general elections as being reported in the media.

"There is nothing to clarify. I meant everything that I said; the lack of clarity was in its reporting," he said, adding around this central message, he talked about India.

Basu said in his lecture on Wednesday he had said that India needs to strengthen itself for the possible European crisis of 2014.

"Thanks to the strains of coalition politics there is a slowdown in reforms. Nevertheless, we will see some important reforms within the next six months.

"This is in our political and economic interest. But the biggest reform, the GST, is going to be much tougher because there you need a constitutional amendment," he said.

In fact, he said, an interesting reason why GST is so difficult is because all parties realise this is very good.

"Therefore, not everybody wants it to happen under the present regime," Basu said.

He said 2014 was significant in his talk because of Europe and had nothing to do with the Indian elections. "We in India love politics so much that for us 2014 is nothing but the year of Indian general elections. India has gone through a difficult year with some slowdown in growth," he noted.

"This has three causes - the European crisis, our difficult battle with inflation and the slowdown in decision-making and reforms and the disruption of Parliament that we have seen in the last year," he said.

"There is a serious risk of another European crisis in 2014," the chief economic adviser said.

This, he said, was the central theme of his talk at the Washington-based think tank.

"This is not hand-waving but is based on analysis. In December 2011 and February 2012, the ECB ( European Central Bank) pumped in about $1.3 trillion of money into Euro Zone banks. This immediately calmed the markets and I think what ECB did was right," he said.

"But you have to remember that these are loans that have to be repaid in three years. So if Europe does not manage to reform its fiscal system, then three years from now, when the time comes for this huge amount of money injected into the system to be withdrawn, we could see another European crisis, with shock waves for the entire world," Basu said.

"I argued we have to take measures against this so that we can avert the global crisis of 2014. That was the gist of my talk," Basu said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
March 26,2025

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that he was not being given a chance to speak in the House which was being run in a "non-democratic style", and said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had made "unsubstantiated" remarks about him.

Gandhi's remarks came after Birla asked him to follow the rules of procedure that members are expected to observe to uphold the dignity of the House. It was not immediately clear what was the reason for the Speaker to make the observation.

The former Congress president said the Speaker made remarks about him and then adjourned the House without giving him an opportunity to speak.

"The Speaker just got up and left. He did not allow me to speak a word. He was speaking about me, and I don't know what he said about me, all unsubstantiated. I said, 'let me speak as you have spoken about me', but he did not say a word and just left. He adjourned the House when there was no need of it," the former Congress president said.

About 70 Congress Lok Sabha MPs, including deputy leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, party general secretary KC Venugopal and party's whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, met the Lok Sabha speaker and raised the "denial" of opportunity to Gandhi to speak in the House.

Speaking with reporters in Parliament House complex, Gandhi said there is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is allowed to speak, but whenever he gets up to speak, he is not allowed to speak.

"So, in what manner is this House being run? We are not being allowed to speak. I have not done anything, I was sitting quietly, I did not speak anything. In the last 7-8 days, I have not been allowed to speak," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

In a democracy, the opposition has a place, and the government has its own place but here there is no place for the opposition, he alleged.

Gandhi said he wanted to speak on Maha Kumbh last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a statement on it but he was not allowed to speak.

"I wanted to state that it is good that Kumbh happened, and I wanted to speak about unemployment, but I was not allowed to speak. I don't know what thinking or approach does the Speaker have but the truth is we are not being allowed to speak. It (the House) is being run in a non-democratic style," Gandhi claimed.

Earlier, in his remarks, the Speaker said members are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the high standards and dignity of the House.

"Several instances have come to my notice where the conduct of members does not conform to the high standards," the Speaker said.

"In this House, father and daughter, mother and daughter, husband and wife have been members. In this context, I expect the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself in accordance with Rule 349 that deals with rules to be observed by members in the House," the Speaker said.

"Especially, it is expected of the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself as per the rules," the Speaker said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 6,2025

waqfbill.jpg

New Delhi, Apr 6: President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday gave her assent to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was passed by Parliament earlier this week.

Murmu also gave her assent to the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2025.

"The following Act of Parliament received the assent of the president on April 5, 2025, and is hereby published for general information: The Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025," the government said in a notification.

Parliament early on Friday approved the Bill after the Rajya Sabha gave its nod to the contentious legislation following an over 13-hour debate.

The discussion witnessed staunch objections from opposition parties, which termed the Bill "anti-Muslim" as well as "unconstitutional", while the government responded that the "historic reform" would benefit the minority community.

The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it.

It was passed in the Lok Sabha early on Thursday, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.

Parliament had also approved the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod. The Lok Sabha had already given its assent to the Bill.

After the president gave her assent, it has also become a law.

Congress MP Mohammad Jawed and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday challenged the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Supreme Court, saying it violated constitutional provisions. 

Jawed's plea alleged the Bill imposed "arbitrary restrictions" on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.
The petition, filed through advocate Anas Tanwir, said it discriminated against the Muslim community by "imposing restrictions that are not present in the governance of other religious endowments".

Jawed, the Lok Sabha MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Bill and alleged in his plea that it "introduces restrictions on the creation of Waqfs based on the duration of one's religious practice".

In his separate plea, Owaisi said the Bill took away from Waqfs various protections accorded to Waqfs and Hindu, Jain and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike.

Owaisi's plea, filed by advocate Lzafeer Ahmad, said, "This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.