Diplomacy and the diaspora

We should have a comprehensive plan involving both the Centre and the States to invest remittances intelligently and to find alternative ways of livelihood for those who return

If there is one issue on which all political parties agree, it is the imperative to include overseas Indians in India’s economic development and to take care of their needs and aspirations. Successive governments have been vying with each other to give more and more concessions to them as acknowledgment of their contribution by way of remittances, investment, lobbying for India, promoting Indian culture abroad and for building a good image of India by their intelligence and industry.

India was initially sensitive to the view that championing the cause of overseas Indians might offend the host countries, who should be fully responsible for their welfare and security. The Indian community and our diplomatic missions interacted on national days or other important occasions, but diaspora diplomacy was low key.

Rediscovering Indians abroad

Rajiv Gandhi was the first Prime Minister who changed the diaspora policy by inviting Indians abroad, regardless of their nationality, to participate in nation-building, much like the overseas Chinese communities. In return, he promised them opportunities to work with India, like in the celebrated case of Sam Pitroda, who was entrusted with the task of modernising telecommunications in India. The response was not ecstatic, but many volunteered to help out in various ways. But this brought to focus the many inadequacies of the Indian system for the diaspora to collaborate with India or to invest in the country. Grievances like red tape, multiple clearances, distrust of government in fulfilling promises were addressed through hesitant reforms and promotional measures.

The first test of the new diaspora policy came in 1987 when Sitiveni Rabuka ousted an Fiji Indian majority government in Fiji and reduced them to second-class citizens. Rajiv Gandhi, in a major departure from established policy, protested vehemently, imposed trade sanctions against Fiji, got it expelled from the Commonwealth and raised the issue at the United Nations. This bewildered those Fiji Indians who did not want to disturb the race relations in Fiji, but energised the Indian diaspora, generating faith in them that India would not be a silent witness, as it was in the past, to discrimination, racism and disenfranchisement of Indians abroad. The Indian position was instrumental in democracy and racial harmony returning to Fiji after 10 years.

After India and the overseas Indians rediscovered each other under Rajiv Gandhi, there came a host of measures such as a separate Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Card, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, Overseas Citizen of India Card, NRI funds and voting rights for Indian citizens abroad, some from the United Progressive Alliance and some from the National Democratic Alliance governments. The response from the diaspora was diverse, as these affected different categories of Indians in different ways. For the Indian nationals in the Gulf and elsewhere, welfare measures and resettlement facilities were more important, while the prosperous communities in the West, who were clamouring for dual citizenship, felt short-changed. But, on the whole, they were energised into espousing Indian causes in the U.S. Of course, their support to Indian interests was not automatic and they often urged India to modify its policies to suit American sensitivities. Indian-Americans contributed little by way of remittances or investments, but the establishment of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives and turning around doubting legislators into voting for the India-U.S. nuclear deal were major accomplishments.

The Modi outreach

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the diaspora a centrepiece of his foreign policy and, during his foreign visits, addressed mammoth meetings of the community to project India’s priorities and needs. But he did not address any of their demands or announce any new plans for removing their grievances like travel issues and protection of their properties in India. If anything, the merger of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with the Ministry of External Affairs, though pragmatic, has been construed as a negative step. The irregularity of diaspora conferences and awards has also caused some concern in the diaspora.

Together with the new hopes and expectations raised by the government, there are new fears and concerns among and about the overseas communities. The volatility in West Asia, together with the fall in oil prices, has caused fears of a massive return of Indian nationals, curtailing remittances and making demands on the job market. In Kerala, for instance, workers from other States have bridged the demand-supply gap in various sectors. The Gulf countries will require foreign workers for some more time, but India’s relations with many of them remain in the employer-employee mode. Of course, it was heartening to see Saudi Arabia resolve a serious issue relating to a starvation among Indian workers, but we should be ready for the eventuality of Indian workers returning, though a massive “Indexit” is unlikely.

A recent phenomenon is that of “discovering” Indians wherever there is a crisis. India does not have any precise data on the number of Indians in different parts of the world. The amount of risks that Indians are capable of taking to get medical education, for instance, is phenomenal. Whether it is in Ukraine, Yemen or Syria, Indians are discovered eking out an existence in difficult circumstances. General V.K. Singh (retd.), Minister of State for External Affairs, has become virtually the Chief Repatriation Officer, flying into hotspots with chartered flights to rescue Indians and bring them home. He was often bewildered when many Indians refused to use the facility for return and insisted on staying on in difficult situations either to seek alternative jobs or to settle their claims. Back home, disquiet has been expressed that public money is being spent on bringing people who have gone on their own for their benefit.

