Republic Day Reflection: When the System Kills and We Call It an Accident

Republic Day Reflection

On Republic Day, India celebrates the adoption of its Constitution, a document that promised dignity, safety, and equality to every citizen. Parades march down wide avenues, speeches invoke justice and rights, and the idea of the republic is publicly honoured. Yet alongside this celebration sits an uncomfortable reality. The society for which the Constitution was written and the society we inhabit today are no longer the same. The distance between constitutional promise and lived experience has grown wide enough to swallow lives.

The death of Yuvraj Mehta in Noida forces us to confront this gap. His death was quickly described as an accident, but that word hides more than it explains. What happened to him was the result of decisions taken by institutions, authorities, and private actors over time. The system failed at multiple points, and when systems fail in predictable ways, responsibility cannot be dismissed as misfortune. The system killed Yuvraj Mehta. It is not unique. It is only visible this time.

The Constitution was framed with the assumption that public authority would act in good faith and that institutions would gradually mature. It assumed that roads would be safe, that public works would be regulated, and that the state would respond when a citizen’s life was in danger. These assumptions made sense for a society that valued restraint, accountability, and fear of consequence. Today, those assumptions are under strain. Rapid urbanisation, unchecked construction, and the quiet normalisation of corruption have reshaped public life.

India’s roads tell this story clearly. They are no longer just pathways for movement but spaces of constant uncertainty. Citizens are expected to navigate danger as a daily skill. This acceptance of disorder is not harmless. When safety becomes optional, life becomes negotiable. The absence of basic road safety is reflects a deeper tolerance for risk imposed on the public without consent.

The moot point in this tragedy is that the pit that led to Yuvraj Mehta’s death did not appear overnight. It existed because construction was allowed to proceed without safeguards and because oversight mechanisms chose silence over enforcement. Builders dig, authorities approve or ignore, and accountability dissolves into paperwork. These are not isolated failures. They form a pattern in which public spaces are slowly converted into hazards. Such man made traps exist across cities and towns, waiting quietly until someone falls into them.

This reality raises a troubling question about India’s democratic structure. The legislature creates rules, the executive enforces them, and the judiciary is meant to protect rights. When unsafe construction thrives, when violations are routine, and when no one is held accountable after loss of life, these pillars appear present but hollow. Democracy survives in form while failing in function. The Constitution promises protection, yet governance delivers exposure.

What followed the incident deepened this concern. For over two hours, Yuvraj Mehta remained alive and asked for help. Police and rescue agencies were present, yet they could not act effectively. This was not merely a failure of equipment or technique, but that of readiness, confidence, and institutional clarity. Emergency services exist for moments exactly like these. When they hesitate, life slips away.

This paralysis is familiar to many Indians. Accidents, medical emergencies, and disasters often reveal systems that arrive but do not rescue, that observe but do not intervene decisively. Fear of responsibility, lack of training, and procedural confusion take precedence over human urgency. Citizens learn that even when help is near, survival is uncertain.

Republic Day invites reflection, not just celebration. It asks whether the Constitution we honour is being honoured in practice. The document itself remains powerful, but its success depends on the society that lives by it. When corruption shapes development, when safety is treated as inconvenience, and when institutions avoid accountability, constitutional values weaken on the ground.

The question before us is not whether the Constitution has failed, but whether we have drifted too far from the society it imagined. A republic cannot function when public life is filled with hidden dangers and official indifference. It cannot thrive when lives are lost to hazards that were preventable and ignored.

Yuvraj Mehta’s death should not be remembered as a tragic exception. It should be recognised as a warning. The system that killed him operates quietly every day. Most of the time, its victims remain unseen. On this Republic Day, the least we owe to the Constitution is honesty. We must ask ourselves how many such traps surround us, and how many lives it will take before responsibility becomes unavoidable.

