Issues

Gursimar Singh Bindra raises his voice on the current issues in India, along with highlighting the failure of the existing government to handle and overcome them.

Farmers Protest

Many prominent leaders in India have deemed farmer protests as the living monument of the government’s failure. The protest that flared up in November 2020 to oppose the Center’s three farm laws is still ongoing as the government has failed to offer a sustainable solution to the farmers’ issues.

It is clear that the new laws will finish government wholesale mandis, as private mandis owned by big corporations will take over. This will cause monopolization and create a “mafia” culture. Farmers will be forced to sell their produce to a selected buyer at a low price. Farmers are also demanding a minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.

For the benefit of corporate sponsors and rich friends, the government is overlooking all the farmers and laborers of the low and middle classes. The farmers demanded an alternative to three agri laws, which the government has not yet provided. Thus, farmers are still agitating, waiting for the government to come up with solid alternatives.

Despite multiple interactions between the central government and farmer bodies, the government has not been able to offer an effective and sustainable solution to this problem.

Jobs and MSME

Seven percent of India’s population is unemployed. Moreover, the youth unemployment rate (18-24 yrs) has reached an all-time high of 23%.

By the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, there were 35 million openly unemployed people in the country, and India adds around 12 million new job seekers to this number every year. It is the responsibility of the government to create ample employment opportunities for this rising number of job seekers.

Furthermore, the number of employed individuals is decreasing every year. There were 407.3 million employed people in India in 2016, which declined to 405.9 million in 2017-18, and to 400.9 billion by 2018-2019. The economy is growing at a decelerating pace, making it even more difficult to find employment. Besides, the pandemic further caused millions of job losses, leaving 40-45 million people in India unemployed.

The current economic and political structure is unfavorable not only for job seekers but also for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The existing structure favors larger enterprises and corporations, resulting in monopolization in sectors like banking, telecom, petroleum, and manufacturing. Uplifting MSMEs and helping smaller businesses is the key to the core economic development of the country.

The government needs to take effective steps to reshape the economy, uplift MSMEs, and create new employment opportunities instead of empowering enterprises and relying on imports.

GST

The UPA government first introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2011. It was a constitutional amendment aimed at creating a single tax to replace various taxes, including state taxes, VAT, CVD, SAD, and CENVAT. The idea was to have a unified tax that would simplify the taxation system and make it easier for MSMEs to do business. Furthermore, it was designed to reduce the tax burden and the cost of living for the common man.

The initial attribute of GST proposed by the UPA government was a single-slab 18% tax without any additional levy. However, the NDA government implemented a GST structure with five tax slabs, with tax rates oscillating between 0-28%. This tax model is not only complicated but also increases the risk of corruption.

Moreover, the Center admitted in 2019 that they don’t have enough resources to compensate states for revenue shortfall over GST rollout. Several states, including Punjab and Kerala, have expressed concern over the delay in payment of GST compensation.

The faulty implementation of GST was in addition to the hasty implementation of demonetization, which turned out to be a major setback for the country’s economy. Demonetization led to the withdrawal of 86% of all money in circulation, which disrupted the supply chain and adversely affected MSMEs.

Women Empowerment

India is the land of powerful women – Indira Gandhi, Kalpana Chawla, Sarojini Maydu, Anasuya Sarabhai, Aruna Asaf Ali, Durga Bhabhi, and more. Despite making half of India’s population, women still have to struggle to claim equal rights in employment and decision-making.

Women in urban societies have made their mark in all fields, from sports to entertainment. However, in rural areas, women are still deprived of an equal share of education, healthcare, employment, nutrition, and life chances. Besides, the increasing cases of violence are not making the situation any better. Some issues faced by women in India are:

• Restrictions for women even though India is an independent country
• Child marriages, resulting in mental, physical, and social issues for young girls
• Domestic violence and sexual harassment
• Female feticide
• Gender discrimination in education and workplace

Additionally, only 11% of seats in the parliament are currently occupied by women. There is an immediate need to develop solutions to improve women’s safety and provide them with ample opportunities. Women in India deserve equal rights in education, employment, inheritance, marriage, and separation, regardless of their social identities.

Price Hike

High fuel costs have been a burning issue in India for the past many years. As if the pandemic, loss of jobs, and high unemployment rates weren’t enough, the rising fuel costs are making life difficult for the common man. Fuel prices in Delhi have increased by nearly 24% over the past year, with the petrol price reaching an all-time high of Rs. 90+ per liter and diesel price reaching Rs. 80+. In Mumbai, the petrol price nearly touched Rs. 100, while diesel price was only two rupees short of Rs. 90 a liter.

The adverse impact of high prices goes beyond increasing the cost of living for the common man. They accelerate inflation, which could restrict the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from reducing lending rates. This could cripple India’s efforts to achieve positive economic growth post-COVID.

There are two main reasons for the rise in fuel prices. First, the price of crude oil in the international market is increasing. There has been a spike in fuel prices since the onset of the pandemic. Since India imports over 80% of its crude oil requirements, the rise of crude oil prices in the global markets result in an increase in the domestic price of fuel.

The second reason is the additional taxes and duties levied by the Center. Currently, the excise duty and state VAT make 60% of the total fuel cost. The fuel prices have risen dramatically since the new government came into power in 2014. In May 2014, petrol was priced at Rs. 70 per liter, while diesel was priced at Rs. 57 per liter.

COVID Era

Not handling the COVID-19 crisis is the biggest failure of the current government. India is the second-most populous country in the world. When the pandemic was in its initial phase, everyone knew that India, being a densely populated country with an average health infrastructure, will struggle to cope with the wrath of the pandemic.

When the total cases declined to around 11,000 per day in Feb 2021, the government considered it as the end of the pandemic in India. They started exporting vaccines to other countries, overlooking the need for having a vaccine inventory in case the next wave hits. That is what exactly happened. In March-April, India was averaging more than 100,000 positive cases a day.

A lack of strategic implementation of easing lockdown restrictions and exporting vaccines without strengthening the country’s inventory created immense pressure on the country’s already struggling health infrastructure. Hospitals began overflowing with patients while they ran out of ambulances, beds, cylinders, and medications. And when all of that was happening, the CenterCenter was busy organizing rallies in West Bengal.

This led to crowded cemeteries as relatives of those who succumbed to the disease wailed outside hospitals. The country also ran out of vaccines, and the government’s mammoth vaccination effort also failed. As a result, India became the second-worst affected country by COVID-19 in the world, second only to the US.

Rural Development

Urban areas in India have flourished over the past decade, while rural areas are still facing issues like poverty, lack of nutrition, underdevelopment, and low literacy. Hence, youth from rural areas are migrating to urban areas, resulting in two major issues. First, the burden on urban areas is increasing as more people are moving to those areas. Second, this restricts the development of rural areas.

The World Bank reports that the poverty rates in India might increase to 12%, which will be a major challenge in rural development. Connectivity remains to be another area of concern in the field of rural development. Many rural communities in India are isolated due to inadequate transport and communication services.

The same goes for electricity and water supplies. Inadequate water supply is a common issue in most rural areas. Contaminated water causes most health diseases, affecting millions of Indians in the villages. Lack of education, employment, and land reforms are other rural development issues that the existing government needs to tackle.