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Lateral entry in bureaucracy: Unpacking the controversial shift with past examples

Lashing out at the <keyword id="26362" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Government">government</keyword> for being in denial mode, former Prime Minister <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="manmohan-singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword> on Wednesday agreed with a former close aide that the Centre's hopes of turning India into a $5 trillion <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> by 2024-25 was "wishful thinking". <keyword id="10335" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Montek-Singh-Ahluwalia">Montek Singh Ahluwalia</keyword>, has "pointed out that contrary to what the ruling group may say, today the $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 is wishful thinking. Also there is no reason to expect that farmers' income will be doubled in a three-year period (as the government has announced)," Singh said after releasing "Backstage - The Story Behind India's High Growth Years" by the former Planning Commission Deputy Chairman. "Today, we have a government that does not acknowledge a word such as slowdown. This is not good... Unless you conceptualise the problem, you will not find answers," a confident sounding Manmohan Singh, who did not once refer to his notes during his 21-minute address, asserted. "I think these issues will be debated and should be debated... If you do not recognise the problems that you face, you are not likely to find credible answers to take corrective action. That is the real danger," he said. Pathways can emerge only through solid dialogue and discussions on the challenges of taking the country forward, he added. At the same time, he expressed the hope that there will be a debate for carrying forward the <keyword id="6386662" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="economic">economic</keyword> reforms initiated. To become a $5 trillion economy "calls for an average growth rate of about 9 per cent in real terms over the six-year period from 2019-20 to 2024-25. With growth below 5 per cent in 2019-20, and only a slow recovery expected next year, achieving an average of 9 per cent for the period as a whole is simply not credible. We will certainly get to $5 trillion, but it will be a few years later," Ahluwalia writes in the book, which has been published by Rupa. "A more realistic target would be to try to reach a growth rate of around 8 per cent per year as quickly as possible. This is certainly necessary if we want to continue to reduce poverty and generate the employment needed to satisfy our young and aspirational labour force. Is 8 per cent growth feasible? India did achieve GDP growth of 8.5 per cent in the first seven years of the UPA, but a return to that growth rate is easier said than done," Ahluwalia warns. India's growth was at 6.8 per cent in 2018-19 and dropped to 5 per cent in 2019-20. It is expected to "strongly rebound" to 6-6.5 per cent in 2020-21 the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on January 31 said. Still, Manmohan Singh expressed optimism, saying 8 per cent growth was required but this could only happen after drastic changes in the fiscal policy and the tax structure.

Modi's $5 trillion dream is wishful thinking says former PM Manmohan Singh

Bhopal, Feb 18 () Former deputy chairperson of the erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday suggested rewriting of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act and advocated for a public-private partnership law to tap finances. In the changing scenario in view of rising finance needs and fiscal limitation of states, rewriting the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act should be considered, Ahluwalia, the author of Backstage: The Story Behind India's High Growth Years, added. He was addressing a workshop organised by the finance department of Madhya Pradesh on 'Alternative Finance for Projects' at the Minto Hall here. There is a need for enacting a law for public-private partnership to overcome the budget constraints for socially important economic infrastructure projects, he added. Ahluwalia said designing projects, making budget provisions for them and completing them within available resources is a common practice across the world. The fact is that governments have limited financial resources for ambitious projects. They have many tasks, responsibilities, priorities and social obligations apart from economic infrastructure projects, he added.And as a result, the speed of projects slows down and starts lagging, he added. He said that there is a need to think beyond the conventional approach of relying on budgetary resources. In such a situation, states look towards the private sector for assistance. The private sector is fearful of risks and threats while the governments are bound by the welfare principles beyond the loss and profit, he added. Both have their limitations. Therefore, there is a need for a law to work in cooperation between the two, Ahluwalia said. He said that instead of managing finances for large economic infrastructural projects, the system of providing guarantee by the state should also be considered. The governments should assume the role of a friend in managing the financial risks for the projects. For example, in order to deal with the ill effects of climate change, infrastructure projects of economic importance should be given a guarantee, he opined. These may include irrigation and water conservation projects, he added. He said that considering the density of forest resources, Madhya Pradesh can raise budget resources on its basis. This process can also be adopted for sector-specific dedicated infrastructure projects. LAL MAS RSY MRMR

