US, India and Kamala!

 Independence day in India is always a grand event as it happens on August 15th of the year. A year has 365 days and if you have a cut off at Aug 15th ,it is 227 days into the year starting from Jan 1st..This is approx 1.66:1 of the year. That is the Golden Ratio which is supposed to be a mystic proportion of anything including the picture of Mona Lisa ,and that is considered to have made it magically beautiful.

That apart, Indian Independence day this year was preceded by the announcement of Kamala Harris as the running mate of the US democratic presidential candidate Biden.

Kamala Harris' mother was of Indian origin from Chennai. She carries the name Kamala which is a traditional Sanskrit name for Lotus flower. Indian ruling party BJP has Lotus symbol as its primary identity. The moot point is , the common least denominator between the ruling party of india and US politician Kamala ,is the Lotus . In many ways, Lotus i.e Kamal is very dear to india and it is the official flower of the country also.

From time immemorial in all the Indian Sanskrit scriptures and literature, Lotus has come to be identified with the cultural and religious sanctity.It holds a premier position in Hindu/Buddhist/Jain/Sikh religions as representative of all that is blemishless and purity. Many of the Hindu,incl. Buddhist etc. Gods or Goddesses are seen seated on the Lotus flower as it symbolizes purity in full bloom. Offering Lotus to Hindu Gods and Goddesses is believed to usher in , auspiciousness and prosperity into the lives of devotees. Even our heart is called Hridaya kamala in our literature. In higher philosophy,'Ka' is referred to as Brahman(paramatma), 'Ma' is referred to as Human(jeevatma), and 'La' is referred to as Acharya or Sri, who tirelessly work in uniting the Jeevatma with the Paramatma.

But it looks like the connection between Kamala Harris and India seems to end with Kamala and not beyond that, since the general social and political outlook of BJP and Kamal harris are totally divergent.They do not share a common platform of understanding of the fabric of Indian society, which is inherently plural and democratic. She has shared her opinion of Indian ruling class , relationships with Pak, Kashmir problems etc. seen through the prism of US and not through the prism of India. Pak and Bangladesh are offsprings of India and it is not sibling rivalry that bogs down India-Pak relationships as viewed by US generally. 

To that extent , I humbly believe, Kamala Harris will have to borrow an Indian prism to look at Indian subcontinent issues, since almost 7 countries(India, Pak, Bangladesh, Afghan,Nepal,Bhutan and SriLanka of South Asia were all part of Bharat i.e India ,till the advent of the 20th century.The cultural and religious relationships and influence of India extend beyond this to China, especially Tibet and all the South east Asian countries incl. Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia etc.

Finally, she should not forget that India is a 70year old thriving democracy and that too the largest democracy in the world sharing many similarities with US, which Columbus thought to be India!!

Import Trade restrictions and Make in India-Atmanirbhar!

 Import Trade wall or barriers are not new to India. The country had very steep walls in terms of Tariffs, licensing ,quotas etc. all in the name of safeguarding the domestic industry. When the country gained independence, many of the industries were either nascent or anemic and in order to restore their health, Central Govt had no option but to erect some import restrictions so that local industries in the economy are nurtured. This grooming of domestic industry with level playing field took a new turn in the late 1960s and 1970s with widespread nationalisation of private enterprises, ushering in an era of erratic socialism all in the name of protecting the citizens from private profiteering.

This concept led to erecting walls within the country between the commanding heights of Govt. undertakings and the Private enterprises. The private sector was neglected and was left to fend for itself and scaling up an enterprise became a uphill challenge for private sector. Inorder to protect them from imports from manufacturing bases around the world with deep pockets several safeguard duties and tariff walls were made stiff .

But all this had a negative side effects as the local industry became flabby, lethargic,self seeking, ignoring Tech.upgradation, without stiff market competition on Quality , Cost and Delivery.All this was done with the good intention of making India self restraint through import substitution. But the unintended consequences of this led to high cost of manufacuring and poor quality product.This situation was reversed when GOI started reducing tariffs and import restrictions through some pragmatic steps inviting foreign direct investments in the early 1990s.

By the time we missed the bus and Chinese who started this in 1980s had a clear headstart over us. Our two steps forward and one step backward strategy in all these matters of import policy were designed by bureaucrats with the hidden intent of rent seeking politicians, businessmen and babus behind it.

Only after the advent of Japanese, US ,German and South korean companies started their manufacturing bases in India , Quality, Cost and Delivery gained attention and became the guiding lodetones of enterprises keeping them lean and mean. This tough market competition has helped India in achieving the pinnacle of success in Auto sector especially in becoming World's top two wheeler manufacturing base.

That said , now there is lot of discussion on Govt's announcement of Trade tariffs for imports from China and licesing and ban on import of defence equipments,  high end TVs etc. The heated debate of back to the moribund policy of import restrictions in the name of Make in India- Atmanirbhar Bharat is indeed a good one.  

Does this mean back to the future?

But there can be an argument in terms of supporting this policy of  import restrictions.

When fledgling industry is sought to be setup like in high end tech products, these specific products may require some sort of support or sops for a initial few years. When foreign direct investment is invited for huge sunrise industries, such import walls will be helpful but all but temporarily. If there is a sunset clause introduced for all these tariff or sops or subsidies, it should be welcome. Govt. should make it a point to insert a sunset clause for all these import walls except in very few strategic sectors which may not exceed five on the whole.Govt should not give an impression that it is interested in augmenting its tax revenue through these high import duties.

India has given a great fillip to Make in India- Atmanirbhar in some of the industries like Auto, Smartphones etc which has generated huge employment opportunities in the country. Inorder to give a temporary boost to this policy, Govt has done the right thing by introducing few Tariff walls in order to promote the above stated policy  and these Tariff barriers should neither be seen as a way of revenue rising, nor as a permanent fixture to protect the domestic industry.