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President calls note ban important step against black money, corruption

President calls note ban important step against black money, corruption

1000 currency, note ban, one thousand noteNew Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that the 2016 demonetization was “an important step” in tackling black money and corruption in the country.

Addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the start of the Budget Session, Kovind said: “Demonetization was an important step in the campaign by the government against black money and corruption. It led to an attack on the parallel economy and it brought unaccounted cash back to the system. It eliminated the forces that were weakening the country.

“My government has taken strong measures against black money,” he said. Agreements have been signed with countries considered as tax havens. As many as 3.38 lakh shell companies have been shut, he added.

The President said the government had seized properties worth over Rs 50,000 crore under Benami Transactions Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and other laws to deal with fugitive economic offenders.

—IANS

Early to conclude economic recovery from note ban, GST impact: Manmohan Singh

Early to conclude economic recovery from note ban, GST impact: Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh

Surat : Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said it was too early to conclude that the economic slowdown has reversed as the 6.3 per cent growth rate in the July-September quarter did not take into account the small and medium sector which suffered huge losses in the aftermath of demonetisation and hasty implementation of GST.

He welcomed the 6.3 per cent growth rate in the July-September quarter but cautioned that it was too early to conclude that the economy has recovered.

“(It) is too early to conclude that this represents a reversal of the declining trend observed in the previous five quarters. Some economists believe that the CSO which released the figures has not adequately captured the impact of demonetisation and GST on the informal sector that accounts for about 30 per cent of the economy,” Singh said addressing professionals and businessmen here in the election-bound state.

He quoted renowned economist Govinda Rao identifying a “problem” with the calculation of manufacturing growth based on corporate results.

“This doesn’t take into account the small and medium sector which suffered the most after demonetisation and the launch of GST. A couple of big worries remain. Farm sector growth fell to 1.7 per cent from 2.3 per cent in the previous quarter and 4.1 per cent in the same quarter last year,” Singh said, citing Rao.

He said that after farming, job losses have been the most in the construction sector.

Singh criticised the BJP government’s economic policies, particularly the “coercive steps” of note ban and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that cost the nation hugely and “broke the back of businesses”.

“We saw the impact of demonetisation on the economy when the GDP growth dropped to 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2017-18 under the new calculations. Even this is bound to be a gross underestimate as the pain of the informal sector is not adequately captured in the GDP calculation.

“Every one per cent loss of our GDP growth rate annually costs our nation Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Think of the human impact from the lost growth — the lost jobs, the youth whose opportunities have vanished, the businesses who had to shut down and the entrepreneurs whose drive to succeed has turned into discouraged disappointment.”

Singh said that the decline in farming and construction sectors was despite the fact that the government had front loaded its spending on projects, “forcing up our fiscal deficit to a high of 96.1 per cent of the Rs 546,432 crore target set for the full year”.

“This means that private spending on construction has been very dismal… Thus there is still considerable uncertainty about the growth of GDP. The RBI forecasts that growth in 2017-19 will pick up to 6.7 per cent. However, even if growth reaches 6.7 per cent in 2017-18, Modiji’s four year average growth rate will be only 7.1 per cent.

“To equal the UPA’s 10 year average, the economy will have to grow at 10.6 per cent in the fifth year. I would be happy if this were to happen, but frankly I do not think it will.”

The former Prime Minister said while Modi claimed to understand Gujarat and the poor “more than anybody else”, how was it that “he never understood the pain his decisions unleashed”.

He hailed the people of Surat city, renowned world over for the diamond and the textile industries, and said it was one of the worst sufferers of note ban and GST.

“It is no wonder that Surat voiced the biggest protests in India against this injustice by the NDA government. You after all come from the land of two great souls — Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. When the Mahatma decided to protest against the unjust British tax on salt, he did it from your backyard in Dandi. Standing up for injustice is in your blood and you raised your voice against the shoddy implementation of GST,” he said.

—IANS

Punjab farmers still reeling under after-effects of Nov 8 decision

Punjab farmers still reeling under after-effects of Nov 8 decision

Punjab farmers(Note Ban Series)

By Jaideep Sarin,

Chandigarh : The ‘Green Revolution’ state is yet to recover from the after-effects of the note ban decision.