Montek calls for rewriting of FRBM Act, PPP law to tap finances

The pangs have started. Not the birth pangs of anything, but it could be the death throe. With <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> elected as the Prime Minister of India, the days of <keyword id="46913" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Planning-commission">Planning Commission</keyword> of India are said to be numbered. 
 
The Modi government, which has minced no words about its stance on the Planning Commission, may either shut down the agency or change its style of functioning to make it more relevant to suit the increasingly open economy. 
 According to the ruling <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (BJP), to which Narendra Modi belongs, the Planning Commission is a body that needs a serious relook at its composition and its contribution to the Indian economy. 
 
Uncomfortable questions about the Planning Commission had been raised by the previous UPA government as well, when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the commission had to be ‘relooked at’ due to the changing economic developments at a global level. Manmohan Singh had emphasised on this need during the speech he delivered on his last days as the PM. 
 
Former Finance Minister Chidambaram had gone a step further and called the Planning Commission a ‘big, flabby and unwieldy body’ that had to undergo some metamorphosis. 
 Now, with the new government at the Centre, the <keyword id="609857" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Independent-Evaluation-Office">Independent Evaluation Office</keyword> (IEO), headed by Ajay Chibber, submitted a report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stated that the Planning Commission was more of a roadblock than a propellant for the future of neo-India. The IEO was set up by the Planning Commission just over a year ago, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of government programmes, institutions and policies to make them robust in tune with the changing dynamics of socio-economic changes in the country. 
 
“It is clear that the Planning Commission, in its current form and function, is a hindrance and not a help to India’s development. In my experience, it is not easy to reform such a large ossified body and would be better to replace it with a new body that is needed to assist the states in ideas, to provide long-term thinking and aid cross-cutting reforms…” Ajay Chibber said in his report to the PM. Somewhere along the report, which could be termed as a no-nonsense account of the significance of the Planning Commission, Chibber called it the ‘Control Commission,’ which wasn’t much of a benefit for the states, and in turn posed challenges to their independent growth. The report suggested that the PM should change the functioning of the Planning Commission by curtailing its powers and turning it into a non-interfering ‘think tank’ instead. 
 
The new-found aversion towards the Planning Commission isn’t entirely recent. There had been instances in the past where leaders, cutting across party lines, criticised the working of the commission and the need to restrategise it or abandon it completely. 
 
Narendra Modi’s BJP has often criticised the working of the Planning Commission and said it was outdated. Referring to the future of the commission, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said that organisations should “adjust to people.” He also said that his party would take a look at how the agencies – with direct reference to the Planning Commission – were working for the benefit of the people. 
 
But this is probably not the comprehensive version of the new government’s concept of making planning, policies and governance better for the people. There is a section of political analysts who are dubbing this step as the most coherent and strong symbol of Modi’s determination to junk the Fabian-Socialist leaning of economic policies that entered the Indian psyche during the Nehru era. 
 
Understandably, the role of the Planning Commission that was set up in 1950 should have been dynamic and complementary to India’s changing economic policies and market economy. The BJP has often questioned the relevance of an agency that has outlived its time and remained stagnant in its objectives. 
 
