India's manufacturing sector on revival path

NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): India's manufacturing sector shows signs of revival and is in on the higher growth trajectory in the first half of the current fiscal (April-September 2009), revealed the latest comprehensive CII m-ASCON survey undertaken by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the period April-September 2009 over April-September 2008.

CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT – THE ROAD MAP AHEAD

With increasing globalisation, liberalisation and harmonisation of economies of various nations coming together the issues concerning consumer protection are now being accorded the topmost priority by the respective Government. The Consumer movement in India is as old as trade and commerce. In Kautilya’s Arthshastra there are references to the concept of protection of consumers by the king against exploitation by the trader and retailer with respect to quality, short rate, measurement and adulteration of goods.

The growing size and complexity of production and distribution systems, the high level of sophistication in marketing and newer methods of advertising, mass marketing methods and emergence of e-commerce result in reduction of personal interaction between buyers and sellers has contributed to the increased need of consumer protection.

Consumer Protection – Priority Area for Government

As the nation celebrates the National Consumer Day to commemorate the enactment of Consumer Protection Act on 24^th December, 1986, the Government is treating consumer protection as one of its topmost priority areas.

However, making of a law in itself is not the end. Education and awareness is the most powerful tool for the progress of the country and an educated individual is able to make rationale choice as a consumer. An aware consumer protects himself from trade and business exploitation.

Basic Framework for Consumer Protection

Consumer protection initiatives by the Government hinge on 3 basic parameters.

Firstly ensuring a legal framework that comprises of Consumer Protection Act (CPA). The Act enacted in 1986 has been recognised as one of the finest basis of legislation enacted in any part of the world and India can boast of being only country having such specialised legislation for consumer protection. The CPA has a three tier, simple, quasi judicial machinery at the National, State and District level for hearing cases raised by consumers.

Secondly, evolving standards for different products to enable the consumers to make an informed choice about different products. Standards which are the essential building block for quality play a key role in consumer protection. Standard could be on technical requirement (specifications), improved specific standard terminology (glossary of terms),codes of practice or test methods or management systems standards. The standards are set generally by Government or inter-Governmental bodies but world wide it is being recognised that voluntary establishment of standards play an equally important role for protecting consumers.

Thirdly, consumer awareness and education is the main building block for consumer protection. An enlightened consumer is an empowered consumer. An aware consumer not only protects himself from exploitation but induces efficiency, transparency and accountability in the entire manufacturing and services sector.

National Action Plan on Consumer Protection

Consequent upon the 50^th National Development Council Meeting Planning Commission has identified consumer awareness, redressal and enforcement of Consumer Protection Act as a priority agency for action by the Department of Consumer Affairs. The allocation for consumer protection activities was significantly enhanced in the last two years and for the 11^th Plan a sum of Rs. 409 crore has been embarked exclusively for mounting a publicity campaign to make consumers aware of their rights. The plan has been approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee and consequent upon getting Cabinet approval a comprehensive multi media campaign shall be launched with ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ as the theme to make consumers aware.

Consumer Protection – The Road Map ahead

The Department of Consumer Affairs has embarked on an ambitious array of activities with due support from Planning Commission and Ministry of Finance.

CONFONET Project

A project titled Computerisation and Computer Networking of consumer fora in the country is being executed on a turnkey basis by the National Informatics Centre. Under this scheme the consumer fora on all the three tiers would be fully computerised and interconnected enabling them to access information leading to quicker disposal of cases. Out of 35 State Commissions and 607 District Fora, 33 State Commissions and 555 district Fora have been covered under this project so far. The project ultimately aims at enabling online registration of complaints by the consumers and will prove to be a significant step forward in easier access to consumer fora.

Time Bound Disposal Of Cases

In a country of vast magnitude as India prompt redressal of complaints is a mammoth task inspite of various constraints a consumer forum have achieved remarkable success. They have disposed of around 88% cases out of more than 27 lakh cases filed so far. There have been occasional delays in disposal of cases by the redressal agencies. Taking due cognisance of the need to expedite, the Department of Consumer Affairs is in the process of amending the Consumer Protection Act further to prescribe a specific time frame for disposal of cases.

Awareness Campaign

In a big country like India, given the scenario of economic disparity and level of education and ignorance, educating the consumers remains a gigantic task. Government has taken up number of activities and schemes in creating consumer awareness. The slogan ‘Jago Grahak Jago’ has now been well established and through multi media publicity campaign revolving around this theme Government has endeavoured to inform the common man of his rights as a consumer.

Consumer Clubs

The scheme for setting up of consumer clubs in schools and colleges have been introduced to make the youngsters aware of their rights as a consumer. Research institutes/universities/colleges are also being involved in promoting consumer protection and consumer welfare.

