IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 26th Nov 2020
“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray
Dear AspirantsIASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020-21.
EDITORIAL HUNT #262 :“Jobless Growth and the Pandemic | UPSC”
P. Chidambaram | Praveen Chakravarty
Jobless Growth and the Pandemic | UPSC
P. Chidambaram is a former Finance Minister of India and a current Member of Parliament. Praveen Chakravarty is a political economist and a senior office bearer of the Indian National Congress
HEADLINES:
Jobs, exports and the trade pacts link
CENTRAL THEME:
India needs to shed its exaggerated fears of trade agreements to create new jobs — the country’s biggest challenge
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3 : Employment
MAINS QUESTION:
India can ‘protect’ its domestic industry with high trade barriers while aspiring for bilateral trade treaties to promote exports. Comment -(GS 3)
LEARNING:
- RBI’s Prediction
- Jobs and Economic Slowdown
- Exports and Agreements
- Where are the Jobs ?
- Breaking the wall
INTRODUCTION:
- RBI’S PREDICTIONS : According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Indian economy will further contract by 10% in the July-September quarter.
- ECONOMIC RECESSION : India is in an economic recession for the first time in its independent history.
- MANGO PEOPLE ( आम आदमी ) : The average Indian ‘feels’ the economic despair when her older child has lost his job or when her younger one cannot find a job despite her impressive educational qualifications.
BODY:
JOBS ARE THE FIRST CASUALTY
- ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN : Thousands of people lost their jobs due to the slowing economy in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- JOB LOSS : Unemployment had reached a 45-year high. By one estimate, more than 2 crore people lost their jobs during the lockdown.
- POVERTY AND STARVATION : When jobs were lost, incomes were lost too.Millions of people found that they did not have a roof over their heads or money to feed their families.
SOURCES : STATISTA
WHERE THE JOBS ARE
- LABOUR INTENSIVE SECTOR : Large numbers of good quality jobs can be created only in sectors that are labour intensive, and where India has a comparative advantage, such as apparel, leather goods, value-added agriculture ETC.
- LARGE SCALE EXPORTS : Merchandise exports also create supporting jobs in warehousing, transport, stevedoring, container stations, shipping, ship chandling, ports and export financing.
SOURCES : DownToEarth
EXPORTS AND AGREEMENTS
- STAGNANT POLICY : Unfortunately, despite the “Make in India” hype, export volumes have languished in the last six years.
- MERCHANDISE EXPORTS FELL : Merchandise goods exports were $314 billion in 2013-14 and remained stagnant for the next five years touching $313 billion in 2018-19.
THE MISTAKEN PATH
- Complete reversal in the direction of India’s foreign trade policy with higher tariffs
- Non-tariff barriers
- Quantitative limits
- The return of licensing
- Border country restrictions
- The appreciating value of the rupee.
- THE AGE OF TRADE AGREEMENTS : Both bilateral and multilateral was born. There were more winners than losers because of trade agreements.
- SOME HISTORIC TRADE AGREEMENTS : The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).
- LUKEWARM AGREEMENTS : Half-hearted and hesitant agreements like the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) failed.
BACKGROUND
- GDP TRAJECTORY : For nearly 10 years after 2003, GDP growth averaged more than 7%per annum.
- NON FARM JOBS : Non-agricultural jobs in India were generated at a rate of 7.5 million per annum.
- CONSTRUCTION LABOURS : New non-agricultural jobs pulled over 5 million per annum out of agriculture and into construction and other work.
- DEMONETISATION : Demonetisation and the reluctance to competently handle the non-performing assets crisis sent the economy into a downward spiral.
- JOBLESSNESS : Post-2013, people are still leaving agriculture, but non-farm sector jobs are growing more slowly.As a result, joblessness has grown.
- EDUCATED UNEMPLOYMENT : The number of unemployed educated youth and a disheartened labour force increased to unprecedented levels by 2018.
- COVID-19 IMPACT : The COVID-19-driven collapse of the economy and jobs followed this year.
IASbhai Windup:
BREAK DOWN THE WALL
- IDEA OF FREE TRADE : It is true that FTA provisions were also misused by some countries to question the foreign investment policies and tax policies of other countries.
- A MODEL FTA DESIGN : India decided to keep FTAs in abeyance until we could agree with our partner countries, on a model FTA that built in safeguards against abuse.
- CLOSED ECONOMY : After the RCEP walk out, we are few steps away from full protectionism that kept India a closed and struggling economy for three decades.
- TACTICS AND ENGAGEMENT : India must re-learn to engage with other countries and negotiate favourable trade agreements through the bilateral and multilateral routes.
- PROSPERITY AND RESILIENCE : Wisdom lies in learning from the past, being smart and resilient in the present and securing our prosperity in the future.
The art of survival in a fiercely competitive world is engagement and negotiation.
SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL HUNT | Jobless Growth and the Pandemic | UPSC
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