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General Budget’s focus is to activate ‘virtuous’ economic growth in India

Tulsi Tawari
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General Budget’s focus is to activate ‘virtuous’ economic growth in India

This budget is unique. Beyond numbers, the underlying current is an overwhelming vision to change the direction of economy, towards virtuous and qualitative economic growth.

Focus is to activate ‘virtuous-spiral’ of economic-growth – the “shubh-labh” as stipulated in ancient Bhartiya culture, as opposed to the domination of ‘easy-money’. This deserves the highest commendation by one and all. And the means identified to achieve this goal, is “entrepreneurial-drive”, which if correctly implemented, would be revolutionary and transformational. Looking back, the first four decades of Independent India as entrepreneur-killing license-raj (1947-1991), and the past five decades (1970-till about 2014) as gradually corrupting society, this year’s budget brings a fresh breeze, calling upon the nation to move towards an honest-and-entrepreneurial-era.

What is remarkable is that the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not miss the importance of grass-root level initiatives. For instance, the provision of Rs 5,000/- overdraft facility for a rural woman in self-help-group and the plan to create 75,000 skilled rural entrepreneurs in agro-rural industry are noteworthy. The Finance Minister (FM) has also simultaneously referred to empowering social entrepreneurs, start-ups, private-public partnerships and high-tech space-ventures, among others. Moreover, the research-drive for high-tech and sustainable technologies, can open doors for innovative talents as the way ahead.

Nurturing entrepreneurs and creativity at all stages is the real basis to growth of virtuous-spiral of wealth creation, is the key message from the Narayani-FM.

The implementation challenges of ground realities, however, require strategic caution against hijacking of major initiatives by the power brokers, speculative capital and privileges, rather than identifying and advancing genuine entrepreneurs.

Here are a few strategic pointers, in terms of process and systems.

● Rural/Artisan Initiatives It requires careful designing and monitoring by professionals (both in the Organized and the Unorganized), sensitive to local culture without compromising the reliability of quality and delivery. This is where nation can expect double-digit growth and large-scale employment prospects, through value-added rural economy, arresting migration from villages to cities.

● MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Sector The realpain-points are not capital alone, instead, disconnect between old-time entrepreneurs with their new generation. A great number of second generation MSMEs are currently engaged in employment within the larger sector. Furthermore, most opportunities remain untapped, due to neglect in creating domain-specific ecosystems. This is the real backbone of economy, generating maximum employment.

● Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) It has been tried, yet it has not fully succeeded during the past few years. It requires consideration from two specific issues (a) method of resolving conflicts-of-interest, and empowering an honest government officer, to exercise personal discretion in favour of efficient and honest private entities, beyond just lowest bids (b) avoid entry barriers for smaller enterprises having great caliber but not enough capital prowess. These two corrections can result in major gains for Make-in-India in defence, aviation, space, and high-tech sectors, besides infra-structure industries. Correct implementation of strategies may even lead to a reverse brain drain such that talented professionals living abroad may start coming back to country, in decades ahead.

● Social-Enterprises While capital availability and visibility are sure to increase through the SEBI, the institutional supports are warranted in matters of marketing, professional management and availability of high-end knowledge inputs. Attitudinal limitations towards profit making in socially conscientious entrepreneurs require careful moderation to avoid errors in decision making. Or else, these avenues may be hijacked by large scale manipulators or speculators, as is currently happening in the case of tax exempted rich farmers.  

● Real-Estate Defining the affordable housing price limit at Rs 45 lakh, misses two crucial aspects (a) speculative increase in land prices of 1000% or even more during the 2004-2014 period across all parts from urban to rural. The market price considered by government agencies are way high in relation to real income levels of 95% of the population. Necessary corrections in land price speculations would automatically make housing affordable for all of society, provided state governments and agencies shed-off their greed for yet another revenue source through artificially jacked-up stamp duties. Central government needs to take lead in correcting market price indications. This one act alone would lead to phenomenal increase in housing economy which is a basic need for all. And, (b) affordable price of land and the housing need are related with specific locations as per type and level of cities or villages.

