Stronger fiscal federalism

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh recently urged the Centre to do more to enhance the spirit of cooperative federalism. His comments were in the context of the changes made to the terms of reference to the 15th Finance Commission (15FC). These changes were made in July, quite late in the tenure of the 15FC, and especially when the final report was expected by the end of October.Read more 

The Puzzling Ban of E-Cigarettes in India

The Indian government’s own disastrous experience with bans of various substances and services in the past should categorically advise it against such a move in the future. Yet, it is planning to go down the same route again with the case of “e-cigarettes” also known as Electronic Nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). A ban on ENDS, however well-intentioned, will put several former smokers at a greater risk of limiting their access to no-tar alternatives and will end up defeating the larger public health objectives.

In a landmark 200-page report titled “Nicotine without smoke: tobacco harm reduction”, the Royal College of Physicians in the UK concludes that e-cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking, nor do they result in the normalisation of smoking. They find that the available evidence indicates that “e-cigarettes are being used almost exclusively as safer alternatives to smoked tobacco, by confirmed smokers who are trying to reduce harm to themselves or others from smoking or to quit smoking completely”. Importantly, they further categorically find that the long-term harm caused by e-cigarettes is less than 5 percent compared to other tobacco products.

By allowing ENDS to operate in India legally, the government and regulatory bodies can have a lot more control over the product. This includes levying appropriate taxes, issuing public use guidelines, providing information about the product, enforcing a minimum age for sales, and individual product restrictions surrounding flavour choices and nicotine concentration in tobacco or e-cigarette products. In fact, regulators could go further to ensure product standardisation, labelling requirements to indicate the level of nicotine (something which is not in practice today for normal cigarettes), and technological developments in the field to further reduce the harm caused by the products.

Read the full article here

Slow economic growth is both immoral and anti-national. Don’t ignore falling GDP rate

Having convinced ourselves that the Narendra Modi government’s policies cannot be at fault, we are now debating whether the economic slowdown that began in 2017 is cyclical or structural. More than three million people emerge out of poverty for every percentage rise in GDP. The Indian economy will have to grow at over 10 per cent per annum every year to become a five-trillion-dollar economy by 2024. The RBI now projects a growth rate of 6.9 per cent for the next year.Read more

The Evolution of Synthetic Thought

Download the Essay in PDFThe world has never been enough. At least for us, humans. The endeavour to become more than what we are lies at the heart of human civilisation. We have overcome challenges of nature, obstacles of time, physical and mental impediments. Perhaps nothing reflects the culmination of this collective zeal to surpass our capabilities as much as Transhumanism.Transhumanism is a belief that human beings can transcend the limits of physical and mental limitations through technology. For some, a Transhumanist is an ideal to strive towards, and for others, it is both a source and an answer to all of humanity’s problems.Borne out of a belief system that humankind should reach the pinnacle of its capabilities and beyond, Transhumanism comprises augmentations to overcome limitations. While technological augmentations may be a recent endeavour, primitive humans have utilised tools to augment their capabilities. From the wooden spears, they used to hunt, the prosthetic wooden and iron legs to augment walking, all the way to lances in warfare, humans have employed augmentations throughout history. Eyeglasses, clothing, and ploughs signalled a rise in using tools to augment our capabilities.The rise in medical technology, genetic science, and electronics from the 1990s, has opened new frontiers in human capabilities. We don’t merely use technology as enablers but have started adopting it from within in the form of cybernetics. Armbands, deep-brain stimulators, physical and neural augmentations, mechanical and cybernetic implants, and potentially gene editing are technologies that humans can use to enhance themselves and achieve capabilities previously unheard of.On one hand, science is driving innovation in augmentation, and on the other, Transhumanism has given rise to a significant amount of philosophical thought. Notions of challenging what it means to be human, virtues and vices of post-humanism, and the dangers of uncontrolled immortality provoke deep questions that do not have answers but encourage much debate and discourse. There is also an entire section of humanity that believes that the very notion of Transhumanism is irrelevant, for any such technological advancements are several decades away.Transhumanism has generated fear and enthusiasm in equal measures. While proponents extol the virtues of embracing technology to enhance our lives, detractors fear what this will mean to be human at all. The widespread availability of Transhumanist technologies could result in radical life extension, overall well-being and improper perpetuation could create class divides, encourage oppression and even alter geopolitical landscapes.For the first time in human history, we can radically alter our minds and bodies and take shortcuts to the various destinations of natural evolution. This essay looks at Transhumanism from an emerging technological paradigm and attempts to provide an objective view of where Transhumanism is headed and what it means to the rest of the world.[pdf-embedder url="https://takshashila.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/TE-Evolution-of-Synthetic-Thought-CRG-2019-01.pdf"]Download the Essay in PDF