Global Warming, Global Warning from Europe

Climate change is now killing people, their livelihood, ecosystem, biodiversity, houses, businesses and livestock in developed countries also. A whole host of European countries like Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Greece and a few others are recording highest ever temperatures in their history. On 19th July, Britain broke its record for highest temperature with 40.3 degrees Celsius and France recorded 40.5 degree Celsius. Temperatures hit 47 degree Celsius in Portugal last week amid the harshest heat wave, searing swaths of Europe. In several other countries of the continent too, temperatures are hovering around 40 degree Celsius and causing unprecedented problems to the people, who otherwise are accustomed to living in temperate conditions. Extreme heat is proving to be deadly especially for the vulnerable group of people like elderly, small children, those with preexisting medical conditions and the people with little or no access to cooling. Portugal has reported over one thousand deaths due to the heat-wave till date.

In Europe, people normally don’t need an AC as the temperature remains moderate even during summer, hence they are unprepared for the onslaught of extreme heat conditions. For example, in Britain, estimatedly only about 3% of homes have AC. In that case, the tormenting heat wave causes much trouble to the people, particularly when it remains high during night, depriving them of much need respite. In the wake of extreme heat conditions, Britain triggered a national emergency alert with met scientists blaming climate change and wildfires for the situation. The situations become much worrying as meteorologists predict hotter days ahead with frequent episodes of extreme weather conditions as wildfires start very easily and spread rapidly when conditions are hotter.

Massive wild fires in France, Greece, Portugal, Spain and in some parts of Britain, have already destroyed thousands of hectares of land, forcing thousands of residents to flee to safer places. Extreme heat conditions are displacing people in thousands in southern France, Spain, Portugal and other countries with at least 28,000 evacuated in France alone. Efforts are on to quell the fire, however, the burning blazes are too difficult to be controlled, putting even several apartments on the highest state of alert. Soaring temperatures are causing grass fires in several countries and cities including London, one of the financial capitals of the world. In certain parts of Britain, people have been asked not to travel unless absolutely necessary as the extreme heat has started disturbing rail, air and bus services and disrupting power supplies also. Flights from London were temporarily disrupted and diverted after searing temperatures caused a small section of the runway to lift.

Environmentalists across the globe say, the crushing heat is largely being caused by climate change, which is fairly coupled by the wild fire in some parts of the globe. The air mass responsible for this extreme situation in Europe, is said have been originated in northwest Africa with a heat dome and an area of low pressure. Successive researches also show that certain heat extremes would not have been possible if we had taken the required initiatives well in time. Human caused climate change is now costing us dearly. Warmer temperatures over time change weather patterns and disrupt the usual balance of nature, besides posing many risks to human beings by increasing heat related illnesses, making it difficult to work and move around. Climate changes also seriously affect other forms of life on the Earth. Major parts of the globe are now seeing more hot days and heat waves with 2020 being one of the hottest years on record. Hence, it is now or never for us to wake up to the environmental realities.

Doubling of Farmers’ Income

It is heartening that Narendra Modi government’s persistent efforts for the farmers are now yielding desired results. On the back of a plethora of ambitious and encouraging government policies like easy availability of fertilizers, crop insurance schemes, easy access to credit, increased focus on cash crops, encouragement to agri-entrepreneurship, farm loan waiver to the distressed farmers, kisan credit card scheme and others, the farm sector now appears to be undergoing a tectonic shift. Compared to financial year 2017-18, farmer’s income has doubled in fiscal 2021-22 for certain crops in some states. Even in remaining states, the income of the farmers grew in the range of 1.3 to 1.7 times during last five years.

The minimum support price (MSP) increasing by 1.5 to 2.3 times since 2014 and becoming increasingly aligned with market linked prices, has contributed significantly in ensuring the passage of higher prices to farmers. Moreover, setting the floor price benchmark for multiple crop varieties, which are 23 presently, also sufficiently inspire farmers to move over to the crop varies which promise better yield. A significant jump in farm and non-farm income of farmers is helping a number of rural people imbibing entrepreneurial spirit in their efforts. Aspirational districts programme has also been a huge success in respect of self help group financing in last four years, assisting needy farmer to access required resources for their cultivation.

The Kisan Credit Card scheme (KCC) is doing a great job in bringing a large number of farmers under the formal credit mechanism. Presently, KCC loans are available to farmers engaged in crop husbandry, animal husbandry and other allied activities for both the short term and long term. The government of India is also implementing an interest subvention scheme for short term crop loans through KCC, under which, short term loans up to Rs. 3 lakhs are given to the farmers at concessional rate of 7% and additional 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) makes the effective rate of interest at 4%.