● Targeting a $5 trillion Economy & Forex-rate Setting the goal in dollar terms reflects a leader’s conviction to compete and succeed in global ranking. Larger purpose alone drives creative entrepreneurs to excel so the goal of $5 trillion economy in 5 years is appropriate. However, it should not be achieved through conventional approach of devaluing rupee to achieve higher exports, for two reasons: (a) firstly, a strong rupee with stronger domestic economy would anyway mean greater in dollar economy (eg. a 20% appreciation in value of rupee in today’s exchange-rate, would appreciate our economy by 20% in dollar terms). So, India needs to opt for forex rates to be set through bilateral arrangements with each nation rather than leaving it to the mercy of speculative currency markets and, (b) India needs to experiment with fixing dual-forex rates, for imports and exports, to achieve higher exports at competitive prices while absorbing difference values in national forex reserves account.

The nation has given a clear mandate to the current government in recent general elections with a hope for better times ahead. Faith posed in honest and decisive leadership is reflected in the tone and spirit of this budget. However, the challenge lies in building knowledge teams that can clearly visualise nut-bolt detailing and potential pitfalls so the implementation may actually lead society as a whole towards ascending prosperity during the next five years.

General Budget has hit the right note yet it falters on crucial points

Shivaji Sarkar
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General Budget has hit the right note yet it falters on crucial points

The Modi 2.0 Budget presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, marked a significant shift from the Nehruvian economy of promoting large public sector entities and rests its focus on farms and villages. With a clear target of building a $3 trillion economy in the immediate future and $5 trillion in the course of time, the new government wants the private sector to be the driver of this rapid economic growth.

Nirmala Sitharaman’s first budget of Rs 27.86 lakh crore has several interesting features. Through her 2 hours 17 minutes long address she presented an ambitious budget, spread across sectors widely. According to her “the soul of India is in its villages”, so the economy is set to get a boost with the empowerment of villagers, women and farmers. It sees the farms and increasing rural income as the pivot. The Pradhan Matri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Bharatmala, Sagarmala and Udaan are designed to be engines of connectivity and rural & urban – now being called ‘rurban’ – growth. The 1.25 lakh km new roads would entail Rs 80,000 crore investment.

The Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SURTI) will create 100 clusters for 50,000 artisans. The ASPIRE for promotion of Technology Business Incubators (TBI) in rural industry proposes another 100 clusters to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industry sectors. This is in addition to 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), apparently with corporate interface, to ensure economies of scale for farmers over next five years. The PM digital saksharata, Jal Shakti in 256 districts, e-nam, APMC, Swachha Bharat for rural solid waste management are designed to spur rural growth.

Many of these would be a bridge between urban and rural growth. These are backed by many programmes for industry. This is likely to create demand and spur the growth of the industry and allied sectors.

However, the finance minister has thrown a spanner. Her proposal to levy additional excise duty, road and other cess of Rs 2.50 on petrol and diesel will be inflationary as it would shoot up transport expenses at all levels. This may thaw the economy. Already cess and duties are high on fuel. Tolls are at atrocious rates. It calls for a re-look and withdrawal of the proposal to keep economy on track.

Another act of raising customs duty on gold, already high at 10%, to 12.5% is questionable. Presumably, gold is mistakenly considered an item of consumption by the rich. The reality is that no marriage in poor or rural household is complete without purchase of gold. Those suggesting imposing such levies forget that during NDA-I Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken the prudent decision of having zero duty on gold imports to stop smuggling. Higher duties are happy indicators for the smugglers, who have links with international gun, drug mafias and terrorist organisations. Though the aim is to raise revenue, it may end up increasing surveillance at multiple sectors causing revenue loss. Ideally, this needs to be rolled back as the losses outweigh gains.

