PLI Schemes for Boosting the Economy

Productivity is the operative word for leap in New India’s growth story. Lagging productivity is one obvious domain but adaptability is the biggest strength which can be utilised. Taking these two key parameters as target, Product Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes have worked well in the country.

PLI schemes are aimed at enhancing competitiveness and leveraging the untapped potential of Indian industries to fulfill the vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Reopening the application window for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for White Goods has put the spotlight back on this very significant economic reform of the Government of India. The scheme has enormous potential to transform the manufacturing sector by encouraging domestic and local productions further boosting economic growth and amplifying exports. Keeping in view this vision, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore under the PLI scheme for manufacturing high-efficiency solar modules in her Union Budget 2022-23, besides committing financial support to farmers to take up agro-forestry.

Coming back to the recent initiative of the central government, in pursuance of the Prime Minister’s clarion call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ to bring manufacturing to the center stage and emphasize its significance in driving India’s growth and creating jobs, the PLI Scheme for White Goods for manufacturing of components and sub-assemblies of Air Conditioners (ACs) and LED Lights, which was approved by the Union Cabinet in April last year with an outlay of Rs 6,238 crore, was notified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on 16 April 2021. Now, applicants were given the flexibility to choose the gestation period either up to March 2022 or up to March 2023.

The Central government also wants the states to take advantage of the PLI scheme, thanks to their relatively low labour costs and huge demographic dividend. Since all states can’t be good in all sectors, hence niche and specific areas are being suggested to excel by taking comparative cost advantage in key areas. Government support is also helping and inspiring AC manufacturers to switch over to CFL-free cooling technology, shifting to clean energy in the automobiles sector and indigenous production of magnets and electric motors.

The PLI schemes, presently in place for 14 sectors, are being implemented by the concerned ministries and departments. The PLI schemes for various sectors are helping a lot in the post-Covid industrial and economic recovery. There appears to be positive industry feedback about these schemes as textile, automotive and white goods have started giving a good sign of growth.

Leading the Democratic Way

Indian democracy is a torch bearer for modern times, and given its rich heritage, ancient and modern history, it’s story is crucial for sustainable, peaceful and prosperous future of the planet. For context, France became a part of EU more or less from an Empire status, and USA, though an old state, became true democracy only around 60 years back.

The most awaited electoral moment of this year is finally out in the open with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) all set to form its government in three, and AAP snatching Punjab from the Congress. As per the available trends, the BJP is also holding advantage in Goa. The assembly elections in these states- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa have once again amply exhibited why India is considered as the largest and most respected democracy of the world, where federal structures, democratic values and political-electoral choices and differences are always honoured.

While, in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the BJP has made a thumping victory, AAP- a political outfit not even a decade old, is all set to sweep in Punjab, its first full state to rule. Even relatively smaller states like Manipur and Goa appear to head for a clear majority so that the people of these states also relish the fruits of a stable government. Clearly, our democracy is consistently evolving and maturing with the passage of time.

The burgeoning entry and interest of women in Indian political system, coming from all sections of the society irrespective of caste, class and religion, further strengthens democratic system. The way women have voted in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and others, show they prefer peace, security, education and developments over limits and prejudices thrown upon them by some fringe forces.

As Indian democracy is celebrating ‘azaadi ka amrit mahotsav’, every citizen needs to do something towards preserving, protecting and upholding democratic values. First and foremost of them is to differentiate between ‘what is entertainment’ and ‘what is reality’. Breaking political news into byte sized packages has made it an object of entertainment rather than information for views and opinions, on the other hand sports seem to have been presented as content of strong views and opinions rather than entertainment. Self proclaimed political pundits need to engage in their trade with this basic understanding to avoid repeated failure of not judging the mood of voters correctly.