Driven by government policies, the exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 14 percent in the first three months of the current Financial Year 2022-23 compared to the corresponding period of FY 22. India’s agricultural products exports grew by 19.92% during 2021-22 to touch USD 50.21 billion.

A research report by SBI has clearly shown that the farm sector is currently in the throes of a significant structural shift. However, farmers engaged in cash crop cultivation saw their income increase at a significantly higher rate, compared to those engaged in cultivation of non-cash crops. For example, the income of farmers cultivating soybean in Maharashtra and cotton in Karnataka became double during this period. While, allied/non-farm income also showed a significant rise of 1.4-1.8 times in the majority of states. The 77th National Sample Survey corroborated that the source of farmer income has become increasingly diverse apart from crops.

However, since 2014, out of about 37 million eligible farmers, only around 50% of farmers received the amount of loan waiver till March 2022. Notably, in some of the states more than 90% of farmers received the debt waiver amount. SBI is of the view that farm loan waivers by states have failed to provide relief to the intended recipients, sabotaged credit discipline in certain geographies and made banks wary of further lending.

Global Politicians of Indian Origin

Now, with Rishi Sunak emerging as the frontrunner to succeed Boris Johnson as the conservative party leader and next Prime Minister of Britain, the fast growing stature and importance of Indian diaspora on foreign lands, has once again come in rave discussion, capturing the flying imagination of many. Sunak, has already won two rounds of votes of party MPs for the position, attracting heavyweight support from former cabinet colleagues. His policy of ‘whatever it takes’ to help the people through pandemic as Chancellor of the country, won him immense support from people and party. Earlier, UK home secretary Priti Patel also attracted much of the attention, besides several parliamentarians dominating the political horizon of many countries.

There is a long list of more than two dozen heads of state and heads of government of the sovereign countries who are of full or partial Indian origin. Large countries like US, Canada and other have several Indians, who have ascended to top leadership positions in the government they are representing now including Kamala Devi Harris being current vice president of the United States or the former first Indian origin Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar. According to the Ministry of External Affairs report, there are more than 3 crore NRIs and OCIs residing outside India with around 200+ Indian origin people already serving in their most significant capacity in 15 countries.

Every year around 25 lakhs Indians migrate overseas, reflecting the full multiplicity of the rich Indian social, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of the land of their origin. India has always been sensitive to the emotions of the diaspora and vice-e-versa. Acting in true spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the diaspora also bridge in the crevices for wider well being and prosperity.
The current government at the Centre launched a scheme called ‘Know India Program’ in 2016 for diaspora engagement, which helps familiarize Indian-origin youth with their Indian roots and contemporary India. The way Indian Government has been trying to reach out to the people of Indian origin in last eight years and opening up of a new range of opportunities for emerging generations, has inspired them to also explore new avenues and sectors of mutually beneficial interactions, which include investment in India, transfer of skills and technologies and charitable works.

Indian diaspora is one of the richest minorities in many developed countries, lobbying for favourable terms regarding India’s interests out of their love for their country of origin. For example, US has around 4.2 million people of Indian origin and they are the most educated and richest minority. According to the World Bank, the estimated U.S. 87 billion dollar in official remittances was received in India in 2021, which is the world’s largest such flow and amounted to nearly 15% of all such global transfers. People of Indian origin started migrating overseas in large numbers in the 19th century. This migration was driven by the economic compulsions of the colonial powers. Initially, Indians spread to African, Southeast Asia, Fiji and the Caribbean in response to the enormous demand for cheap labour arising immediately after the abolition of slavery in 1833-1834 by the British and then migrated in the midst of the 20th century in search of better life and livelihood to countries like US, UK and others.

Coming back to Rishi Sunak’s race for the Prime Ministership, the road ahead still looks full of thorns and will be closely watched by the political observers as frontrunners in the past stumbled in the end. The new PM is expected to be announced on 5 September. Whoever wins the race, it will be the most diverse and representative leadership contest in UK history.