Similarly, TDS on cash withdrawals of over Rs 1 crore, not large enough sum for even small businesses, may cause slowdown. The government should not be in a hurry to digitalise economy. Cash is the fastest transaction method. Linking it to black money – simply meaning untaxed – is misnomer. Let the cash lubricate and speed up economy. Digitalisation should be a normal and automatic process. There are apprehensions too for digitalization as many Aadhar-linked accounts are stated to have been defrauded. Government needs to go slow and withdraw such strange rules that make dealings and tax filing cumbersome.

It was expected that the FM would say some words on abolishing income-tax. Instead increasing rates to 42.7%, for an income over Rs 5 crore does not bode well. High taxes reduce disposable income and are dampener for the people to consume. She has still time to review it. Indian economy needs simplicity in the tax administration. More is the rigmarole, more the complication for the economy. The NDA-I had started on a good note. The FM should continue that. Besides, those who have been let off up to Rs 5 lakh income should be allowed not to file tax returns. This only burdens the tax office with more clutter and little benefit. Another correction in the system should be to allow taxes, as of now, to be calculated at Rs 5 lakh instead of forcing those who earn a rupee above it to pay from the base rate of Rs 2.5 lakh. This is dichotomy and is not a good sign for tax administration. This drains a taxpayer of huge sum to feed an oversized government at the cost of the economy. Sooner, the FM does it, would be better for all – taxpayers, tax administrators and the market. Politically too it would soothe the voters, who have, as the FM in the opening paragraph said, overwhelmingly supported the Modi government, “putting the nation first”. A small gift would have larger dividend.

Taxing the bank deposits does not suit the welfare nature of Narendra Modi government. It may give small revenues but it causes immense hardship to those who save. Savings, the FM says, has to be encouraged to boost the economy. The TDS and low interest rates dampen the enthusiasm of the savers. Her words must match the deeds. It’s a necessity not only for the savers but for a nation that is pining for funds. If savings are taken care of, the government would not have to look for borrowings abroad as the FM’s speech indicate to spur growth and fiscal management. This swadeshi move would make easy finance available to government and save forex.

The FM may need to do some rework, to contain inflation, which after this budget, is likely to rise to 5%. For a $5 trillion economy in nine years, it would require a growth rate of at least 11% not 8% as the Economic Survey indicated. With a little vision, the budget 2019-20 can become the real growth propeller and effectively deviate from the residues of Nehruvian economy.

Kargil Tribute Song released by Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff

News Intervention Bureau
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Kargil Tribute Song released by Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff

As the nation celebrates the 20th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas this year on 26 July, a grand ceremony was organised recently at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi, in which Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff released Kargil Tribute Song to honour, salute and pay homage to the Kargil martyrs and war veterans.

The song, a tribute to the soldiers has been composed by Sammer Anjaan, eminent hindi lyricist and sung by Shatadru Kabir.  The music has been composed by Raju Singh. The 20th anniversary celebrations are aimed at ‘Remembering their sacrifice’, ‘Rejoicing in their victory’ and ‘Renewing the pledge’ to go beyond the call of duty when called upon.

The Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LOC). It is also referred to as Operation Vijay, which was the name of the Indian operation to clear the Kargil sector.Operation Vijay involved major operations to evict Pakistani intruders from Indian territory on the icy heights of Dras, Kargil, Batalik and Turtuk and bears witness to the courage, valour and sacrifice of the soldiers of the Indian armed forces.

Origins of the ‘Muscular Approach’ in Kashmir

Nilesh Kunwar
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Origins of the ‘Muscular Approach’ in Kashmir

The present BJP-led NDA government has all along been accused for adopting what is being referred to as a ‘muscular’ approach while dealing with the situation in Kashmir. But those who are trying to insinuate that use of strong-arm tactics is a new phenomenon in Kashmir and that it’s only New Delhi that has been resorting to ‘muscular’ policies are either not conversant with the post-partition history of Kashmir, or are intentionally choosing to feign ignorance.