Private Public Partnership

Role of academic and consumer organisations as well as the NGOs is therefore to educate and involve the consumers in the movement. Therefore, they have been given a prominent role in the Consumer Protection Act itself to take up cases on behalf of consumers which could be of an individual or a group of consumers. In fact CPA is a unique piece of legislation wherein it introduced the concept of what later came to be known more popularly as the PIL.

Alliance With FICCI

Various programmes have been undertaken under the Consumer Welfare Fund to strengthen the consumer movement in the country. The recent initiative of the Department was to involve trade and industry associations to make them redress the grievances of consumers through a voluntary code of conduct. A project known as “FICCI Alliance for Consumer Care” is being undertaken with the support of the Central Government. All these measures are expected to resolve consumers’ complaints at the first point of contact itself, thereby reducing the workload on the ConsumerFora.

Tie Up With Legal Institutions

A need has been felt to address the major concerns of consumers in some critical areas, which require technical expertise of high order. The Department has therefore, communicated with leading Institutions/Central Universities like IITs, IIMs, National Law Universities etc, with the objective of setting up Centres of Excellence or Chair on Consumer Studies focusing on a particular area of consumer welfare. As a result the Department has set up an exclusive Chair on Consumer Law and Practice in the National Law School of India University at Bangalore and a Centre for Consumer studies at Indian Institute of Public Administration.

Online Consumer Guidance

The Department has started a ‘Consumer Online Resource and Empowerment Centre (CORE Centre)’ for providing consumer related information, guidance and consumer complaint guidance mechanism through the online medium. It is being run by the Consumer Coordination Council (CCC), which is a coalition of 51 consumer organizations of this country. A Comparative Testing of products and services is being implemented by the VOICE Society, New Delhi in order to monitor the Quality Standards of Products and Services through comparative testing, and dissemination of information to consumers through publications.

Consumer Helpline (NCH)

To advise the consumers on the various issues concerning consumer protection a ‘National Consumer Helpline’ is being operated through theUniversity of Delhi with the support of Department of Consumer Affairs. The toll no. 1800-11-4000 allows a consumer anywhere in the country to call this number and get proper advise regarding his problem. From its inception around 1,25,000 calls have been received which shows its efficacy. The NCH is being further strengthened with setting up of state level consumer helpline which will provide service in regional languages also.

Strengthening Of Infrastructure

Another area, which relates to consumer protection is the implementation of weights and measures laws. During 11^th Plan, it has been proposed to augment the infrastructure available with the States/UTs at a cost of Rs. 325 crore. Under the scheme of Strengthening of Weights and Measures infrastructure of States/UTs, the standards laboratories of the States/UTs are being strengthened by providing them with 270 sets of working standard balances, 59 sets of secondary standard balances and 34 mobile kit of testing weighing bridges. The Package Commodity Rules 1977 has been amended in July 2006 for the benefit of the consumers.

Thrust On Standardisation

In helping the consumer exercise their rights, quality and standards have a crucial role to play. Standards provide consumers with reliable benchmarks of quality. Quality consciousness is not yet a way of life in India as it is in the West. The Bureau of Indian Standards has taken initiatives in introducing a certification scheme for foreign manufacturers and imported goods, food safety certification as per ISO Standards. Certification Scheme for Hallmarking of Gold jewellery and Silver artefacts is an important contribution of BIS in safeguarding consumer interests.

Responsibilities of Consumer

Every consumer in own interest has to realise the role and importance in the right perspective. In a competitive economic environment, the consumer has to exercise the choice either in favour of or against the goods and services. The choice is going to be vital and final. One would have to realise the importance and prepare to exercise their rights with responsibility. The consumers in society get a position in the market depending upon what they do or do not do.

Indian billionaires bounce back: Forbes- Hindustan Times

Indian billionaires bounce back: Forbes- Hindustan Times

The number of billionaires in India almost doubled in the past 12 months to 52, mainly thanks to a recovery in global stock markets, a richlist from US magazine Forbes showed on Thursday.

"Happy days are definitely back again for India's richest," said Naazneen Karmali, India editor for Forbes Asia, in a statement accompanying the India Richlist survey.

"This year's list shows yet again that when conditions in the financial markets and the economy are right, India has the scale and resources to produce billionaires faster than most of the countries on Earth."

A rebound in the Mumbai stock exchange, which is up 76 per cent since the start of the year, and continuing economic growth helped enrich the mostly male list of company owners, whose accumulated net worth is equivalent to a quarter of India's gross domestic product.

Last year, the number of billionaires halved to just 27, from 54 in 2007.

"In terms of absolute fortune, we are not at the level we had," Karmali said: "We're back to 52, but in terms of wealth we have not recovered yet."

The head of India's biggest company Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, is once again the wealthiest person in India. His net worth is estimated at 32 billion dollars, an increase of 54 per cent from 2008.