EdTech and Education of Technology

The whole period of COVID-19 outbreak was a turning point for the entire globe making the third decade of the 21st century probably the most crucial one in terms of smartly and efficiently shifting to a tech-based living and learning. The clarity regarding the connection between technology and education lies in understanding three factors i.e. Learning with AI/ML etc., learning about AI, and preparing for AI. It can be said that the very pace at which these three factors get implemented in a nation is also the rate at which that country is progressing in building AI infrastructure.

AI/ML, Virtual Reality, Supercomputing, IoT, Bigdata, Cloud computing, use of robotics, etc. can enable automation, personalised learning, predictive analysis, deep behavorial insights, smart infrastructure, identification of damaging data patterns, tech-oriented understanding and logical thinking, and a lot more. This type of setup is so powerful that it can fill the cognitive gaps between the social, creative and logical aspects of the human brain as it showcases how the theories convert into practical applications.

The more advanced complex AI tools in the form of supercomputers form another significant sector as far as technological prowess is concerned. To further enhance its capacity in the domain, India launched the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) in 2015. Under NSM, the plan was to connect R&D institutions and academic institutions in the country using a supercomputing grid with more than 70 high performance computing facilities. Increased focus here made India’s fastest and largest supercomputer PARAM-Siddhi AI and supercomputer MIHIR secure the 62nd & 146th spot respectively in the list of World’s top 500 Supercomputers in 2020. The first three positions were captured by Japan and the United States. Many other kinds of computing like Neuromorphic computing, quantum computing, reversible computing, Atomtronics, etc. are becoming a matter of interest to many scholars and researchers, as the government around the globe consider and study the scope of spending more on R&D and institutionalization.

This very fact also explains the growth of ed-tech as a sector globally in terms of both investment and opportunities. A recent data collected by the newly-formed Indian EdTech Consortium (IEC), under the aegis of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), showed that the Indian edtech sector has generated over 75,000 jobs for the Indian workforce in the past five years. The consortium also claimed that over 50,000 professionals are currently part of the ed-tech ecosystem. These kind of new opportunities will very relevantly get superimposed on to the readiness that is being ensured through strong policy change in Indian education system via NEP 2020.

A lot of developments have been taking place in India to further the ed-tech domain. The National Education Alliance for Technology (NEAT), which is being implemented by AICTE, aims to act as a bridge between edtech companies, academic institutions and students. The initiative was taken after a Ministry of Education review noted that learning tools developed by edtech platforms that can supplement classroom teaching need to be made more accessible. So far, the government has roped in 58 edtech companies to the NEAT portal. A comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA was also launched in the country which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. This will benefit nearly 25 crore school going children across the country as it offers remote learning, SWAYAM online courses, one earmarked TV channel per class from 1 to 12, extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast via Shiksha Vani, special e-content for visually and hearing impaired, and a lot other provisions. Expansion of the ‘one class, one TV channel’ program (from 12 TV channels to a total of 200 channels) was also announced in the Budget this year. This will enable all states to provide supplementary education for classes in regional languages for classes 1 to 12. Government is also trying to make available High-quality E content in all spoken languages for delivery via internet mobile phones, TV and through radio and digital teachers.

Academia and industry collaboration needs

Cultivating a skilled workforce becomes a rock solid pillar for the country’s progressive economy. In this fast-pacing competitive world, fresh young minds, ready to enter the industry, should be trained for the future, i.e., instilling creative thinking in sync with academic knowledge. As we are preparing for the future, this is where we should increasingly leverage research advances along with technical expertise.

Hence, academic-industry collaboration is fast becoming a rage all across the globe, especially in developing economies like India, as the gap between education system and industries’ expectations has widened in the last few decades. Unmindful of what industries needed or the existing trends were, academics rather focused on just providing education, whether it is science, humanities, technical, professional and others. This is the reason why successive market research on technical and professional education by industry bodies like ASSOCHAM paint a grim and gloomy picture of what is being provided to the students in the name of technical and professional education.

Now it is increasingly recognized across the globe that close interface between academia and industry not only prepares students as per the changing needs and aspirations of the industry, but also promotes innovation and growth. A partnership between educational institutions and industry prove to be instrumental in advancing research and development, besides creating a skilled workforce which companies need.