The bitter and undeniable reality is that the very genesis of Kashmir issue in itself is the result of ‘muscular’ approach and even though undesirable, this more than seven-decade old trend doesn’t seem to have gone out of fashion ever since, as events have proved.

Operation Gulmarg (1947-48)

The Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir entered into a ‘stand-still agreement’ with Pakistan immediately after partition. Under this agreement, Pakistan was required to honour all administrative arrangements that this princely state had with the British Crown till new arrangements were made. But just nine weeks later, Pakistan unilaterally reneged this agreement by launching a military campaign to seize Kashmir and gave this ambitious plan the code name ‘Operation Gulmarg’. To avoid being censured by the international community for its unprovoked act of aggression, Pakistan camouflaged this military action by giving it an appearance of a tribal invasion. Accordingly, armed by Pakistan Army and led by its regulars in disguise, 20 lashkars (militias) of 1,000 tribesman each, embarked upon their mission to conquer J&K. But the timely arrival of the Indian Army and its gallant actions thwarted Pakistan’s plan to forcibly assimilate the whole of Kashmir.

India had the military capability of wresting back the areas of Kashmir which Pakistan had occupied by force and any military action to restore its territorial integrity was legally and morally sound and justified. However, instead of doing so India took the matter of Pakistani aggression to UN Security Council and even agreed to a ceasefire even though the same didn’t make it incumbent on Pakistan to return the territory under its illegal occupation.

So, isn’t Operation Gulmarg the first instance when ‘muscular’ approach was used in Kashmir and doesn’t Pakistan Army rightly deserve the credit for introducing use of ‘muscle-power’ in Kashmir!

Operation Gibraltar (1965)

Unable to convince the world that Kashmir rightfully ‘belongs’ to Pakistan, its army once again attempted to seize Kashmir by force. A military plan code named ‘Operation Gibraltar’ was put into action in 1965, which envisaged the use of regular army personnel disguised as civilians supported by a force of 40,000 highly trained and well-armed ‘razakars’ (volunteers) who would secretly enter Kashmir and incite the local population to rebel against New Delhi. According to Lt Gen Akhtar Hussain Malik of Pakistan Army who was one of the architects of Operation Gibraltar, the aim of this military action was “to defreeze the Kashmir problem, weaken Indian resolve, and bring India to the conference table without provoking general war.”

“Operation Gibraltar” was the second time that Pakistan used a ‘muscular’ approach in order to get hold of Kashmir. Here again, rather than following a tough policy, New Delhi agreed to return those parts of Kashmir that the Indian Army had captured, even though this was legally Indian territory usurped by Pakistan in 1947-48.  

‘Freedom Struggle’ (1989 onwards)

Islamabad’s third and most brazen attempt to realise its Kashmir dream came in the form of Islamic terrorism in the late eighties. Thousands of local boys were taken across the porous Line of Control (LoC) and after receiving military training were armed and sent back to fight against security forces. Pakistani nationals were also sent across to join what they were told was a ‘jihad’ (holy war). In his well-researched book ‘Shadow Wars’, Arif Jamal mentions that in the early days of militancy there could have been as many as 180 militant groups operating in Kashmir and this gives a fair idea about the massive scale of the Pakistan Army and ISI sponsored enterprise.

Though terrorism in Kashmir erupted in 1988, instead of coming down on it immediately with an iron fist, the Government of India continued to try and control the same with standard regulations meant for maintaining law and order under normal conditions. It was only after these laws failed to quell Pakistan-sponsored terrorism that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was invoked in J&K in 1990. So, those who consider promulgation of AFSPA to be ‘muscular’ policy need to realise that AFSPA came into force due to the need to counter Pakistan’s proxy war.

Though some nations and international bodies may occasionally air objections to AFSPA, but none of them will initiate or support concerted action to seek its removal since the world community sympathises with nations bearing the brunt of terrorism and appreciates the fact that security forces dealing with terrorism do require special provisions and safeguards to fight this menace threatening humanity.