Arun Shourie, a journalist-turned-BJP-member, derided the Planning Commission, calling it a “parking lot for political cronies and unwanted bureaucrats.” Logistically, the number of employees in this commission, which works from a stately building located in New Delhi, cross 500-600, with a huge budget being allocated for their salaries and maintenance. Focus had shifted towards this almost non-existent commission, which charted the growth of India with no pre-condition of adherence to its suggestions, when the body said that people who consumed food and other items costing more than Rs 27 were not poor. There were angry reactions to this from all over the country, with some politicians defending these words in vain. 
 Interestingly, <keyword id="10335" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Montek-Singh-Ahluwalia">Montek Singh Ahluwalia</keyword> quit his post as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission on May 17, just a day after results of the Lok Sabha polls were declared and the BJP swept it without a hitch. Ahluwalia also left his official residence and till date, no one has been appointed in his place. From the way it looks, there won’t be any attempt to fill this post by the new government.

Jitters For Planning Commission Under Narendra Modi Regime

February has been a brief and breezy month, and fittingly so, with the <keyword id="6489583" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Valentines-Day">Valentine’s Day</keyword> ushering back love and romance in our humdrum existence. As we near the end of the month, it’s time to check out the titles published this month and creating the most buzz. As we said last month, it’s a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Best-Reads-OfJanuary-7-Books-That-Will-Take-You-On-Journeys-You-Never-Made/articleshow/29602612.cms">journey of discovery</a> – a <keyword id="6374782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="journey">journey</keyword> taken together to find our way back to the <keyword id="2037892" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Printed-words">printed words</keyword> we have neglected so long. We don’t know yet whether these <keyword id="5050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="books">books</keyword> will top the <keyword id="2081025" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Best-sellers">best-sellers</keyword>’ list or not but this time, it is a collection of fiery five that can provide you the knowledge and the <keyword id="53180" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="courage">courage</keyword> to push the frontiers and explore new territories. True to the <keyword id="4167782" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="V-day">V-day</keyword> spirit, the <keyword id="2081016" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="February-books">February books</keyword> are an assorted lot – varying from never-before insights into <keyword id="31602" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="brain-power">brain power</keyword> to the power of human love and the grit to defy the raw deals life meets out. “Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live,” said <keyword id="1816003" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Gustave-Flaubert">Gustave Flaubert</keyword> and we believe that is the <keyword id="31559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Essence">essence</keyword> of existence, experience and elevation. So welcome on board and happy reading. 
 
Image credit: Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images

February Fab Reads: 5 New Books That Will
Help You Push The Frontiers

New Delhi, Feb 16 () After the Rahul Gandhi ordinance-trashing episode of 2013, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh asked Montek Singh Ahluwalia whether he thought he should resign, the former deputy chairman of the now-defunct Planning Commission says.Ahluwalia says he told Singh, who was then on a visit to the US, that he did not think a resignation on this issue was appropriate.In a major embarrassment to his own government, Rahul had denounced the controversial ordinance brought by the UPA dispensation to negate a Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers. He had termed it as "complete nonsense" that should be "torn up and thrown away".Singh, while returning home from the US, had ruled out his resignation though he appeared piqued over the entire episode."I was part of the PM's delegation in New York and my brother Sanjeev, who had retired from the IAS, telephoned to say he had written a piece that was very critical of the PM. He had emailed it to me and said he hoped I didn't find it embarrassing," recalls Ahluwalia.The article was widely reported in the media with reference to the author being Ahluwalia's brother."The first thing I did was to take the text across to the PM's suite because I wanted him to hear about it first from me. He read it in silence and, at first, made no comment. Then, he suddenly asked me whether I thought he should resign," Ahluwalia writes in his new book "Backstage: The Story behind India's High Growth Years"."I thought about it for a while and said I did not think a resignation on this issue was appropriate. I wondered then whether I was simply saying what I thought he would like to hear but on reflection I am convinced I gave him honest advice," he reasons.The incident was still a hot subject of discussion when Singh returned to New Delhi."Most of my friends agreed with Sanjeev. They felt the PM had for too long accepted the constraints under which he had to operate and this had tarnished his reputation. The rubbishing of the ordinance was seen as demeaning the office of the PM and justified resigning on principle. I did not agree," Ahluwalia writes.He argues that the incident highlighted an important fault line in the UPA."The Congress saw Rahul as the natural leader of the party and wanted him to take a larger role. In this situation, as soon as Rahul expressed his opposition to the ordinance, senior Congress politicians, who had earlier supported the proposed ordinance in the Cabinet and even defended it publicly, promptly changed their position," he says.Ahluwalia, who served as one of India's senior economic policymakers for three decades, calls his book, published by Rupa, a travelogue of India's journey of economic reforms "in which I had the privilege of being an insider for 30 long years".Ahluwalia, who played a key role in the transformation of India from a state-run to a market-based economy, presents the story behind the country's economic growth in the first half of the UPA's tenure as well as its achievements in poverty alleviation.He also discusses the successes and failures of the UPA regime during which period he served as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, a Cabinet-level position. He mentions about the policy paralysis and allegations of corruption that came to mark the last few years of UPA 2. ZMN RDSRDS