Most of the time, industry is prone to innovating new ways, processes and technologies to reap rich benefits and broaden economic horizons and activities, however majority of the institutions get accustomed to working on a set pattern, which keep them away from the fast changing realities of the industry. The western world recognized this fact very early that the task of commercializing creative ideas lies with the industry and it is possible only when academia has close collaboration with the economic activities going on in the market.

In the present times of knowledge economy, it is a critical requirement to have such an interface. Close interactions among universities, research institutions and private companies also help prepare the students for the required work, which also saves precious time spent on training the new recruits upon joining a company or industry.

The constantly changing paradigms and complexities of the industry, business, technical processes and people, necessitate that these two come closer for greater benefit of both. A productive collaboration between these two is critical for the knowledge economy and, for that, the curriculum for schools, colleges, universities and all technical and professional courses should also be designed in such a way that ensures that the education imparted should lead to creation of expertise and skills that the industry needs. And fortunately, the New Education Policy (NEP) is set to help in this direction.

Gains in Gender Gap Report

Gender parity or gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable society. It is heartening to note here that India’s overall ranking in attaining gender parity has seen an improvement in 2022, thanks to a number of women centric plans, programmes and policies being worked vigorously upon for last several years by the government at the Centre. Good thing is that such programmes promise a lot more for the years to come as their execution work is gradually getting on to the ground. More women are now serving in the positions of power, leadership and laws. More girls are going to school and there’s hardly any region now in the country where people force girls into doing early marriage with stringent laws in place. India, as a nation, has undergone a transformational change as today, women are getting equal opportunities as men in terms of education, profession, choices and pursuits. Government and administration have also started taking into due consideration the concerns related to women safety, hygiene and sanitation.

All these factors have contributed to the country jumping five places to 135 out of the 146 benchmarked this year. Last year India was ranked 140 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest Gender Gap Report, which benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions such as economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. On a 0 to 1 scale, where 1 represents the optimal situation or parity, India scored 0.629 on gender parity, which is its seventh-highest score in the past 16 years. In 2022, India’s overall score has improved from 0.625 in 2021 to 0.629. Of all the sub-indices, in terms of political empowerment of women, India was ranked the highest 48th out of 146.

India registers the most significant and positive change to its performance on economic participation and opportunity, however, the global gender gap score of India has oscillated between 0.593 and 0.683 since the first index. The WEF report also suggests that with a female population of approximately 66.2 crore, India’s achievements on these parameters weigh heavily on regional rankings. The report has also appreciated the increase in the share of women legislators, senior officials and managers in India from 14.6% to 17.6%. The share of women as professional and technical workers also grew in India from 29.2% to 32.9%. The gender parity score for estimated earned income has also grown in India. However, the educational attainment and health and survival sub-indexes have reported small developments. The economic participation and opportunity sub-index increased mainly because of the gains for women in professional and technical roles and a decrease in the wage gap.

Comparing with the top ranking countries, India still needs to improve a lot more especially in terms of economic participation and opportunities, educational attainment and health and survival among others to give its women folk a much more respectable position, that they deserve. This is very much achievable given the change that has come in last 7-8 years due to fair promotion of gender-equitable attitudes and practices among India’s children and youth. For the first time since availability of records, India has more females as compared to males. The number of females per 1,000 males increased from 991 in 2015-16 to 1,020 in 2019-21. The sex ratio at birth has also witnessed an increase from 919 in 2015-16 to 929 in 2019-21. Further, India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has dropped by 10 points. Also, the data shows a decline in the crime against women during the year 2020 (3,71,503) as compared to 2019(4,05,326). Today women are not only working in every wing of the Indian Army, but now they are also getting permanent commissions. The number of women officers has almost tripled in last 6 years.

Since, the Vedic times, women play a crucial role in the upliftment of society, and by paving way for more & more avenues for women, in not just defence but also in other sectors would lead to a ‘New India’ where men & women are making equal contribution in the overall development of the nation.