If India is in crisis, it is because good guys like ex-IAS Kannan Gopinathan rather quit

Ex-IAS Kannan Gopinathan’s resignation would have captured public attention even if it had not been in protest against the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah government’s clampdown in Jammu & Kashmir. In his ethical calculus, the benefit of fighting from the inside was lower than the costs of suppressing the voice of his conscience. So, he rightly quit. Yet, a different person in his shoes could have done the right thing by staying in service. Consider.Read more

From AFSPA to street protests, Modi govt needs new thinking in J&K with Article 370 gone

While the constitutionality of the government’s actions, with respect to scrapping Article 370, has been challenged in the Supreme Court, we should not expect the judiciary to overrule the decision entirely. What ought to be of utmost concern now is: Where do we go from here? How do we try to make India — including Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh — a better place than it was before 5 August 2019? What are the necessary policies that the Modi government must adopt to prevent the situation from deteriorating further?

Read more

Finance Commission's New Problem: A Separate Defence Fund

The original terms of references for the FFC themselves were contentious. Based on the wrong assumption that the last Finance Commission was overly generous towards the states, the terms were designed to nudge the FFC towards reducing the tax devolution to the states in order to meet the requirements of central schemes of the Union government. If that wasn’t enough, an additional term of reference has now been recommended by the Union cabinet tasking the FFC “to ensure an assured allocation of resources towards defence and internal security imperatives.”Allocating adequate, secure, and non-lapsable funds for the security of India is indeed an urgent priority. There can be no quarrel about that objective. But the move to provide for these funds through the FFC is problematic for several important reasons.Read the full article on Deccan Herald here.

Article 370 and the rough ride ahead

The analogy of a hornet’s nest fits here. A nest in our backyard is a nuisance and an occasional sting is a minor inconvenience compared to what could be in store now that we have stirred the proverbial nest. Should we batten down the hatches in anticipation of the worst or is there another way?Read more

Indian govt can make taxes look good – by taxing bad behaviour, like honking

An overall look at the second Modi government’s first budget reveals an underlying commitment to raise revenues, mainly in the form of new taxes. In the face of a slowing economy, higher taxes can exacerbate matters. Money in the hands of citizens and investors does a lot more for India than the money that passes through the hands of governments. Given the narrowness of the tax base, it is unfair to levy more taxes on those who are already paying taxes without making greater attempts to bring more people and firms into the tax net. If raising taxes on goods, income, profits and beneficial economic are bad, what option does the government have? Can there be “good taxes”? Yes. They are taxes on the bads.Read more

Need to Protect Soldiers from False FIRs

At the heart of the matter is the urgent necessity of protecting the soldiers from harassment to which they are subjected from the prolonged investigative procedures that ensue. The investigative process itself, for a soldier acting in good faith and in accordance with the orders of his superiors, is a form of punishment that could also entail financial costs through legal fees, disruption of normal life, and deep psychological strain of the proverbial legal sword hanging over their heads.Read more

Budgetary allocations reveal real priorities of NDA 3

The Union budget speech invites a lot of attention in India. However, it is far more useful to look at the budget statements that get released on the day the speech is read out in Parliament. Comparing the vision articulated in the budget speech with the promised allocations in these statements separate the wheat from the chaff.Read more on Deccan Herald Online

Need to Update Competition Law

There are other major deficiencies in the competition law when it comes to understanding internet companies, Manur said. “Without establishing that a company is dominant, the CCI cannot take any action. But we haven’t clearly defined what the relevant markets are for internet companies. Are Ola and Uber the two largest cab companies? Or are they small players in a very large transportation market that included cabs, metros, trains, etc?" This is one of the defences used by internet companies—that their relevant market isn’t restricted to the internet space. For instance, Google and Facebook argue that they are small players in the larger advertising market, online and offline.As it stands, the competition law is not even equipped to detect some of the antitrust issues in the internet space, added Manur, an antitrust regulation researcher.Manur said it was imperative to add the data footprint of an internet firm as one of the metrics in considering the impact on competition. “The consumer data owned by an internet company is one of the most important indicators of its dominance and impact. In gauging M&As in the internet space this factor needs to be added to the list of considerations."Read more

Like Swachh Bharat, Modi wants mission Save Water. Stop free water first

Modi has called for a mass movement — like Swachh Bharat — to save water. Since the new government took office, it has created a water ministry by folding up two older ones, set itself a goal of delivering piped water to all households by 2024, created a water management index that ranks states, and is set to roll out a whole host of measures to conserve water.But, contrary to popular belief and experience, we are not running out of water — 71 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by water. The problem does not lie in nature, but in the fact that Indian society is unable to cooperate in a manner that ensures each one of us has adequate water.Read more