Should I quit: Manmohan asked me after Rahul ordinance episode, says Montek

Former <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Planning+Commission+">Planning Commission</a> member <keyword id="120162" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arun-Maira">Arun Maira</keyword> has come up with some startling revelations about former <a href="file:///C:/Users/gunja.d/Documents/Septemeber%202015/PM%20Manmohan%20Singh">PM Manmohan Singh</a> which could further spoil his image. He has said that Singh had inducted him as a change management expert but never backed any changes. He also alleged that former <keyword id="51819" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Deputy-Chairman">Deputy Chairman</keyword> of <keyword id="46913" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Planning-commission">Planning Commission</keyword> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Montek+Singh+Ahluwalia+">Montek Singh Ahluwalia</a> was a reluctant reformer. 
 
Maira is going to make these revelations public via his upcoming book to be released next Wednesday. Maira admitted that he felt let down at the end of his tenure at the Planning Commission as the leadership asked him to find solutions, accepted his ideas, but never implemented them. 
 He further said PM <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> scrapped the Planning Commission during his first seven months in office. He replaced it with Niti Aayog focused on co-operative federalism — exactly the reforms that Singh had in mind but couldn't implement during his ten years in office. 
 
The former PM admitted this to Maira after a parliamentary panel meeting this January after the Aayog was set up, when he thanked the latter for making him 'look good.' 
 
Maira had told MPs in the parliamentary standing committee on finance and planning that the Niti Aayog's charter of working closely with states and being an essay in persuasion was the same vision first enunciated by the UPA PM. 
 
"The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Congress+Vice-President+Rahul+Gandhi">Congress</a> keeps jumping up every time the <keyword id="6360789" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Modi-Government">Modi government</keyword> announces something, saying it was their idea. Well, then why didn't it do anything about those ideas," Maira told ET. 
 
"We were told that the PM would meet us once every month. That never happened. He relied only on Ahluwalia and chaired Commission meetings just once or twice a year," Maira said, adding that they had identified the new paradigm for the Commission, set up by Nehru in 1950, in our first eight months in the job. 
 
But both Ahluwalia and Singh never applied those ideas. Since they were the people with authority on resources of the government, commission, unless they were going to put themselves behind the system, it couldn't happen. Later, they said change things on the side, but leave the core as it is, Maira said. 
 
In his book An Upstart in Government: Journeys of Change and Learning, former <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Tata+group+">Tata Group</a> manager and <keyword id="136162" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Boston-Consulting-Group">Boston Consulting Group</keyword> chief Maira traces his story from a single phone call requesting him to join the government as a change agent in the middle of a 2009 holiday in Prague, till his last meeting with the Commission in April 2014. 
 
Singh repeated the same existential questions about the Commission's relevance that he had raised five years earlier. Maira was surprised as the commission's members had identified afresh what needed to be done by their successors. 
 