Philanthropists needed for Old Age Crisis

The number of aged people, who end up being in old age homes in the last leg of their life, is growing with social transformation and evolving lifestyles. The changing notions of the family and relations, fast urbanization, movement of the youth to different places in search of better life & career, growing nuclear family system, generation gap, weakening cultural ethos and scarce of resources are also some of the factors that adequately add to this process.

With Amitabh Bachchan making an announcement on Twitter about the dream of late Lata Mangeshkar to build an old age home named Swar Mauli near Nashik for ageing artists from the field of theatre, music, cinema and the performing arts, who have fallen on hard times, the issue has again shot into limelight. Bollywood celebrities like Pravin Babi, Meena Kumari, Vimi, A K Hangal, Rajendra Malone, Naseem Bano, Cuckoo, Bhagwan Dada, Bharat Bhushan, Chandra Mohan and a few others are among many stars who spent their last days in loneliness and penury. Even Dada Saheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema met a lone and tragic death with no one around. We often tend to remember the tragic part of only top personalities, however, a lot more are forced to live in dark and doom, whom hardly anyone cares for.

Here comes the role of philanthropists, playing a vital role for welfare of the society. Though, this trend is not quite popular up in India, it is fast picking up with a few corporate benevolent pledging big sum of money for the humanitarian causes. Only recently, Gautam Adani, India’s richest man pledged to donate Rs. 60,000 crore towards charity, which is one tenth of his total net worth of around 95 billion dollar and this money will be used for a range of social causes including healthcare, education and skill development. The chairman of Wipro has consistently been by far the biggest philanthropist among Indian billionaires. With his foundation established in 2001, Azin Premji is doing a lot of works to improve the quality education especially in rural India. Having worked with over 3.5 lakh schools in the country, Premji has donated over Rs. 17,600 crore in the last two years and Rs. 7904 crore in 2020. HCL Technologies founder-chairman Shiv Nadar too has been at the forefront, donating money for humanitarian causes (Donation of Rs. 1263 crore in 2021 itself).

Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance Industries donated Rs. 557 crore in the last fiscal and occupied the third spot in EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021. Similarly, Kumar Mangalam Birla and family donated Rs. 337 crore in the same year and stood at fourth spot on the list. Aditya Birla Group donated Rs. 400 crore to the PM CARES Fund and 50 crore to FICCI-Aditya Birla CSR Centre for Excellence. Among top donators, Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani with Rs. 183 crore, Hindusja family with Rs. 166 crore, the Bajaj family with Rs. 136 crore, Anil Agrawal and family with Rs. 130 crore and Burman family of Dabur Group with Rs. 114 crore in financial year 2021, occupy space among the top 10.

The growing challenges thrown upon the people in old age, besides a large number of people already facing poverty, deprivation, malnutrition and all sorts of shortages, there is always a need to make an effort to help and support social welfare causes by way of donations. This is the reason why most of the CSR efforts in India are guided towards education, health, women and children, skill building and old age people.

PIMS to correct wrongs of Paper

The dumping is seriously impacting the economic viability of Indian paper mills. Moreover, this trend jeopardizes the income and employment of thousands of people including farmers engaged in agro-forestry and supplying wood to the industry, besides leading to a loss of revenue for the government. According to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India, imports of paper and paperboard in India increased to 742.45 million dollar in 2021 from 482.94 million dollar in 2020, which suggests the pace of import growth.

Considering the concerns of the domestic industry, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has now rightly introduced Paper Import Monitoring System (PIMS) by amending the import policy of major paper products from ‘Free’ to ‘Free subject to compulsory registration under PIMS’, which will come into effect from 1st of October, 2022. The PIMS will be applicable on import by a domestic territory area unit on a wide range of paper products covering 201 tariff lines, such as newsprint, handmade paper, coated paper, uncoated paper, litho and offset paper, tissue paper, toilet paper, cartons, labels, account books, bobbins, parchment paper, carbon paper etc. However, paper products like currency paper, bank bond and cheque paper, security printing paper among a few others, have been excluded from mandatory registration.

