From Roti, Kapda, Makaan to AtmaNirbhar Bharat

On this day, exactly eight years ago, Modi Government had assumed power after having registered a thumping victory in the 2014 General Assembly elections. In 2019, PM Modi took over as the Prime Minister yet again with an even bigger mandate. The NDA government spent these eight years making some unprecedented decisions as both its tenures have witnessed changes that have become unfading chapters in Indian History. Back in 2016, the first such decision shook the entire World as India army conducted Surgical Strike against terrorists in Pakistan. This was followed by the historic GST initiative that has resulted in uniform tax collection system, transparency and greater revenue collection. Other changes and initiatives that have brought paradigm shift in the Indian economic, social and political landscape are Abrogation of Article 370, resolution of issues like Triple Talaq and Ayodhya dispute, Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Digital India, NEP 2020, introduction of PLI Scheme, Vaccine Maitri initiative and Free Corona Vaccine, etc. Many other initiatives with an intent of ‘Jan Seva’ have been launched in the country which have improved the standard of living and aid. These include, Ujjwala Scheme, Ujala Yojana, Swachha Bharat Abhiyan which made the country open defecation free, PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, Ayushmaan Bharat and many more.

These unparalleled attainments were accompanied with the present government’s achievements at global level where India has been able to up its International Standing like never before. The foundation of such an elevated stature lies in the numerous efforts India has put in these 8 years. Some of the steps include giving due importance to potential regions through change in International policies like shifting from ‘Look East’ to ‘Act East’ policy, ‘Neighbourhood First’, fresh stand on signing of FTAs with various countries, formation of global initiatives like the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) etc.

As for post-pandemic world order, India has surely leapt into the front-row seat due to its large scale implementation capabilities demonstrated in handling the pandemic while considering welfare of all at home with ‘Sabka Saath’ and abroad with ‘Vaccine Maitri’. Achieving this in a democratic setup is indeed wonderful news for all poor and needy across the globe. Further, India’s fight against COVID-19 opened gates for an ecosystem that supported indigenous manufacturing and innovation. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates lauded India’s work on design, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines that helped save a massive number of lives. He also called it “a testament to innovation.” And why not, from CoWin platform, affordable COVID testing kits to innovative PPE kits for doctors, the country has developed devices that ensure innovations meet necessities. Right communication regarding vaccines at the grassroots level was pivotal. For this, a five-point strategic action framework was utilized to draw up the guidelines – Advocacy; Capacity Building; Media Engagement and social media; Social Mobilization and Community Engagement; and Crisis Communication using AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunization).

All this has not been accidental when one looks at the Ethos of Atmanirbhar Bharat, a mass movement, which is deeply rooted in the values of this young nation. Framers of the Indian Constitution have set forth an enormous and unique challenge of simultaneously completing India’s triple transition across social, political and economic fields. India is one rare country of this size and complexity which has taken on this challenge of getting on to the three transitions together. Focus on rural development seems to be one of the key steps under the initiative. Knowing fully well that rural sector demand traditionally remains robust, yet as the effect of pandemic is visible, increasing demand has been one focus area. Pandemic has also caused supply constraints due to supply-chain disruptions, hence attending to this aspect too has been vital for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

And now this initiative is developing into a mass movement as well as the anchor for policy framework. Back in November 2021 itself, a Finance Ministry report had said that, “India is on its way to becoming the fastest-growing major economy in the world … Armed with the necessary macro and micro growth drivers, the stage is set to kickstart India’s investment cycle and catalyze its recovery towards becoming the fastest growing economy in the world”. The survey had said that growth will be supported by a supply-side push from reforms and easing of regulations, emphasis on infrastructural investment, boost to manufacturing sector through PLI schemes, recovery in demand, rise in discretionary consumption after the rollout of vaccines and pick-up in the credit given adequate liquidity and low-interest rates. All these are resulting in less demand-supply mismatch and more job opportunities. PLI schemes are proving to be a very strong pillar of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, clearly breaking the deadlock of jobless growth as was forecasted by experts. Now, not only India is expected to grow faster, it is more inclusive as job creation is at core of these positive developments.

Wealth Opportunities in Waste

Statistics show that by 2025, the value of the global waste management industry is expected to hit US $530 billion from US$330.6 billion in 2017. Rising population, economic activities and increasing urbanization have propelled the massive increase in global waste generation, which creates myriad of problems, especially in cities. The World Bank estimates that waste generation will increase to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050, marking an approximate 70 percent increase from 2.01 billion tonnes in 2016.

By 2027, India is set to become the world’s most populous country as per projections of the United Nations with 7 new megacities. At this exponential population and urban growth rate, landfills almost 90% of the size of Bengaluru would be required for dumping if the waste remains untreated. Though, rapid urbanization presents a humungous challenge with the right policy framework and action, which can be turned into a golden opportunity.