"The government was besieged by criticism in its last year and was very defensive, with ministers floating 'zero loss' theories about scams. I don't know if Ahluwalia sent forward our view to the PM as a Niti Aayog-type charter is what we had in mind," Maira said, hinting that the UPA was keen not to admit that its style of running the Commission wasn't optimal. 
 "Every time I hear Modi speak, it strikes me that he gets all the things the <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> leadership refused to accept. Whether it's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Make+In+India+">Make In India</a> instead of a manufacturing policy focused purely on investment enclaves that required massive land tracts, or the focus on job creation," Maira said. 
 
Maira pointed to a major anomaly in the Commission's working - its members have minister of state ranks but none of its staff report directly to the members. 
 
"We had drivers, door-openers, paper-carriers, but no professional staff. Advisors working on our subjects would be transferred or go on leave without us having a clue," he said. 
 
Ahluwalia pursued a move to allow two professionals for each member of the Commission, including himself, but was unable to do it. Finally, Ahluwalia is learnt to have told Maira that he couldn't expedite such government processes, so Maira must seek help from outside the government. 
 
This compelled Maira to talk to Tata Sons' director R Gopalakrishnan and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Mahindra+%26+Mahindra+">Mahindra</a> group chief <keyword id="46425" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Anand-Mahindra">Anand Mahindra</keyword> to lend some managers to the think tank. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Manmohan Singh’s trusted aide Arun Maira is now calling the Ex PM and Montek Singh ‘reluctant reformers’

Chandigarh, Apr 27 () Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said former prime minister Manmohan Singh has accepted his request for guiding a group of experts formed to come out with a post-COVID-19 revival strategy for the state. "I had written to Dr Manmohan Singh Ji to guide us along with the group of experts headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia &amp; I am grateful to him for accepting. We have been working hard to steer Punjab to the path of economic growth &amp; post Covid-19 we will again focus on same," he tweeted. On April 25, the state government had constituted the group of experts, headed by noted economist and former deputy chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia to revive the state's economy. The group which includes leading economic and industry experts shall recommend to the Punjab government a short-term as well as medium-term action plan, including a fiscal management strategy along with other policy measures, to revive the state's economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. The 20-member group has been mandated to submit its initial set of recommendations by July 31 followed by two more reports by September 30 and December 31 this year. CHS VSD SRY

Ex-PM Manmohan Singh to guide group of experts for post-COVID-19 revival strategy for Punjab

Chandigarh, Aug 17 () Amid a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said he was not averse to taking harsher measures to check further spread of the virus. Though Singh did not rule out a fresh lockdown, especially in areas witnessing a surge in cases, he made it clear that economic activities would not be allowed to suffer. The Punjab cabinet, in a virtual meeting chaired by the chief minister, reviewed the pandemic situation in the state. The chief minister, in response to a suggestion from Expert Health Advisory Committee chairman K K Talwar, said, if needed, the state government would consider going in for strong measures to combat the novel coronavirus. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who is heading the expert group for revival of the state's economy, also said any measures to check COVID-19 spread should not impact economic activities, according to a government release. Ahluwalia also reiterated that there had been no suggestion by his panel for withdrawal of free power to farmers, as was being projected by a section of the media. He clarified this after the chief minister said that a lot of misinformation was being spread on this count. Ahluwalia said the group was in favour of diversification to reduce dependence on paddy, and wanted Punjab to spend 20 per cent more annually, for the next five years, on public health infrastructure. Warning that the state must also be ready for a second spike in COVID-19 infections, the noted economist said if lockdown had to be introduced in certain areas then strict protocols should be put in place to ensure that there is no impact on industrial and income generating avenues. The chief minister said the Ahluwalia-led group's recommendations would be circulated among all ministers and a detailed discussion will be held thereafter on the issue. In his presentation on the COVID-19 situation, health expert Talwar said the four districts -- Ludhiana, Mohali, Jalandhar and Patiala -- were witnessing the maximum surge in infections and deaths and needed stricter preventive measures to control the situation. The situation in the state, he said, was grim with over 31,000 cases and more than 800 fatalities. Deaths per million had also gone up to 27.2, and as many as 265 patients were on oxygen and 20 on ventilator support at present, he said, underlining the need for early testing and treatment for saving lives. The state had reached 20,000 tests per day, including rapid antigen testing, he said. Talwar cited various researches to point out that strict adherence to wearing masks for the next four weeks could help control the pandemic. Singh said the district and police officials had been given strict directives to enforce COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face mamsks and maintaining social distancing. CHS VSD SMN SMN