Operation Vijay (1999)

Pakistan Army’s plan of large-scale intrusions across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil sector and occupying posts vacated by Indian Army during winters so as to alter alignment of the LoC was the fourth instance of ‘muscular’ approach being applied by it in the J&K. Here again the Pakistan Army tried to deceive the world into believing that the intruders were Kashmiri “freedom fighters” and in order to hide the truth, stooped to a new low by disowning the dead bodies of their own soldiers killed in action. But its bluff was soon called and the Pakistan Army had to suffer another ignominy of being declared the aggressor and having to withdraw to its own side of the LoC.

Despite Pakistan’s brazen use of muscular power in Kargil, India’s reaction to these intrusions was both measured and localised, which has been highly appreciated by the international community since it didn’t escalate into a full-blown war between two nuclear states. This was in sharp contrast to what Pakistan did in 1965 when it launched ‘Operation Grand Slam’ to capture Akhnoor even as its Operation Gibraltar in Kashmir was in progress. By doing so, Pakistan enlarged the scope of the conflict and this resulted in a full-scale war between India and Pakistan.

Who’s to blame?

Is Kashmir a victim of ‘muscular’ policy? The answer is ‘Yes’. But is New Delhi responsible for the ‘muscular’ policy in Kashmir? The answer is an emphatic ‘No’. If armed groups fire upon security forces, then is firing back at them adopting a ‘muscular’ policy? When terrorists refuse the offer to surrender and start a gunfight with security forces, then is retaliation ‘muscular’ approach? When Pakistan supported terrorists indiscriminately use ‘muscular’ means in a bid to create a state of anarchy in Kashmir, does invoking AFSPA indicate a ‘muscular’ approach?

Conversely, isn’t the barbaric act of terrorists abducting, torturing and killing innocent civilians ‘muscular approach’? Isn’t posting graphic ‘execution’ videos on social media to terrorise and intimidate the people ‘muscular policy’? Doesn’t the cowardly act of terrorists attacking unarmed policemen on traffic regulation duties amount to ‘muscular approach’? Aren’t vigilante squads formed by youth to enforce shutdown calls given by the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) ‘muscular’ tactics? Isn’t stone pelting and acts of arson during protests the manifestation of a ‘muscular approach’?

With terrorists openly using guns, grenades, bombs and Hurriyat leaders inciting mob violence in order to achieve a political objective does one still requires to be told who’s guilty of giving resolution of the Kashmir issue a ‘muscular approach’?

Gen. Qamar Bajwa continues to strengthen his vice-like grip over Pakistan

Onkareshwar Pandey
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Gen. Qamar Bajwa continues to strengthen his vice-like grip over Pakistan

A change in command of the Pakistan Army normally gives way to a degree of romanticism that the new chief will be different from his predecessors, will remain within the ambit of his military domain and allow democracy to flourish. Such a thought process was witnessed when General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani took over in what heralded the end of a decade long dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf. Kayani turned out to be a quiet, behind the scenes operator who scripted the policy of Pakistan Army’s “holding all authority with no accountability.” General Raheel Sharif was more vocal and visible than his predecessor; he refined the Kayani doctrine to a fine art.

The anointment of General Qamar Bajwa as Pak Army Chief led to another round of euphoria in the Indian media. Bajwa took over in November 2016 with the Indian media going overboard in projecting him  as a mature professional soldier, a votary for democracy and more interested in containing the internal security situation of his country. It was said that for once the Prime Minister (Nawaz Sharif) had a say in the selection process which was seen as a positive indication of things to come.

General Bajwa was quick to dispel the euphoria. Even as the country prepared for the elaborate ceremony (almost similar to a coronation) that marks the change of command of the Pakistan Army Chiefs, two terror attacks in the Jammu region demonstrated that Pakistan’s India policy is unlikely to be tweaked under the new incumbent.