‘Waste to Wealth’ is an effective solution to rising waste all across the globe. This unique idea of waste management brings scientific processing of waste to the forefront to build a zero landfill and zero waste nation, involving latest technology, government agencies, urban local bodies and users to seek relevant solutions. Unscientific disposal of mixed waste in open dumpsites generates harmful greenhouse emissions and contaminate soil and groundwater causing health and environment hazards. Diverting thousands of tons/year of fresh waste from entering landfill and generating valuable resources out of the waste, is the objective behind this idea. Further, showing a scientific solution for closing of open dumpsites and improvement in the living conditions of nearby settlements by preventing spread of water and air borne diseases is also a major goal of this project.

The ‘Waste-to-Energy’ and Waste Management market in India is also set to become a $14 billion opportunity by the year 2025. The population of 1.3 billion currently generates 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste a year. The scale of opportunity may be gauged from the fact that India has the potential to generate 3GW of electricity from waste by 2050. The ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission is one of the nine scientific missions of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC), which aims to identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials and extract resources of value. The Identification and support to the development of modern technologies promises to create a clean and green environment. Now the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the eighth edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) – SS 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 with ‘Waste to Wealth’ as its theme or driving philosophy, reiterating its commitment to move towards a circular economy in waste management while tapping the immense scope of recovering value from waste. The idea also promises to assist and augment the Swachh Bharat and Smart City projects by leveraging science, technology and innovation to create ready reckoners that are financially viable for waste management, thereby streamlining waste handling in India.

The benefits of effective waste management are immense. India presents an opportunity in numerous sub-sectors of waste management including municipal solid waste, electronic waste, bio- 2 medical waste, agricultural waste and others. Additional weightage has been given to source segregation of waste, enhancement of waste processing capacity of cities to match the waste generation and reduction of waste going to the dumpsites. Indicators have been introduced with additional weightage on emphasizing the need for phased reduction of plastic, plastic waste processing, encourage waste to wonder parks and zero waste events.

State of States on Setback of Debts

Debt-to-GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) ratio signifies how healthy a state is in terms of funding its expenditure without accumulating future debt. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its report also highlighted that the debt-to-GSDP ratio for 18 states and union territories has grown to 31.2% from 22.6% in the last 10 years, ending September 2021, which goes against the fiscal health of some of the high ratio states. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee headed by former revenue secretary N.K. Singh had recommended states to achieve a debt-to-GSDP ratio of 20% by the financial year 2022-23, but it looks a far-fetched target.

According to the RBI report, market borrowing has reached 63.6% of the GDP of states by March 2022, which is a loan that governments raise by issuing market securities such as bonds. Market borrowing forms the largest component of the total outstanding debt of states and union territories. The RBI says, the combined debt-to-GSDP ratio is expected to remain at 31% by March end of 2022, which is much higher than the recommendation of the report of the NK Singh committee. As per the report, the states with the highest debt-to-GSDP ratio in 2021-22 include Punjab with 53.3%, Rajasthan with 39.8%, West Bengal with 38.8%, Kerala with 38.3% and Andhra Pradesh with 32.4%.

The rise in the debt of Indian states fuelled by Covid-19 pandemic generated long lockdown and pre-state election freebie promises among others, has made things worrisome, especially for a few states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala. How states damage their fiscal health, can be gauged from the fact that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promised the people in Punjab- 300 units of free electricity a month for every household, besides Rs 1,000 a month to every woman in the state, which according to estimates, may cost the exchequer an extra Rs 20,000 crore a year, when Punjab’s outstanding debt has already risen to Rs 2.82 lakh crore. Similar is the case with Andhra Pradesh, whose outstanding debt has hit Rs 3.89 lakh crore in the financial year 2021-22.

However, there are silver lines appearing too. The ICICI Securities after studying the budgets of 13 large states which account for around 80% of the national GDP, suggests in its March report that aggregate gross fiscal deficit (GFD) may ease to 3.3% in 2022-23 as compared to 3.4% in 2021-22. Moreover, with the recovery in economy, states are also going to have more revenue, which will also be supported by the higher transfer of fund by the Central Government. The Centre has transferred Rs 8.83 lakh crore in 2021-22 as per the recommendations of the 15th finance commission under tax devolution plan. Besides, the Centre also transferred Rs 1.59 lakh crore to the state government on account of GST compensation.

Further, under 15th Finance Commission, states have got a lot more flexibility in spending on developmental activities, but most of their spending went into populist schemes with slow growth in revenues. Indian states are also technically unlikely to default on the debt repayments, as the Centre imposes strict limits on their borrowings. Without doubt, the pandemic has greatly aggravated the situation, leaving the states with little or no buffers or fiscal headroom, some of the states are also responsible for complicating the situation.