The announcement by the Narendra Modi government was sudden and it could not have come at a worse time for farmers in Punjab and neighbouring Haryana as the paddy procurement season was at its peak and payments of over Rs 20,000 crore were yet to be made to the farming community at that time.

With confusion abounding over the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, non-availability of the new currency notes, stoppage of operations of cooperative banks and long queues outside bank branches in rural areas, the farm economy got virtually messed up in both the states.

“The Arhtiyas (commission agents) took full advantage of the situation. Most farmers were already reeling under debt and money was not available to pay them back. The payments for procured paddy was delayed and the situation took a turn for the worst,” farmer Baljit Singh, who has his land near Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district, told IANS.

“It seems the Modi government had no idea of the toll it would take on the poor, debt-ridden farmers in agrarian states like ours. The move was most ill-timed pushing many farmers further into debt. It was an economic anarchy,” he said, expressing the anguish of thousands of affected farmers.

In rural areas of Haryana, long queues were visible three months after the demonetisation announcement was made on November 8 last year, with supply of new currency notes being highly erratic.

“For several weeks, farmers had to suffer, as they could not buy seeds and fertilisers for the next crop on time after the paddy harvest. The government and its agencies did little to help us,” farmer Randeep Singh of Sangrur district told IANS.

Punjab, which has just 1.54 per cent of the country’s geographical area, contributes nearly 50 per cent of the foodgrains to the central kitty.

Farmers say that the sentiment in agriculture and horticulture continues to be down ever since that fateful day.

“The agrarian economy is still reeling under the after-effects of the demonetisation and its cascading effect. The sentiment is still down. The horticulture sector was the worst hit as the citrus fruits like Kinnow were already in the markets and orders were cancelled overnight,” said Amarjit Singh, a horticulturist from the Abohar-Fazilka belt of southwest Punjab.

Youngster Adiraj, who had picked up orders for the supply of Tangerines grown in his family orchard and wanted to market these, suddenly found buyers cancelling orders.

“Fruits and vegetables have a restricted shelf life of 3-7 days. These have to be sold and consumed. As orders were cancelled or payments were stuck, growers suffered. The horticulture sector has still not recovered,” horticulturist Kulwant Singh told IANS.

Taking a jibe at the “dreamy plan” of the Modi government to double the income of farmers in the next few years, farmers say that the agriculture sector has been set back by at least five years due to demonetisation.

“Look at the spate of suicides in Punjab, especially by young farmers who are under debt. Some of them have outstanding loans of less than Rs 5 lakhs but are unable to pay these back and are committing suicide. The central and state governments are only doing lip service and no one is really bothered,” farmer leader Rajwant Singh said.

A majority of farmers in Punjab have small land holdings — from 2.5 to 5 acres — due to which they hardly earn any profit from the crops. Most of them barely sustain themselves and their families.

The Congress government in Punjab, under Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has promised to waive loans of up to Rs 2 lakh of debt-ridden farmers. This is going to cost the fund-starved government a whopping Rs 9,500 crore.

Till the Centre steps in and both governments take some bold decisions to pull out the agriculture sector from the present mess aggravated by demonetisation, the farm economy will continue to be in doldrums in the food bowl of India.

(Jaideep Sarin can be reached at jaideep.s@ians.in)

—IANS

President calls note ban important step against black money, corruption

Opposition to observe November 8 as Black Day to protest note ban

1000 currency, note ban, one thousand noteNew Delhi : Opposition parties on Tuesday said they would observe November 8 as Black Day to protest against the “ill-conceived” decision of the government to spike Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, a year ago.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the opposition parties have worked out a joint strategy and would register their protest against the November 8, 2016, demonetisation decision.

“Demonetisation was an ill-conceived and hasty decision of the government. It is unprecedented, perhaps in the entire world, that a government had to alter its policy 135 times within a month,” Azad said, recalling how the government kept changing its rules in the aftermath of the note ban last year.

The decision to mark November 8 as the black day was taken at a coordination meeting on Monday that was attended by JD-U rebel leader Sharad Yadav, CPI MP D. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, BSP’s Satish Mishra and Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien.