In second place is steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who is worth 30 billion dollars, up 46 per cent from a year earlier, Forbes said.

Mukesh Ambani's estranged brother Anil is in third place with 17.5 billion dollars, 40 per cent higher than before.

The richest newcomers were two brothers from energy group Torrent Power -- Sudhir and Samir Mehta -- whose collective wealth was ranked 23rd at 2.02 billion dollars.

The magazine also underlined the higher concentration of wealth in India compared with China.

The 100 richest Chinese are worth 170 billion dollars, less than their Indian equivalents at 276 billion dollars.

Issues & Priorities of Developing Countries

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Issues & Priorities of Developing Countries

Posted: 04 Sep 2009 11:23 PM PDT

1. The agenda of Developing countries includes agriculture, services (financial, telecommunications, information technology, etc.), intellectual property rights, electronic commerce, investment, government procurement, and competition policy.
2. The developing countries assert that the agenda of the WTO, the implementation of its agreements, and the much-praised dispute settlement system all serve to advance the interests of developed countries and sidelining those of the developing countries.
3. The least developed countries (LDCs) are marginalized in the world trade system, and their products continue to face tariff escalations.
4. Rules uniformly applied to WTO members have brought about inequalities because each member has different economic circumstances.
5. Until the Uruguay Round, which ended in 1994, the trade negotiations focused on nonagricultural goods, mainly because the U.S. always wanted to protect its farm sector.
6. Most developing country economies are in one way or another dependent on the U.S., the EU, or Japan in terms of imports, exports, aid, security, etc. Any obstruction of a consensus at the WTO might threaten the overall well-being and security of dissenting developing nations.
7. Trade negotiations are based on the principle of reciprocity or "trade-offs." This means that if one country gives a concession in an area, such as the lowering of tariffs for a certain product, in return for another country acceding to a certain agreement. However this bartering benefits the large and diversified economies, because they can get more by giving more. (The focus of Develped countries has always been Yeh Dil Maange More !!!)
8. Developing countries have fewer human and technical resources. Hence they often enter negotiations less prepared than their developed country counterparts.
9. Developing countries have discovered that seeking recourse in the dispute settlement system is costly and requires a level of legal expertise that they may not have. Besides, the basis on which the system is run—whether a country is violating free trade rules—is not the most appropriate for their development needs.
10. America has promoted free trade principles only in sectors that benefit the U.S. economy; in other sectors, like textiles, protectionism reigns.
11. Further liberalization in some areas will give Developed countries more access to the resources of the Developing countries thereby further debilitating the domestic economies of developing countries.
12. U.S. influence in the WTO has more often meant U.S. domination than responsible leadership.
13. Instead of promoting beneficial goals for all, America is too often concerned with aggressively expanding its own markets.
14. America's agenda is always it own benefits. It goes with Liberalization if it benefits or goes with protectionism if it. So it is ultimately US interest for US that counts.
15. Exports from developing countries face significant market access impediments in Developed countries.
16. The developed nations have imposed new agreements in telecommunications, information technology, and financial services for the benefits of MNC's and TNC's , so that they get new market access in Developing countries.
17. America has always interpreted WTO agreements to protect its key industries. In textiles and clothing, the U.S. has selectively opened its markets, but this liberalization has proved of little benefit to developing nations.
18. Using creative calculations and interpretations of the Agreement on Agriculture (intended to reduce domestic support and open up markets), the U.S. made a few relatively insignificant changes in its policies to comply with its commitments under the agreement. This makes difficult for the developing countries to enter the US market.
19. The 1996 Farm Bill reduced direct payments to U.S. farmers, but it increased expenditure for export subsidies, thereby providing a net benefit to U.S. agroexporters.
20. Implications of TRIPS: Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) fiercely protects the rights of corporations but easily allows the shared knowledge of indigenous communities to be patented by others. When fully implemented, developing countries will lose billions in rent transfers to rich countries, as TNCs will continue to control virtually all the patents of developing countries.
21. Genetically modified seeds and plants (GMOs) raise costs for farmers and promote monocropping, which increases the incidence of diseases and pests, encourages the use of chemicals, and threatens the biodiversity and genetic purity of plant species.The Developing countries will be unable to halt their imports unless those countries can present scientific proof of harmful effects. In sum, TRIPS will be catastrophic for both health and sustainable agricultural systems in developing countries.
22. Investment Issues: Agreement on investment seeks to gain national treatment and rights for corporations operating in all countries. Small- and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries are unlikely to be able to withstand such competition, leading to the destruction of domestic economies in the LDCs.
23. Issues with Transparency in Government Procurement: Such an agreement will eventually bring about the full-scale opening of government procurement--a trillion dollar business--to foreign companies. Like the investment agreement, this will be detrimental for developing countries, whose enterprises will not be ready for such intense competition.
24. The WTO should consider its top priority to be the development needs of its members.
25. Sections of agreements that work to the disadvantage of developing countries must be changed, including agriculture, TRIPS, textiles, and the dispute settlement system.
26. U.S. domination should end, decisionmaking should be democratic, and each government should consult regularly with its broader society on trade deliberations.
27. A change from a "trade creates wealth" perspective to one that stresses broad-based development is necessary if trade is to improve the living standards of the world's poor and ensure the long-term sustainability of resources.
28. The WTO should emphasize greater self-sufficiency of economies nationally and regionally.
29. Domestic markets, rather than foreign markets, should be the main stimulus of growth.
30. Resources should be used sustainably to support local and national communities.
31. People and the preservation of the environment, rather than capital, should be the primary objectives of any expansion of global trade.
32. Countries must be free to choose if they want overseas investments and, if so, what kind of investments.
33. They must also be able to decide on their tariff rates and other trade barriers in order to protect their industries, as the developed countries have been doing.
34. The U.S. and other developed economies should use its influence to encourage the WTO to become a democratic institution that provides space for a diversity of economic interests.
35. Certain practices and rules in the WTO must be changed to incorporate the realities and broader development agenda of the Developed Countries.
36. All members should be equipped with the technical expertise and human resources to participate fully in the multilateral negotiations.
37. Decisionmaking in the WTO must involve all members. This has not been the case to date; instead the "quad" (U.S., EU, Japan, and Canada) has made many decisions on behalf of all.
38. The dispute settlement system must consider the development needs of countries (especially the most vulnerable & LDCs), not just whether free trade rules have been violated.
39. If developed and developing country farmers are to compete in the same markets, then annual subsidies that developed countries provide to their farmers should be reduced to the negligible amounts near to those developing countries provide. Or developing countries should be allowed to increase both their subsidies and their tariffs to protect their markets from the highly subsidized exports of the developed countries.
40. Small farms in both developed and developing countries should be encouraged, not squeezed out--especially in developing countries, where farming is the source of livelihood for millions.
41. Developed countries should eliminate the tariff escalation on product chains of interest to developing countries. And if the WTO continues to force all countries down the liberalization path, the protected sectors in the U.S. must also be liberalized to open up new export markets for developing nations.
    