Indispensable Partnership of India and Japan

With a dynamic start-up ecosystem, India has over 100 unicorns where the Japanese capital is already playing an important role. Japan has, in fact proved to be an invaluable partner in India’s journey for development, prosperity and modernization, helping in various sectors from the automobile sector to industrial corridors. Terming the relations between India and Japan as special, strategic and global, Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned an op-ed on this vibrant engagement in the Yomiuri Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, covering a wide range of issues, relationship and concerns. Stressing on the need to re-invigorate and redesign the relationship in a post-COVID era, he said both countries have immense scope to strengthen the engagement across sectors like trade, investment, defence manufacturing, cyber, space, underwater domains and security. PM Modi’s op-ed also said, India has always seen Japan as an indispensable partner in country’s continuing transformation in all directions.

India offers speed, scale, ease of doing business, attractive incentives, courageous reforms and ambitious plans to create unmatched opportunities for one and all. Japanese investments and developmental assistance are spread across India with the iconic Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project symbolising Japan’s extensive collaboration in building a New India. Notably, Japan is a home to nearly 40,000 members of the Indian diaspora also. It is also worth mentioning that in March 2022 in Delhi, Prime Minister Modi and Japani PM Kishida laid out a roadmap for further deepening and broadening special strategic and global partnership. The PM has hoped that both countries will be contributing towards creating an open, free, inclusive and secure Indo-Pacific region, where everyone respects the territorial integrity of others by following international laws and conventions.

QUAD grouping is one platform from where both the economies are ensuring the same as the agenda items of this dialogue are relevant in terms of regional stability and peace. Through Quad, India and Japan, along with the Australia and US have now formed a new security architecture. And the increase in active discussions and summits lately here has caught global attention, including that of China. The Quad engagement is anchored in the shared values and commitment to the principles of democracy, international law and rules based international order as also a vision for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Since its first Summit, Quad has been working to implement a positive and constructive agenda with a strong focus on enabling peace, prosperity, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The issues discussed in the summit include climate action, decarbonized green shipping network in the Indo-Pacific, making use of clean hydrogen and making it more accessible, pooling capacities to assist Indo-Pacific countries in climate monitoring and information sharing, supporting sustainable and demand driven infrastructure in the region, cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, biotechnology, diversification of semiconductor supply chain, security of critical cyber infrastructure, last mile delivery of essentials, health security, genomic surveillance, clinical trials, and pandemic preparedness among others.

Further, the evident polarisation in the International system in the aftermath of Ukraine-Russia conflict, Western repulsion towards Russia, and even US-China trade tussle, is already putting a lot of unsaid pressure on other economies to pick sides. Amid such a sensitive and changing World order, India and Japan, have been able to position themselves as two aspiring global powers that can bring non-western perspectives to discussions based on dialogue and security.

Race to Space is Real for India

Space is the next frontier of human evolution and nation states are competing hard with limited resources. It feels like battle to stay relevant. The current valuation of the global space economy stands at about USD 447 billion and India’s ‘space economy’ is valued at ₹36,794 crore (approx. USD 5 billion only), which shows that India still needs to cover a big gap.

India is acting swiftly to fulfil its space ambitions as it also slowly upgrades its position with a space program that marks as one of the most advanced among other spacefaring nations in the Asian Continent. After unlocking the Space Sector for private players, Innovative Start-Ups are coming in a big way to explore the untapped potential. Access to ISRO facilities and expertise has also been extended to private entities to support their space activities. Talks are on to allow FDI in the space sector too.

India earmarked Rs 13,700 cr for the Dept. of Space in Budget 2022-23, as ISRO gears up for Gaganyaan — India’s first human spaceflight mission. Besides, India has other future missions including the Chandrayaan-3 programme, the Shukrayaan Venus mission which is expected to get launched in 2024, a twin aeronomy satellite mission that will study the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere, Mission Trishna (in collaboration with French Space Agency CNES) for accurate mapping of land surface temperature, to name a few.

Further, the economic survey 2022 showed how the number of startups in the space industry has almost doubled in the last year. The space sector has shown a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs and private businesses with aid from government policies and reforms. Over 55 start-ups have registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, in just about two years since the Indian Space Department and the ISRO were opened to the private sector. Out of these 55 proposals, 29 are Satellite related, 10 are for Space Applications and Products, 8 are related to Launch vehicles and 8 are about Ground Systems and Research. In addition, 74 Student satellites are scheduled for launch this year that is coinciding with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrating the 75th year of India’s Independence.

India came up with many reforms in 2020 to boost the space sector. These included creation of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) under DOS for promoting, handholding, authorizing and licensing private players to carry out Space Activities. The existing policies in the space domain are also being revised and new policies are being drafted to address policy frameworks for various areas such as SpaceCom, Remote Sensing, Technology Transfer, Navigation, Space Transportation, Space exploration and Space Situational Awareness. The draft Space Activities Bill has completed Public and Legal consultations and will be processed for further approvals for inter-ministerial consultations.