Building bright future upon actualised synergies of present

The scale and speed with which India has managed to implement vaccination to combat covid pandemic, showcases unprecedented implementation skills. It clearly seems that India has seized upon the opportunity to see what it wants to learn and copy, and more importantly what it wanted to leap frog and skip. India has relied on both traditional form of innovation, finding new ideas to unsolved problems, as well as innovations towards efficiency, also termed as frugal innovations or workable solutions, enablers and solutions needing much lower resources and super cheap prices. These abilities are bound to put India on a virtuous cycle towards rapid development across sectors as vision of ‘Century India’ is realised. Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, “INDIA@2047 would have evolved beyond imagination. Not only are things moving fast, but also the pace of this movement is much faster than ever before, which makes it very difficult to visualise the exact shape of India that would emerge 25 years from now.”

In this light, a three-day symposium has commenced from March 7 in Chennai under the theme ‘Imagining India at 2047 through Innovation.’ The symposium aimed to bring the government and the citizens together by the use of digital technology. It goes without a doubt that digital technology will pave the way for future innovations, furthering the development of any nation. The use of digital technology will also lead to next-generation reforms and innovations with policy objectives of “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”, entailing Government process Re-Engineering, Universal access to e-services, excellence in digital initiatives at the district level and excellence in adopting emerging technologies. Around 200 participants are chosen for nucleus and cell teams composed of one lAS officer, a young faculty member and a young entrepreneur and they will sit together for discussions.

Under the overarching themes of ‘Research and Development,’ and ‘Innovation and Digital Governance,’ ten key areas are being explored, namely, Energy and Net Zero, Education, Health Care and Assistive Technologies, Water, Infrastructure and Communications, Transport and Mobility, Urbanization and Housing, Rural Development and Agriculture, Fintech and Inclusion, Information Security and Defence. These are clearly the core domains which require concerted efforts of academia, industry and bureaucracy to leap India into pole position.

Being Celebrated Internationally

Janani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi (Mother and motherland are even more important than getting two heavens, by doing good deeds). These are the ethos of the land which is known to have a long tradition of equal love, respect and care to feminism. The tide of time and onslaught of varying degrading ideals did harm the harmonic balance of Indian society too. Yet, as we celebrate International Women’s Day today, India indeed has undergone a rapid massive change where the status of women now stands more pedestaled in terms of entrepreneurship, working conditions, security, benefits, awareness and opportunities.

Recent years have seen launch of many helpline numbers to assist women, various schemes aimed at raising awareness, better social promotion, more jobs, improving sex ratio and education status, more participation in fields of business, finance, science, judiciary, and especially in politics and sports. Recalling the beginning of such a tidal change, ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ is the first scheme that comes to the mind, an empowering initiative through which India has been able to work towards eradication of female foeticide and make girls socially and financially self-reliant through proper education. Another unique initiative is ‘Mahila-E-Haat’, a bilingual online marketing platform, which helps aspiring women entrepreneurs, self-help group and NGOs to showcase their products to the world. In 2017, GoI launched Mahila Shakti Kendras which acts as an interface for rural women so that they can approach the government to avail their entitlements through training and capacity building.

‘One Stop Centre Scheme’, popularly known as ‘Sakhi’, had come into being in 2015 with the ‘Nirbhaya’ fund to provide shelter, police desk, legal, medical and counseling services to the victims of violence. The STEP programme (Support to Training and Employment Programme) is providing skills and competencies to women, leading to employability and assisting them in various sectors like agriculture, horticulture, handicraft, computer handlooms, tailoring, skilling like spoken English, IT- computer, travel-tourism, hospitality, etc. Several financial programmes have also been launched by the government for women’s financial empowerment. Women entrepreneurs are being encouraged to take up challenges, initiatives and explore various possibilities lying all around. These include Mudra Loan for Women, Annapurna Scheme, Stree Shakti Yojana, Dena Shakti Scheme, Bhartiya Mahila Bank Business Loan, Mahila Udyam Nidhi Yojana, Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme, Cent Kalyani Scheme, Udyogini Scheme among others. To empower women, Government of India has taken many other important measures which include Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban & Rural), the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Vyay Vandana Yojana (PMVVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) supporting women and girls to be socially secure, the initiatives like Samagra Shiksha, Scheme of National Overseas Scholarship, Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna, Swacch Vidyalaya Mission to ensure that schools are girl-friendly especially for vulnerable sections of society and have adequate facilities in place to fulfill their special requirements.