Even more serious is the suspicion that some Indians are travelling to the Islamic State areas either to join the jihad or to settle there in what is considered a Promised Land. Adventurism of this kind needs to be stopped. We used to take pride in the fact that Indians never joined terrorist organisations, but the latest trends are very disturbing.

The dilemma for India is whether movements of Indians abroad for education or employment should be curbed. This will be against the spirit of freedom; but there should be at least an accurate count of Indians in different countries and projections should be made of future prospects. States must be prepared with plans for rehabilitation of Indians, with the possibility of offering the same kind of jobs they were doing abroad. Asking them to turn into entrepreneurs overnight would be counterproductive. There should also be a clear division of labour between the Central and the State governments in crisis situations.

The Indian diaspora is more prosperous than before and its involvement in India’s development is increasing. Indians overseas are conscious of their opportunities in India. At the same time, new fears about scaled-up return of Indians or their involvement in global terrorism are raising their heads. Firefighting is not enough. We should have a comprehensive plan involving both the Centre and States to invest remittances intelligently and to find alternative ways of livelihood for those who return.

SWIFT – A Transformative Approach towards Ease of Doing Business

  

As part of the Government's initiatives for improving the Ease of Doing Business, several facilitation measures are being taken by the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) in last two years. In line with the Budget announcement made by the Union Finance Minister and as part of the “Ease of Doing Business” initiatives, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) launched the Customs’ SWIFT (Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade) Clearances Project with effect from 1^st April 2016.

SWIFT will help India to improve its ranking in World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2016. India now ranks 130 out of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business, moving-up four places from last year’s (2015) adjusted ranking of 134.

The Customs’ SWIFT enables importers/exporters to file a common electronic ‘Integrated Declaration’ on the Indian Customs Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange (EC/EDI) Gateway i.e. ICEGATE portal. The Integrated Declaration compiles the information requirements of Customs, FSSAI, Plant Quarantine, Animal Quarantine, Drug Controller, Wild Life Control Bureau and Textile Committee. It replaces nine separate forms required by these 6 different agencies and Customs. With the roll-out of the Single Window, CBEC has also introduced an Integrated Risk Management facility for Partner Government Agencies (PGAs), which will ensure that consignments are not selected by agencies routinely for examination and testing, but based on the principle of risk management.

It will also help the participating agencies in handling their respective work areas (related to human and animal health, bio-safety and environment safety) more effectively. With this development today, Indian Customs is amongst the few select countries in the world that have functional Single Window clearances, inclusive of multiple PGAs and integrated risk based selection.

Implementation of Single Window is by far one of the most complex systems integration efforts that have been taken-up by the Directorate General of Systems. To introduce the Single Window and the ‘Integrated Declaration’, IT Systems of both the Government Departments and private sector agencies had to be changed. The whole exercise has been coordinated well and all this was made possible due to unstinting efforts put in by the officers of Directorate General of Systems and Single Window team.

The Single Window system is a crucial implementation of trade facilitation measure for goods’ clearances at the country’s points of entry and exit. Efficiency in the import and export procedures would save large sums of money for the importers and exporters due to reduced trade-related costs and delays. By requiring all participating Government agencies to publish Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and timelines, the Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary has set benchmarks and goals for all related Regulatory Agencies. In order to work collaboratively with the agencies and industry stakeholders, port and central level Customs’ Clearance Facilitation Committees (CCFCs) have been established to simplify and streamline their inter-agency procedures and documentary requirements for import and export of cargo.

According to the Chairman, CBEC, Shri Najib Shah, the time and cost associated with import and export clearances has been a matter of concern for the Government. In order to reduce the transaction costs and decrease cargo release time, a number of steps have been initiated by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in last two years. A significant leap in this direction is the launch of the Customs’ Single Window clearances. Shri Shah added that there was strong willingness and support from all stakeholders for the Single Window project. The Department’s outreach program and enthusiastic private sector participation helped the department to launch the project in a timely manner.  

How will SWIFT help:

·         It will provide a single point interface for clearance of import goods.