By mid-2017, within months of taking over, Bajwa had attained a new high by putting the judiciary too in his pocket and engineering the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif through it. The situation was most aptly described by a noted journalist, FS Aijazuddin, with his fateful words, “Elected governments in Pakistan have less to fear from the Indian Army than from their own- with good reason. For almost 60 years, since October 1958, politicians have lost every battle to gain the higher ground of civilian supremacy.” Within a year of the ouster of Nawaz Sharif, Bajwa scripted defeat of the main political parties in an election that witnessed blatant rigging with active support from his army. He placed at the helm, Imran Khan, a political light weight who has ever since toed his line. Thus, General Bajwa managed to take the policy of ‘holding all authority with no accountability,” to the next level.

Bajwa has recently changed the Director General of the notorious military spy agency ISI; the new incumbent, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, is a known confidante of his. He has also empowered his Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor, to speak freely on all governance issues be they political, economic, diplomatic or on the security affairs. On India particularly all statements emanate from the ISPR, as was seen in the aftermath of the Pulwama and Balakot incidents.

There are, however, a number of spooks in Bajwa’s rollercoaster ride. There is a general disenchantment in the international community with the inability of the Pakistani state (read deep state) in controlling terrorist activities emanating from their soil. The US has stopped most of the aid that it used to provide and is on the verge of imposing sanctions. The European Union was never a big donor yet it’s also veering away. The rising stature of India has much to do in the creation of this environment.

Internally, Pakistan is in a deep financial crisis with no means in place to overcome the same. The insurgent movements are gaining momentum at the agitation level with good use of social media. Good examples are the activities of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in the frontier regions and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in Balochistan. Bajwa is finding it a problem to convince China about the security of the flagship China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project on which Pakistan seems to be hinging its economic future.

To meet the emerging challenges, General Bajwa has come up with what is spoken of as the “Bajwa Doctrine.” His strategy is based on temporarily normalising relations with India in order to concentrate on the pressure that is being created by the US. Giving a go-ahead, to the Kartarpur corridor, with a beautifully engineered fanfare, and also speaking publically about the need to initiate dialogue with India to resolve all pending disputes are twin prongs of his strategy.

General Bajwa has taken diplomacy in his own hands and is busy visiting foreign countries to garner support for his doctrine. In recent days he has visited China for some renegotiation of the CPEC project. The more significant visit has been to the United Kingdom, the second by him during this tenure. Experts are of the opinion that a main agenda of this visit was to use the UK to reach out to the US and the international community and convince them to reduce pressure exerted on Pakistan to take the lead in improving Indo-Pakistan relations.

The General is not known to hold discussions with the elements of civil government of his country like the National Security Committee of the Cabinet before embarking on such visits nor does he take with him any civilian officials. He holds the meetings and then gives diktats on actions to be taken to the government.

It is often said that, to gain some diplomatic traction, India should talk directly to the Pakistan Army, it being the only decision making authority in the country. This is not feasible for a democratic government. Also, the fundamentalist inclination of the Pakistan Army is well known, so a dialogue, if initiated, is unlikely to accrue any positive results. The only option left for India is to try and strengthen the roots of democracy in the neighbouring country and break the stranglehold of the Army before thinking of any forward movement in relations between the two Nations.

Highlights from Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden Budget Speech

News Intervention Bureau
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Highlights from Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden Budget Speech

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the country’s General Budget for financial year 2019-20. Excerpts from her speech.

“Our economy was at approximately US$ 1.85 trillion when we formed the Government in 2014. Within 5 years it has reached US$ 2.7 trillion. Hence, it is well within our capacity to reach the US$ 5 trillion in the next few years. In the interim Budget of 2019-20 presented in February 2019, we gave ourselves a Vision for the Decade. I flag here the ten points of our Vision laid before us:

  1. Building physical and social infrastructure;
  2. Digital India reaching every sector of the economy;
  3. Pollution free India with green Mother Earth and Blue Skies;
  4. Make in India with particular emphasis on MSMEs, Start-ups, defence manufacturing, automobiles, electronics, fabs and batteries, and medical devices;
  5. Water, water management, clean Rivers;
  6. Blue Economy;
  7. Space programmes, Gaganyan, Chandrayan and Satellite programmes;
  8. Self-sufficiency and export of food-grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables;
  9. Healthy society – Ayushman Bharat, well-nourished women & children. Safety of citizens;
  10. Team India with Jan Bhagidari. Minimum Government Maximum Governance.”  

