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Mr. Modi, don’t go the Abhimanyu way; Shear UPA’s Chains to Untie Growth Genie
- Published on 21 August 2014
Image courtesy: pmindia.nic.in
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort suggests that he is slipping into the political cast of legendry Abhimanyu. He must avoid that as the Nation has great expectations from him.
Like the awe-inspiring warrior son of Arjun in epic Mahabharta, Mr. Modi wielded development weapon to pierce through multiple barriers erected by UPA and its pseudo-secular supporters to enter the Lok Sabha with an absolute majority that stunned the whole world.
Abhimanyu, however, didn’t know how to exit through the Chakravyūha (security rings) created by Kaurvas and ultimately went down fighting.
Mr. Modi finds himself in a similar situation. Having got the robust mandate to usher in Achche Din for all, Mr. Modi is now struggling to conceive his strategy to implement the nebulous development agenda. He could not even give peek view of the eagerly awaited 100-day agenda, whose formulation is a modest job by any standard.
His Cabinet is still in the baby steps mode on the development terra firma that bristles with too many barriers, many of which were cobbled together by UPA.
Before suggesting an innovative, 12-point strategy for him to avoid going down in history as the political Abhimanyu, one needs to first applaud him for the straight talk on selected issues and the statesmanship. His resort to populism and evangelism is understandable. Many commentators have rightly appreciated Modi’s break from his predecessors’ practice of speech reading. He spoke extempore and communicated and connected well with the masses.
In his speech, Mr. Modi did not announce any concrete strategy to create work opportunities for all especially jobs for the unemployed youth. He avoided making any reference to the twin related issues of black money and corruption.
Clear CSR legal jungle; don’t treat industry as the Kam Dehnu for social welfare
- Published on 12 August 2014
Image Courtesy: ONGC
In its zeal to promote social welfare right from the birth (foetus to be precise) to the death, UPA Government botched up many initiatives including the noble ones like charity and inclusive growth.
It tied the industry in knots to spend money on corporate social responsibility (CSR) through multiple and at times conflicting and whimsical fiats issued by different ministries.
India is perhaps the only country that explicitly mandates CSR expenditure through a corporate law, as compared to statutory reporting on voluntary CSR practiced in certain countries such as Denmark. India is certainly the only country that has multiple laws/diktats on CSR.
Modi Government wants to be viewed as better and larger promoter of public welfare than its predecessor. The former has thus tried to rationalize the latter’s mess through a recent clarification issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
In a circular dated 18th June 2014, MCA has clarified that “expenses incurred by companies for the fulfillment of any Act/ Statute of regulations (such as Labour Laws, Land Acquisition Act etc.) would not count as CSR expenditure under the Companies Act.”
This implies that companies would have to incur all mandatory social welfare expenditure stipulated under different laws whose aggregate might render certain projects unviable especially the ones that face competition from zero-duty or concessional duty imports under free trade agreements.
The cumulative impact of mandatory CSR on the business appears daunting when one includes expenditure on essential environmental management plan (EMP). As social welfare and environment protection are globally accepted as integral components of larger domain of CSR, the Government should compute the overall impact of these mandatory expenditures as well as several welfare cess.
The compliance with different statutory guidelines might result in regulatory chaos if the case of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC’s) CSR expenditure relating to Mehsana assets in Gujarat is any indication. This case would be discussed later in the column to drive home the need for single and simple statutory regulation on CSR.
Farm sector complexities:Time to Reconcile Conflicting Poll Promises
- Published on 04 August 2014
(Published by Farmers' Forum Magazine June-July 2014 issue)
Opposition Should Overcome Selective Amnesia Before Pitching for Select Committee on Insurance bill
- Published on 03 August 2014
(Image Courtesy: IndiaFirst Life Insurance)
The brewing political ruckus over Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008 has blurred the distinction between the fact and fiction.
News stories indicate that nine political parties including Congress and its UPA allies have given a notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman demanding that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee for scrutiny.
The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to introduce the revised Bill in Rajya Sabha on 4th August for which a four-hour discussion has been specified by the House’s Business Advisory Committee. He is expected to take the fizz out of the Opposition cacophony during the discussion as the new Government is on a strong footing as for as the facts and the domestic interests are concerned.
The Opposition parties have contended that 97 official amendments to the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008 (which is to be enacted as Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act 2014) have changed the character of the proposed law. It thus required fresh scrutiny and this should be done by a Select Committee.
The fact is that 88 official amendments were approved by the Cabinet during the UPA regime taking into account the recommendations and observations of Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance. Several changes are of “drafting nature”, which only implies an attempt to improve the text of the Bill.
The UPA and its outside allies should first overcome selective amnesia instead of demanding that the Bill be referred to the Select Committee. The Opposition should recall a release issued by Press Information Bureau on 4th October 2012, announcing the Cabinet decision to approve official amendments to the Bill.