·         Replaces 9 separate documents with one Integrated Customs Electronic Declaration

·         Facilitates trade by reducing Dwell Time & improving Ease of Doing Business

·         Reduces Documentation & Cost of Clearance

·         Brings 6 participating Government agencies on a single platform

·         Eliminates need for tax-payers to interact separately with these agencies.

SWIFT will indeed go a long way in order to take the new trade facilitation initiatives of the present Government to new heights in times to come.

How to improve education

How to improve education

There is no substitute to good teacher preparation; unless teachers are well prepared, their capacity to perform is limited
There is hardly a country in the world that is not attempting to improve its school education. Countries like Canada and Finland, which already have excellent school systems, are still trying to improve. These countries have confidence in their own approach and remain committed to those fundamentals. Like top-notch sportspeople, they are only refining nuances, many of which most other countries have not even begun appreciating.

Then there are countries like Estonia and Korea which have much improved systems, but they want to improve more, since in their assessment the situation is not fully satisfactory. These countries are sweating the details, and are also tweaking some of the fundamentals.

And then there is the large majority of countries which are dissatisfied with the state of their school systems. They think that they need fundamental and big changes. This list is large and has a wide range, from countries as developed as the US, UK and Sweden to developing countries such as India, China and Malaysia—and also the most disadvantaged countries, for example, in sub-Saharan Africa.

To be sure, this is a very rough categorization. It also doesn’t reflect many important dimensions of this issue, like the reasons for dissatisfaction, including high dropout rates, poor learning levels, overburdened children, a sense of getting “left behind” in the global school education “race”, etc.

As can be expected, there is such enormous complexity in the efforts to improve school education systems that each country and society must be understood in itself. Any efforts to draw out commonalities is fraught with risks of oversimplification and over-abstraction.

One of the very few things which are common across these efforts, and would attract neither of the two charges that I have referred to, is the importance of the teacher in school education and its improvement. The teacher is so central to education that this is not surprising. To deal with this centrality of the teacher, four broad approaches have been adopted.

The central idea of the first approach is that teachers must be incentivized to do a better job, which will then lead to improvements. This includes negative and positive incentives: for example, punishment for lack of improvement in learning levels of children or better pay for clear improvements. The hardwired “teacher accountability” versions of this approach (such as “No Child Left Behind” in the US) have only succeeded in causing deep damage to school education. Other variations, such as the attempt to incentivize teachers through market-based competition fostered by privatization have proven ineffective in improving learning levels in school systems, and have worsened inequity.

The second approach has been to try and attract “better” people to become teachers. The issues that can be worked on to influence this matter—for example, reasonable compensation, good recruitment practices, conditions to support professional satisfaction—are important. However, the relative attractiveness of any profession is determined by a complex interplay of economic, sociocultural, geographic and historical factors, in addition to the characteristics of the profession. And given that the number of teachers is a significant proportion of the overall population in employment in any country, this matter is very hard to influence at a systemic level.

The third approach is to carry out better teacher preparation. Since models of teacher preparation, including the curriculum and institutional design, are easily comparable, weaknesses (such as with the Indian Bachelor of Education system) are easily identifiable. Fixing all this, however, is another matter. It is about investing significantly more in teacher education and battling vested interests. This calls for political will. But there is no substitute to good teacher preparation; unless teachers are well prepared, their capacity to perform their roles is limited.

The fourth approach is about developing the capacity of teachers currently serving in the system. It’s quite clear that unless this is done, education systems won’t improve for decades, even if other things are somehow done perfectly. Professional development of such a large and distributed workforce, involved in roles that are inherently creative and requiring human empathy, is very complex. But it can be done if attempted on the basis of sound principles and with an intent to empower.

The incentives approach fails because, among other reasons, of the social-human nature of education, which demands the teacher to be creative, high-expertise, empathetic and ethical. This is almost the classical prototype of a role which can only be played effectively when someone has high capacity and is internally driven. While external conditions and incentives can certainly demotivate and derail, they can’t motivate. Far more effective than any such crude notion of incentives would be better organization of schools and the system, including elimination of corruption and political interference.

On attracting “better” people to teaching, we would do well to remember John Dewey’s wise and pithy comment: “Education is, and forever will be, in the hands of ordinary men and women.” To improve education we have to invest in teacher education and professional development of teachers. There are no shortcuts for improving education.