Continuous encouragement being given to women, has resulted into countless women becoming parts of various sectors and services including defence. Women have also started dominating the corporate world enjoying all kinds of heights like CEO. Last year 2021, four women from India figured in Forbes list. Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, India stood at 37, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson, HCL Technologies ranked 52, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Biocon was at 72, and Falguni Nayar Founder & CEO, Nykaa figured at 88 in the list. However, Indian origin Kamala Harris, US Vice-President figured second in this list of 100 most powerful women in the world.

Clearly, all women-centric programmes are meant to encourage their participation in all kinds of activities including formal economy. For mothers and sisters of India, International Women’s Day needs to be looked at as a challenge to strive and become tall personalities of hope, compassion and success. With their tremendous work done in this country and abroad, they need to break the stereotype of only a housewife and become International women.

Rescue & Relief by India for Indians Abroad

‘Operation Ganga’ is like the ‘Devi Shakti’ of ‘Vande Bharat’ acting as ‘Samudra Setu’ for ‘Raahat’ and ‘Maitri’.

About 16,000-strong Indian diaspora, mostly students, were left stranded in the war-torn Ukraine, when New Delhi launched yet another evacuation programme named ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring them home safely. As a result of the collective efforts, over 21,000 nationals have reportedly moved out of Ukraine and some sixteen and a half tons of material has been sent as relief. The Government also sent Union Ministers to the concerned countries as ‘India’s special envoys’ to assist the students with the evacuation process.

The extent to which India goes in order to evacuate people from foreign territories during deteriorating times and calamities is now being recognised globally too. Nepal Government reportedly reached out to the Government of India for the evacuation of its stranded nationals, to which the Indian government has responded positively. “We stand ready to help those from our neighbours and developing countries who are also stranded in Ukraine and may seek assistance. We also support all UN humanitarian efforts,” Indian envoy to UN TS Tirumurti had said earlier on February 28th at the UNSC meeting.

India had extended its help to the neighbouring state last year during the Afghanistan crisis, by facilitating the evacuation of Nepali nationals from the country. This promptness and sense of responsibility was reflected amid COVID crisis too, as India evacuated nationals of the Maldives, Nepal, and Bangladesh from China. All these instances are not accidental, but reflections of a country whose first instinct is based on its popular belief of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

India carried out the evacuations from Afghanistan in 2021 under its rescue mission programme operation ‘Devi Shakti’, which translates as ‘Power of the Goddess’. Reportedly, around 800 nationals belonging to both India and other countries were evacuated under the operation. Earlier, On 7th May 2020, Indian government had launched ‘Operation Vande Bharat’ to bring back Indians stranded in different countries in a Covid-19 pandemic-hit world. This operation saw over 2.17 lakh flights that brought back over 1.83 crore passengers to the country by October 2021. Government of India launched yet another operation i.e. Op. Samudra Setu, An extension of Vande Bharat mission, this was a naval operation that brought back over 3,000 stranded Indian citizen to their homeland during the pandemic. INS Jalashwa, Airavat, Shardul and Magar (Landing Ship Tanks) participated in this operation which lasted more than 55 days and involved traversing more than 23,000 km by sea. Back in 2015, India had also launched ‘Operation Raahat’, under which India had evacuated nearly 5,600 people from Yemen. Operation Maitri was launched in the same year as a joint relief and rescue operation by the Indian government and the Indian Armed Forces in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake. This joint Army-Air Force operation brought over 5,000 Indians back from Nepal by Air Force and civilian planes. The Indian army had also successfully evacuated 170 foreign nationals from the US, the UK, Russia and Germany.

As world order continues to get deeper into complex situations from pandemic to outright nuclear threats, India is ready to lead at world-stage with its ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam to take care of its own and humanity as whole.