Concept of national income

Concept of national income

* National income is calculated by CSO – CENTRAL STATISCAL ORGANISATION
* FROM 2005 BASE YEAR FOR ANY CALCULATION OF NATIONAL INCOME IS TAKEN AS 1999-2000
* BEFORE 2005 BASE YEAR WAS 1993-94
* GDP- GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
* GNP-GROSS NATIONAL PRODUTION
* NNP NET NATIONAL PRODUTION
* NDP NET DOMESTIC PRODUTION
* GDP- GDP IS THE SUM TOTAL OF MARKET VALUE OF ALL FINAL GOODS & SERVICES PRODUCED INSIDE THE NATINAL TERRITORY
* GNP=GDP+INCOME FROM ABROAD
* DEPRECIATION VALUE OF CONSUMPTION OF FIXED CAPITAL =GDP-NDP
* NNP=GNP- DEPRECIATION
* NATIONAL INCOME =GDP-NET TAXES
* NET TAXES =INDIRECT TAXES –SUBSIDIES
* NATIONAL INCOME IS CALCULATED IN TWO WAYS
1. ON CURRNT PRICES IN THIS YEAR PRODUTION IS ALCULATED BY CONSIDRING PRESENT PRICE OF GOODS AND SERVICES
2. ON CONSTANT PRICES IN THIS PRICE ON THE BASE YEEAR IS TAKEN AS THE REFERANCE TO CALCULATE THE NATIONAL INCOME

PER CAPITA INCOME = NATIONAL INCOME/ POPULATION



PPP PURCHASING POWER PARTY INDEX IS CONSTRUCTED BY TAKING INTO ACCOUNT WHAT A UNIT CURRNCY CAN PURCHASE IN ITS OWN COUNTRY



PLANNING IN INDIA

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

1. 1934 M.VISVESHVARYA WROTE THE BOOK PLLANED ECONMY 4 INDIA

2. 1938 NATIONAL PLANNING COMMETEE SET UP

3. 1944 BOMBAY PLAN BY 8 INDUSTRIALIST IN BOMBAY

4. 1945 PEOPLE’S PLAN BY MN ROY

5. 1950 SARVODYA PLAN BY JP NARAYAN

PLANNING COMMISSION

1. 15 MARCH 1950 CONSTITUTED BY GOI
2. NON CONSTITUTIONAL AND NON STATURY BODY
3. PRIME MINISTER IS EX OFFICO HEAD OF THIS
4. FORMULATES FIVE YEAR PLAN