—IANS

Overcoming ghost of note ban and ignoring GST’s impact, people throng gold shops on Dhanteras

Overcoming ghost of note ban and ignoring GST’s impact, people throng gold shops on Dhanteras

gold shops, gold, jewelleryNew Delhi/Mumbai/Kolkata/Chennai/Bengaluru : Come Dhanteras, and the hunger for gold, so visible among Indians, has helped them tide over the impact of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as customers thronged jewellery stores on Tuesday.

“We have witnessed very good footfall. Demand for jewellery is definitely higher this year than investment demand,” Balram Garg, Managing Director, P.C. Jewellers, told IANS in Delhi, adding “We expect sales to go up by 30 per cent on pent up demand due to various regulatory issues”.

Price of 24 carat gold in the national capital was hovering around Rs 30,000 per 10 grams on Tuesday.

‘Dhan’ in Hindi means wealth, and ‘Terah’ means number 13. Dhanteras, accordingly, means, the 13th Day of the Krishna Paksha in the month of Ashwin in Indian Lunar Calendar, which in Hindu tradition is devoted to wealth.

Many seek to buy gold, silver and utensils and invoke the gods to bring in prosperity. In several parts of the country, people also worship the Goddess of Wealth — Lakshmi.

Echoing similar upbeat sentiments as Delhi, Jayantilal Challani, President of Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants Association and a partner in Challani Jewellery Mart, told IANS: “The demand for gold and silver is good. First Dhanteras post-GST regime and also demonetisation and income disclosure scheme issues has settled down. The footfalls in the stores are good.”

“During the last six-to-eight months, sales were a bit dull. But for the past few days, the demand is good. The prices have also come down. Today the price of gold is around Rs.2,837 per gram in Chennai,” Challani added.

The Centre’s recent decision to not make mandatory furnishing of PAN or Aadhaar card details for buying jewellery in cash up to Rs 200,000 had also ushered in a positive sentiment among buyers. The earlier limit was Rs 50,000 as part of the anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines.

“Gold price remains stable and range-bound in the run-up-to the festivals at around Rs 3,000 per gram, which is a positive factor. Footfalls in retail stores have been good since morning. However, compared to last year, sales growth would be tepid,” Pankaj Parekh, Chairman of India Bullion and Jewellers Association, Regional (East), told IANS in Kolkata.

Gold is at the centre of festivities and gifting traditions in India, particularly during Dhanteras, Diwali and the wedding season that follows.

“Currently, gold demand seems to be recovering after withdrawal of the AML guidelines. Policy reforms in quick succession in recent years have targeted transparency and the industry is transitioning under GST to a more organised structure, with long term benefits,” said Somasundaram P.R., Managing Director, India, at World Gold Council.

“It appears that demand for gold jewellery and branded coins seems to be better than the past quarter, particularly in relation to organised players. A good monsoon and stable gold prices are definitely encouraging consumers to make token purchases for the auspicious festivals. The ensuing wedding season, however, holds the key for the quarterly demand performance,” he added.

In Mumbai, All India Gems & Jewellery Federation Chairman Nitin Khandelwal said that with AML issues having been amicably resolved, buyers’ sentiments have been boosted.

“Though the footballs are increasing, we do not expect any growth over last year’s sales. We shall be happy even if last year’s sales/quantity figures are achieved, coming after demonetisation, GST and RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority),” Khandelwal told IANS.

However, the demand for gold jewellery for the Diwali festival in Bengaluru remained subdued because of negative sentiment and regulatory issues. Continuous rains for several days may also have done their bit to dampen enthusiasm for buying gold.

“Though GST is not an issue as the rate is only 3 per cent on gold and jewellery, customers are wary of buying, as PAN card is mandatory if the bill is more than Rs 2 lakh,” Bengaluru Jewellers’ Association President Y.S. Ravikumar told IANS.

“Owing to less purchasing power among the upper and middle classes, demand for gold or jewellery has not picked up since demonetisation on November 8 last year,” he added.

Also with continuous rains in the city over the last fortnight, footfalls in retail gold shops or showrooms across the place have been 40 per cent less than they were last year.

—IANS