“The Indian economy will grow to become a $3 trillion economy in the current year. It is now the sixth largest in the world. Five years ago, it was at the 11th position. In Purchasing Power Parity terms, we are in fact, the 3rd largest economy already, only next to China and the USA.”

“Connectivity is the lifeblood of an economy. The Government has given a massive push to all forms of physical connectivity through Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, industrial corridors, dedicated freight corridors, Bhartamala and Sagarmala projects, Jal Marg Vikas and UDAN Schemes. While the industrial corridors would improve infrastructure availability for greater industrial investment in the catchment regions, the dedicated freight corridors would mitigate the congestion of our railway network benefitting the common man. The ambitious programme of Bharatmala would help develop national road corridors and highways, while Sagarmala would enhance port connectivity, modernization and port-linked industrialization. If Sagarmala is aimed at improving the infrastructure for external trade, equally it is the poor man’s transport too. Waterways are proven as a cheap mode of transport. The Jal Marg Vikas project for capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterways is aimed at smoothening internal trade carried through inland water transport. These initiatives will improve logistics tremendously, reducing the cost of transportation and increasing the competitiveness of domestically produced goods.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the General Budget 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha at Indian Parliament in New Delhi on Friday, July 05, 2019.

“India’s first indigenously developed payment ecosystem for transport, based on National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) standards, was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister in March, 2019. This will enable people to pay multiple kinds of transport charges, including metro services and toll tax, across the country. This inter-operable transport card runs on RuPay card and would allow the holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.”

“Phase-II of FAME Scheme, following approval of the Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore for a period of 3 years, has commenced from 1st April, 2019. The main objective of the Scheme is to encourage faster adoption of Electric vehicles by way of offering upfront incentive on purchase of Electric vehicles and also by establishing the necessary charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Only advanced battery and registered e-vehicles will be incentivized under the Scheme with greater emphasis on providing affordable & environment friendly public transportation options for the common man.”

“We need to develop our inland waterways to shift a significant portion of inland cargo movement from road and rail. This Government envisions using the rivers for cargo transportation, which will also help to decongest roads and railways. As part of the Jal Marg Vikas Project for enhancing the navigational capacity of Ganga, a multi modal terminal at Varanasi has become functional in November 2018 and two more such terminals at Sahibganj and Haldia and a navigational lock at Farakka would be completed in 2019-20. The movement of cargo volume on Ganga is estimated to increase by nearly four times in the next four years. This will make movement of freight, passenger cheaper and reduce our import bill.”

“It is estimated that Railway Infrastructure would need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crores between 2018-2030.  Given that the capital expenditure outlays of Railways are around Rs 1.5 to 1.6 lakh crores per annum, completing even all sanctioned projects would take decades. It is therefore proposed to use Public-Private Partnership to unleash faster development and completion of tracks, rolling stock manufacturing and delivery of passenger freight services.”

“For ease of access to credit for MSMEs, Government has introduced providing of loans upto Rs 1 crore for MSMEs within 59 minutes through a dedicated online portal. Under the Interest Subvention Scheme for MSMEs, Rs 350 crore has been allocated for FY 2019-20 for 2% interest subvention for all GST registered MSMEs, on fresh or incremental loans.

“It is right time to consider increasing minimum public shareholding in the listed companies. I have asked SEBI to consider raising the current threshold of 25% to 35%.”