The introduction of Paper Import Monitoring System (PIMS) is well intended to curb imports under ‘Others’ category tariff lines. The previous regulation was marred with loopholes allowing dumping of paper products in the domestic market by way of under-invoicing, entry of prohibited goods by mis-declaration and re-routing goods through other countries in lieu of trade agreements. Countries like China and Indonesia, which have considerable amount of excess domestic production capacity, have been using this opportunity to push their excess inventory into India at very low prices, which attract either zero import duty under the India-ASEAN FTA or a preferential import duty under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement. This had given a surge to the paper import at the cost of the domestic paper manufacturers who are operating under challenging conditions caused by Covid-19, import and price related issues among others. A large quantity of paper products is imported under the ‘Others’ category tariff lines only.

This move of the Government of India is set to pave the way for the promotion of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar’ initiative in this sector too. Further, despite digitalization and Covid-19 related shock to the paper industry, the paper consumption in the country is likely to grow at 6-7% annually and may reach 30 million tonnes by 2026-27 by industry estimates. The per capita consumption of paper in India is very low in India comparing with developed countries, holding immense potential for the growth. India consumes around 5% of the global consumption, while its population is almost 16% of the globe. Now with the increasing focus of the government on education and literacy coupled with continuous growth of the retail industry, quality packing of FMCG products, pharmaceuticals, textiles, booming e-commerce and other segments, the consumption is expected to pick up fast. The domestic paper market presently estimated to be of Rs. 80,000 crore, is expected to expand fast.

Building momentum towards Digital Agriculture Mission

Digital agriculture may sound odd to our ears, but it is fast becoming a reality, thanks to continuous and greater policy interventions by the Government of India into promoting farm and field-based development and advancement. This transformational journey promises big for crores of agricultural households, who need constant addition to their earnings. Since digital technologies are powerful means for connecting faster with the concerned people, streamlining processes, supporting innovations, bringing in transparency, ensuring efficiency and creating revenue streams, the Centre is putting in a lot of efforts to harness their power to pilot innovative ways, tools and approaches for agriculture sector. Digital agriculture doesn’t only intend to increase the income of farmers and rural households, but also inspire youth entrepreneurs to involve in agriculture and rural economy, which does generate jobs for the youth.

The ubiquity, mobility and agility of digital technologies have already transformed agriculture and food production in many parts of the globe. The widespread use of mobile technologies, remote sensing services and computing tools make it much easier for the farmers to access relevant information, inputs, markets, supply chains, higher productivity, besides reduction in operational costs, which invariably result in greater income. The Union Budget 2022-23 outlined a clear policy vision for delivery of digital and hi-tech services to farmers with involvement of public sector research and extension institutions along with private agri-tech player and stakeholders of agri-value chains.

‘Digital Agriculture Mission’ is yet to be finalized. However, a number of activities and initiatives are already on. A high level task force is in the process of finalizing India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) report. Based on the views of subject experts, farmers, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and general public, the concerned department is in the process of finalizing a framework for creating ‘Agristack’ in the country, which will serve as a foundation to build innovative agri-focused solutions leveraging digital technologies to contribute effectively towards increasing the income of farmers and improve efficiency of the agriculture sector.

To give momentum to this process of digital agriculture, leading technology, agri-tech, start-ups have been invited to collaborate with the Government of India and develop Proof of Concepts (PoC) based on data of select districts and villages. Companies were invited to sign MoU on purely pro bono basis and develop the PoCs, which will help in understanding the uses of Agristack and service & solutions that can be built using available data. If found beneficial to the farmers, it would be scaled up at national level. Under National e-Governance Plan in agriculture, funds are released to the states and union territories for the projects involving use of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, block chain technology, internet of things, robotics among others.

Various mobile applications including KisanSuvidha have also been developed to facilitate dissemination of information to farmers on the critical parameters like weather, market prices, plant protection, agro-advisory, extreme weather alerts, input dealers of seed, pesticide, fertilizer, farm machinery, soil health card, cold storage & godowns, soil testing laboratories, veterinary centre, diagnostic labs, crop insurance premium calculator and the government schemes. And all stakeholders like state governments, state agriculture universities, ICAR, agritech start-ups, agri industry, banks, think tank, civil society, and farmer organizations have been involved in the process. Clearly, digital doesn’t remain to be just a fashionable word meant for technologists, now it is also empowering millions of farmers.