Power cuts in a time of surplus

Power cuts in a time of surplus

24x7 reliable power supply to all at an affordable price would be the best gauge of power sector growth
Recent bids on power exchanges indicate electricity tariffs are at their lowest ever. In July, the Indian Energy Exchange saw a total 6.74 billion units put on sale, compared with purchases of 3.98 billion units at an average tariff of Rs.2.16 per unit.

Theoretically, this suggests India has finally become a “power surplus” nation, exactly 137 years after the first demonstration of electric light was given in Kolkata by P.W. Fleury & Co.

Yet, the stark reality is that many states are witnessing power cuts of 4-5 hours every day. In Uttar Pradesh, planned load shedding is as much as 11-12 hours in rural areas and 5-6 hours in urban, according to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corp. Ltd website.

What’s causing this anomaly? There are four reasons. The first is that while capacity addition has peaked, industrial and commercial offtake remains low. In the three years ended fiscal 2015, capacity addition was 74.72 gigawatts, the fastest in a decade. However, growth in industrial and commercial consumption—the highest-paying segment under the telescopic tariff structure followed—was only around 4.57%, as per a Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report, Growth of Electricity Sector in India From 1947 to 2015. Only the domestic consumer segment, which puts additional cost burden on the distribution utilities given lower tariffs, saw decent demand growth of 8.9%, as per CEA estimates. In some states such as Maharashtra, industrial and commercial consumption declined 0.73% while domestic consumption increased 7.81% in the three years.

The second is that cost of supply has increased, as have aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. Domestic consumers do not have the capacity to absorb all the incremental power produced, or pay higher cost. Distribution companies, or discoms, typically incur higher cost on supplies to this segment and earn lower revenues. Small wonder they are resorting to load shedding.

The practice of power cuts is more extensive in rural areas, where the cost of supply is significantly higher, demand density lower and AT&C losses higher than in urban areas.

There is also a limit to how much industrial and commercial consumers can be exploited to recover losses from electricity supplies to homes, or the so-called cross-subsidization. To boot, higher industrial and commercial tariffs are already impacting the competitiveness of domestic firms.

Third, local distribution continues to be a problem for want of infrastructure. In urban centres such as Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon, inadequate distribution capacity has meant power cuts being extended beyond planned load shedding. Taking cognizance of this, the government has sharpened its focus on fund allocation under the Integrated Power Development Scheme to strengthen networks.

And fourth is the financial health of discoms and the challenges to their revival. Intermittent AT&C losses are a major reason—apart from the humongous debt burden—why discoms are in the doghouse. At the national level, AT&C losses are already high at 22.7%—meaning nearly a quarter of the electricity produced in India is wasted. That national average has been driven up because losses are significantly higher in five states: 46% in Bihar, 39% in Odisha, 32% in West Bengal, 28% in Madhya Pradesh and 27% in Rajasthan, according to a Power Finance Corporation report on the performance of state utilities.

While technical losses can largely be attributed to infrastructural issues and consumption mix at different voltage levels, the bigger problem is poor billing and collection efficiency. Additionally, disbursement of tariff subsidy by states is inadequate and irregular.

To be sure, the government has taken a number of initiatives, including initiating a road map to achieve reliable 24x7 power for all in every state, and improving the financials of discoms through the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

UDAY has immense potential to cure discoms through initiatives proposed under four broad categories: improvement of operational efficiencies; reduction of cost of power; reduction in interest cost; and, enforcement of financial discipline through alignment with state finances. However, success hinges on relentless implementation by states.

In a nutshell, the ills plaguing the sector can be attributed to poor financials of discoms, inadequate investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure and lack of cost recovery from certain consumers.

Also such simple deductions of “power surplus” divert attention from the stark reality that there are more than 55 million households waiting to be plugged in. That latent demand is not part of any “surplus” calculus.

That’s why when measuring power sector growth—and planning to scale up for the future—using just the yardstick of “adequate availability of electricity” will be inadequate. A truer, holistic gauge would be 24x7 reliable power supply to all at an affordable price.

To achieve that objective, states will have to show strong resolve to reduce AT&C losses, invest in infrastructure development, ensure efficient commercial operation of discoms, make timely tariff revisions, and reduce the cross-subsidization that’s impacting the competitiveness of the industry and services sectors.

The time is also right, perhaps, to provide direct, targeted subsidies to electricity consumers who can’t pay much—if at all. The learnings from the LPG direct subsidy transfer project would be very handy here.