Not averse to imposing stricter restrictions to check further COVID-19 spread: Punjab CM

Mumbai, May 27 () The country's economy, which is likely to contract by 5 per cent in the current fiscal, may expand by around 5 per cent in the next financial year, former RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said. Rating agency Crisil on Tuesday had said the Indian economy may shrink by 5 per cent in fiscal 2021, adding this recession could be the country's fourth since Independence and perhaps the worst to date. "I do believe that getting up to 5 per cent next year (FY22) is quite probable. The reason I say that is because this (COVID-19) is not a natural disaster. Our factories are still standing, our infrastructure and transport systems are still there," Subbarao said. He was speaking at a webinar on 'Indian Economy - Navigating through a Crisis', organised by the Centre for Financial Studies (CFS) at Bhavan's SPJIMR business school. "Once the lockdown is lifted and the economy is given a green signal to restart, I am sure that we can ramp up pretty soon and reach at least 5 per cent (growth rate)," he said. Speaking at the same webinar, former deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also said there is a possibility of 5-6 per cent growth in fiscal 2021-22. "But it would be mistake to treat that as recovery because if you are down 5 per cent this year (FY21) and you are up 6 per cent from that level then what it means is that during FY21-22 you will be at the same level as you were in 2019-20," Ahluwalia pointed out. According to him, the country is going to face its worst recession in the current fiscal. Subbarao further said a sharp decline in growth would mean a disruptive adjustment even for a rich country. "For a poor country like us, it would mean enormous pain and hardship for millions of low income persons, firms and enterprises, especially in the informal sector, going bankrupt and it could mean our financial stability becoming vulnerable," he added. Amid this grim situation, the former RBI governor said he sees two silver linings -- relative stability of the external sector and bumper agricultural crop production, which would support the economy. Commenting on the over Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus package announced by the government, Subbarao said, "Within the fiscal constraints of the government, they have done a good job." He also lauded the government's decision of additional borrowing in this fiscal. "I, for one, believe that the government should borrow more in order to spend more. That is a moral and political imperative. But I don't support the view that the government should resort to open ended borrowing," Subbarao said. The government has increased its market borrowing programme for the current financial year by more than 50 per cent to Rs 12 lakh crore from the Rs 7.8 lakh crore estimated in the budget. Subbarao added that the stress in the country's financial system could deepen post the coronavirus crisis. "In January, before the COVID crisis hit us, we were extremely worried about our financial sector, health of our banks, NBFCs, NPA levels, trust deficit in private sector banks. All those parameters are going to get worse as we come out of this crisis," he said. According to Ahluwalia, there is a need to undertake serious tax reforms that are long overdue. "We should now set up a truly high level multi-disciplinary committee of people advising the kind of tax policy to be announced in the next budget. It should include a serious re-examination of the GST where there are huge leakages taking place for a variety of reasons," Ahluwalia said. The session was moderated by Ananth Narayan, associate professor (finance) at Bhavan's SPJIMR. HV ABM ABM