Bihar encephalitis to lynchings to #MeToo – why Indians don’t take issues to the finish line

The Supreme Court Monday “came down heavily on the Centre and Bihar government” for the rising number of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome deaths in Nitish Kumar’s Bihar. Chances are that in 10 days, we won’t remember that over 150 children had died in Muzaffarpur as the news cycle would have turned three or four times by then and we would all be outraging about some entirely different issue. It appears that in India at least, outrage cycles have failed to create change. Even the #MeToo movement has run aground.Read more

Equity sans reservations: Imagining alternate ways for affirmative action

Affirmative action aimed at ending discrimination has a long and complex history in India. A new chapter was added to this story on May 10 when the Supreme Court upheld a Karnataka law, saying quotas for promotion of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates in public employment was constitutional and did not require demonstrating ‘backwardness’ of the community.Even groups opposed to quotas want the same benefit extended to them. For long, this has been the only solution to address inequity in India. So these recent developments provide a good opportunity to reflect on the question: can we imagine better ways to achieve social equity goals?Consider this thought experiment. There are no predetermined quotas for any posts. Positions are filled only based on a composite score of all applicants. The composite score is a combination of two measures. The first is an inequity score — calculated to compensate for the relative disadvantage faced by an applicant.The second measure strictly represents an applicant’s ability to be effective for the position they are applying for. Selection is on the basis of the composite score. No seats are reserved and yet the score allows for addressing multidimensional inequity much better than current methods.Read the full article on FirstPost here. 

This Lok Sabha election, don’t fall for these seven deadly myths

If you are reading this, chances are that you get most of your political information online, on television or on your smartphone. Many myths are floating around these media, and given the echo-chambers and the tribal battlefields that we inhabit, some of the myths are left so unchallenged that they are accepted as truths. Let me debunk some of the most prominent ones.1. Nobody has a monopoly on nationalism. Just because the BJP’s leaders and supporters throw the term “anti-national” at anyone they disagree with, it does not follow that nationalism is the sole preserve of one party. It may be that other parties don’t proclaim nationalism as their main proposition, but it does not follow that they are any less sensitive to national interest.Also, nationalism and patriotism are two different things — like Rabindranath Tagore, you can be a patriot (a person who loves his country) without being a nationalist (a person who believes in the superiority of the national identity).Read more

We need more tourists but not an insurge that overwhelms us

There is a company in Gujarat that is pioneering election tourism in India. It currently offers foreign tourists 15 packages, with names as delightful as “Hustings in Himachal", “Republic of Rajasthan", “Grassroot Democracy of Kerala" and so on.The couple of thousand tourists who have signed up to witness political rallies and follow campaign trails constitute a curious footnote to India’s multi-billion dollar election economy, but the enterprise is still a promising sign as far as the tourism industry is concerned.Read more

Focus on Voting Security Instead of Just EVM Security

Unlike those of other countries, India’s machines are offline, inaccessible via the internet. In India, what started out as genuine concerns have transformed into a thinly veiled excuse each time parties lose elections — no matter that the Election Commission of India (ECI), recognised across major democracies for its independence, has taken steps to address the worries.EVMs have made “booth capturing” — where supporters of a party physically capture a remote polling station and stuff the ballot box to influence the total count — a thing of the past. Make no mistake, India’s electoral process has flaws — fraudulent voter IDs, difficulties eligible voters face in registering and fake news. It’s these challenges India needs to focus on — when votes are counted on May 23, the EVMs can be trusted.Read the full article on ozy. 

Modi govt’s data war: Economists & accountants are fighting for political power like rivals

The recent public intervention by a group of economists over data published under the Narendra Modi government and a rejoinder to them by a bigger group of chartered accountants makes it appear as if public policy is a numbers game. And as if economics and accountancy are two rival ideologies contending for political power. Both these impressions are wrong, dangerous for public policy and corrosive for democracy. Here’s why.At a time when India needs greater expertise in public policy, the oversimplified “economists vs chartered accountants” framing seems to suggest that the two disciplines are substitutes, and in doing so, devalues the role of any expertise in public policy.Just as it would be very unwise to approach an economist to help you with corporate structuring or tax planning, it would be wrong to rely on chartered accountants for recommendations on monetary policy, welfare schemes or public finance.Read More

Lokpal Is the Latest Miracle ‘Weight-Loss Pill’ We Have Bought

Many newspaper editorials, activists and citizens are elated that the Modi government has finally appointed the first chairperson of the Lokpal. Since seven more members remain to be selected and appointed, and the entire organisation has to be staffed according to government rules, it’ll be some time before the institution begins to function. We are still years away from a properly staffed, adequately resourced, and well-functioning anti-corruption ombudsman.Read more