China launches 'hack-proof' communications satellite

China launches 'hack-proof' communications satellite
China on Tuesday launched the world’s first quantum satellite, which will help it establish ‘hack-proof’ communications between space and the ground, state media said, the latest advance in an ambitious space programme.
The programme is a priority as President Xi Jinping has urged China to establish itself as a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions, it has tested anti-satellite missiles.

The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, or QUESS, satellite, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the remote northwestern province of Gansu in the early hours of Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish ‘hack-proof’ quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground,” it said.

“Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated,” it added. “It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.”

The satellite will enable secure communications between Beijing and Urumqi, Xinhua said, referring to the capital of China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang, where the government says it is battling an Islamist insurgency.

“The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China’s role—from a follower in classic information technology development to one of the leaders guiding future achievements,” Pan Jianwei, the project’s chief scientist, told the agency.

Quantum communications holds “enormous prospects” in the field of defence, it added.

China insists its space programme is for peaceful purposes, but the US defence department has highlighted its increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed to prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis

Nasa: Last month was Earth’s hottest in recorded history

Nasa calculated that July 2016 was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.84 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1950-1980 global average

 Earth just broiled to its hottest month in recorded history, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

Even after the fading of a strong El Nino, which spikes global temperatures on top of man-made climate change, July burst global temperature records.

Nasa calculated that July 2016 was 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit (0.84 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1950-1980 global average. That’s clearly hotter than the previous hotter months, about 0.18 degrees warmer than the previous record of July 2011 and July 2015, which were so close they were said to be in a tie for the hottest month on record, said Nasa chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt.

Scientists blame mostly man-made climate change from the burning of fossil fuel with an extra jump from the now-gone El Nino , which every few years is a natural warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide.

Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb said this is significant “because global temperatures continue to warm even as a record-breaking El Nino event has finally released its grip.”

Nasa’s five hottest months on record are July 2016, July 2011, July 2015, July 2009 and August 2014. Only July 2015 was during an El Nino. Records go back to 1880.

This is the 10th record hot month in a row, according to Nasa. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which calculates temperatures slightly differently, will come out with its July figures on Wednesday. NOAA has figured there have been 14 monthly heat records broken in a row, before July.

“The scary thing is that we are moving into an era where it will be a surprise when each new month or year isn’t one of the hottest on record,” said Chris Field, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University.

This new record and all the records that have been broken recently years tell one cohesive story, said Schmidt, director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies: “The planet is getting warmer. It’s important for what it tells us about the future.”

India climbs 15 spots in innovation ranking

India rises to 66th position, based on the Global Innovation Index, from 81 last year, maintains top rank in Central and South Asia

India rises to 66th position, based on the Global Innovation Index, from 81 last year, maintains top rank in Central and South Asia

India climbed 15 spots, from 81 last year, to 66 in the Global Innovation Index (GII) and maintained the top spot in the Central and South Asia regions, according to the rankings released on Monday by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Switzerland, Sweden, the UK, the US, Finland and Singapore lead the 2016 GII rankings. This year, China joined the world’s 25 most-innovative economies, becoming the first middle-income country to enter the top 25 of the index in its nine editions of surveying the innovative capacity of over 100 economies.

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India scored high on tertiary education and R&D, the quality of its universities and scientific publications, its market sophistication and information and communication technology service exports, where it ranks first in the world, according to the index.

The index said that India has all the ingredients needed to become a global driver of innovation including strong market potential, an excellent talent pool, and an underlying culture of frugal innovation. India ranks second on innovation quality among middle-income economies, overtaking Brazil. “Relative weaknesses exist in the indicators for business environment, education expenditures, new business creations and the creative goods and services production,” it said.

“Digital has become a primary driver of strategy development and innovation for business in almost all sectors. I am convinced we are only at the beginning. Notably for established organizations, the challenge lies in finding ways to successfully innovate by using and transforming existing resources and business practices,” said Johan Aurik, managing partner and chairman of GII’s knowledge partner A.T. Kearney, in a press release.

The index said that India has the ability to create a unique spot in innovation history to meet its own market requirements by using its cultural advantages of frugality and sustainability. Stressing that India’s priorities for innovation need to be in the areas of energy, water, transport, health care, food security and digital consumption, the index said that India should strengthen its own talent pool and leverage global talent “in these market-pull areas”.

“The commitment of India to innovation and improved innovation metrics is strong and growing, helping to improve the innovation environment. This trend will help gradually lift India closer to other top-ranked innovation economies,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry.