(Image courtesy: narendramodi.in)

 

“India’s macro fundamentals strong, asserts Modi at AIIB meet”. “India’s macroeconomic fundamentals remain strong: Arun Jaitley”.

Should such headlines be accepted at the face value? No. Put chest-thumping claims through prism of multi-dimensionalism. And one would see patches of opacity and blur for want of clarity on fundamentals.

This jarring image is due to the fact that definitions, that form basis of flaunted statistics, are either missing or are outdated/nebulous.It is a fundamental problem with Government’s fundamental claims. 

It exists in several domains extending from lack of definition of black money to shell companies. ‘Poverty’ and ‘out of school children’ (OOSC) also suffer from want of functional/standard definitions. Similar is the case with certain other aspects of economy such as varying definitions of formal worker followed by official agencies.

Add to this limitation the fact that Government does not collect statistics on certain aspects of economy such as how citizens’ use time. This is important indicator for unemployment, underemployment and ease of living in certain countries notably the United States. 

Reckon also the fact that certain data are mere calculations/estimates made on paper work with certain assumptions. 

 (Image Courtesy: The United Nations)

 

 

The governments’ urge to shore up tax revenues is universal. And this desire gets universal endorsement from multilateral development institutions (MDIs) when it comes to raising domestic resources for eliminating poverty & inequality on the earth. 

But when the tax-raising objective gets subsumed into OECD’s 15-Action Points Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project & related tax reforms, the world should take a hard look at the means to achieve inclusive development agenda.   

Four MDIs have lately been goading developing countries especially the poorest ones to pull their taxation socks to achieve United Nations (UN)-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The four MDIs are the UN, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Is the focus on taxation a smokescreen to implement BEPS project from the standpoint of developed nations that want MNC investments and their tax revenue back home? 

Is focus on domestic tax revenue as financier for SDGs a ploy to divert attention from the West’s failure to comply with minimum level of official development assistance (ODA) that was globally agreed decades back? 

Why quartet can’t hammer out a global agreement on levying global, innovative taxes as a new avenue for funding SDGs? 

(Pessimism & allied woes listed by Narendra Modi as Gujarat CM. Image Courtesy: Modi's Speech 27th December 2012 )

 

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stirred a national debate on Pessimism versus Optimism while defending his Government’s performance especially on the economic front.

Inaugurating Institute of Company Secretaries of India’s (ICSI’s) golden Jubilee Year Celebrations on 4th October, Mr. Modi said: “Some people take pleasure is spreading pessimism. They get a good sleep out of it. For them slowdown in GDP in one quarter is like a dose .There is a need to identify such people”.

To avid news readers, this might ring in a quote from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's sterling speech delivered last month at the United Nations.

Mrs Swaraj quipped: “Look who's talking!” while referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khakan’s baseless allegation that India nurtured State-sponsored terrorism.

The ‘Look’ quote fits well on Modiji’s hat because he himself once excelled in creating tsunami of pessimism. He, in fact, owes his elevation from the stature of Gujarat Chief Minister to India’s PM to his success in spreading pessimism against UPA Government.