India's GDP growth may rebound to 5 pc in FY22, says Subbarao

By Aditi Khanna London, Apr 8 () A 165-strong group of world leaders, including 92 former presidents and prime ministers along with economic and health experts, have come together and demanded the creation of a G20 executive task force to coordinate a multi-billion-dollar coronavirus worldwide fighting fund.The signatories, which also include Indian economists Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Kaushik Basu, call for an immediate global pledging conference to approve such a fund as part of an urgent globally coordinated task force in the face of the pandemic."The economic emergency will not be resolved until the health emergency is addressed: the health emergency will not end simply by conquering the disease in one country alone but by ensuring recovery from COVID-19 in all countries," the open letter to G20 leaders notes.A communique from the G20 Extraordinary Leaders' Summit on March 26, which included participation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recognised the gravity and urgency of the entwined public health and economic crises.However, the world leaders stressed that urgent specific measures are required with speed and at scale, including emergency support for global health initiatives led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and emergency measures to restore the global economy.The call to action, signed by former UK prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon among others, wants an agreement struck within days for USD 8 billion to rapidly hasten the global effort for vaccines, cure and treatment.It also wants USD 35 billion to support health systems, from ventilators to test kits and protective equipment for health workers; and USD 150 billion for developing countries to fight the medical and economic crisis, prevent a second wave of the disease flowing back into countries as they come out of the first wave. This means waiving debt interest payments for the poorest countries, including USD 44billion due this year from Africa.The letter also urges the coordination of fiscal stimuli to avoid a recession becoming a depression.It notes: "All health systems – even the most sophisticated and best funded – are buckling under the pressures of the virus. Yet if we do nothing as the disease spreads in poorer African, Asian and Latin American cities which have little testing equipment, hardly any ventilators, and few medical supplies; and where social distancing and even washing hands are difficult to achieve, COVID-19 will persist there – and re-emerge to hit the rest of the world with further rounds that will prolong the crisis."We propose convening a global pledging conference – its purpose supported by a G20 Executive Task Force - to commit resources to meeting these emergency global health needs".On the global economic outlook, the group proposes a range of measures because a global economic problem requires a global economic response.The letter adds: "Our aim should be to prevent a liquidity crisis turning into a solvency crisis, and a global recession becoming a global depression. To ensure this, better coordinated fiscal, monetary, central bank, and anti-protectionist initiatives are needed. The ambitious fiscal stimuli of some countries will be all-the-more effective if more strongly complemented by all countries in a position to do so."The long term solution is a radical rethink of global public health and a refashioning – together with proper resourcing – of the entwined global health and financial architecture. The UN, the G20 and interested partners should work together to coordinate further action".To date, 1,438,291 coronavirus cases have been recorded across the world, and 82,726 deaths. AK CPS

World leaders call G20 leaders for multi-billion-dollar COVID-19 fighting fund

The appointment of ex-IAS officer and World Bank expert <keyword id="3245163" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Parameswaran-Iyer">Parameswaran Iyer</keyword> as secretary in the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, which pilots the <keyword id="6361202" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Swachh-Bharat">Swachh Bharat</keyword> Mission, may be seen as unconventional but lateral entry of private-sector technocrats has for long been the norm in key government positions requiring a certain skill. 
 Iyer joins the league of experts technocrats like Mantosh Sondhi, a Bokaro Steel import who went on to become steel secretary in seventies; Lovraj who was brought from Burmah Shell and was petroleum secretary between 1981and 1983; BEST's R V Shahi who was hired as power secretary by then power minister Suresh Prabhu; economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia who was hand-picked by then PM Manmohan Singh to serve as deputy chairman of Planning Commission; economist Raghuram Rajan who is now RBI governor; chief economic adviser to government of India Arvind Subramanian who comes from Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Infosys <keyword id="44604" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nandan-Nilekani">Nandan Nilekani</keyword> who piloted the Unique Identification Authority of India, to name a few. 
 
Even though lateral recruitment of private sector experts and technocrats in top secretary-level government posts, especially those demanding a given set of skills and expertise, has been upheld by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission as well as in the 7th Pay Commission report, the regular refrain form the civil services associations is that it saps the morale of IAS officers. 
 
"But, ultimately , it is up to the government and UPSC to decide who to hire...if a certain private-sector candidate is very good and has the right type of qualification and skills for that post, they have every right to recruit him," Former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra said. However, the general feeling is that lateral recruitment should be an exception rather than the rule.The government, incidentally , is on board with this. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

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