“FDI inflows into India have remained robust despite global headwinds. Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows slid by 13% in 2018, to US$ 1.3 trillion from US$ 1.5 trillion the previous year – the third consecutive annual decline, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2019. India’s FDI inflows in 2018-19 remained strong at US$ 64.375 billion marking a 6% growth over the previous year. I propose to further consolidate the gains in order to make India a more attractive FDI destination:

  • The Government will examine suggestions of further opening up of FDI in aviation, media (animation, AVGC) and insurance sectors in consultation with all stakeholders.
  • 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will be permitted for insurance intermediaries.
  •  Local sourcing norms will be eased for FDI in Single Brand Retail sector.” 

“India has emerged as a major space power with the technology and ability to launch satellites and other space products at globally low cost. Time has come to harness this ability commercially. A Public Sector Enterprise viz. New Space India Limited (NSIL) has been incorporated as a new commercial arm of Department of Space to tap the benefits of the Research & Development carried out by ISRO. The Company will spearhead commercialization of various space products including production of launch vehicles, transfer to technologies and marketing of space products.”

“Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) aims to achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022. A total of 1.54 crore rural homes have been completed in the last five years. In the second phase of PMAY-G, during 2019-20 to 2021-22, 1.95 crore houses are proposed to be provided to the eligible beneficiaries. These houses are also being provided with amenities like toilets, electricity and LPG connections. With the use of technology, the DBT platform and technology inputs, average number of days for completion of houses has reduced from 314 days in 2015-16 to 114 days in 2017-18.”

“Ensuring India’s water security and providing access to safe and adequate drinking water to all Indians is a priority of the Government. A major step in this direction has been the constitution of the Jal Shakti Mantralaya, integrating the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. This new Mantralaya will look at the management of our water resources and water supply in an integrated and holistic manner, and will work with States to ensure Har Ghar Jal (piped water supply) to all rural households by 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission. This Mission, under the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, will focus on integrated demand and supply side management of water at the local level, including creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse in agriculture. The Jal Jeevan Mission will converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across the country.”

“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has touched the very conscience of the nation besides bringing enormous health and environmental benefits. This noble Scheme, initiated in 2014, has achieved a resounding success. 9.6 crore toilets have been constructed since Oct 2, 2014. More than 5.6 lakh villages have become Open Defecation Free (ODF). We have to build on this success. We must not only sustain the behavioural change seen in people but also harness the latest technologies available to transform waste into energy. I now propose to expand the Swachh Bharat Mission to undertake sustainable solid waste management in every village.”

“We propose to establish a National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund, coordinate and promote research in the country. NRF will assimilate the research grants being given by various Ministries independent of each other. NRF will ensure that the overall research eco-system in the country is strengthened with focus on identified thrust areas relevant to our national priorities and towards basic science without duplication of effort and expenditure. We would work out a very progressive and research oriented structure for NRF. The funds available with all Ministries will be integrated in NRF. This would be adequately supplemented with additional funds.”

“The Government is proposing to streamline multiple labour laws into a set of four labour codes. This will ensure that process of registration and filing of returns will get standardized and streamlined. With various labour related definitions getting standardized, it is expected that there shall be less disputes.”

“I propose to consider issuing Aadhaar Card for Non-Resident Indians with Indian Passports after their arrival in India without waiting for 180 days.”

“Financial gains from cleaning of the banking system are now amply visible. NPAs of commercial banks have reduced by over Rs 1 lakh crore over the last year, record recovery of over Rs 4 lakh crore due to IBC and other measures has been effected over the last four years, provision coverage ratio is now at its highest in seven years, and domestic credit growth has risen to 13.8%. Government has smoothly carried out consolidation, reducing the number of Public Sector Banks by eight.  At the same time, as many as six Public Sector Banks have been enabled to come out of Prompt Corrective Action framework.”

“Government has announced its intention to invest Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure over the next five years. To this end, it is proposed to set up an expert committee to study the current situation relating to long-term finance and our past experience with development finance institutions, and recommend the structure and required flow of funds through development finance institutions.”

“Government is setting an enhanced target of Rs 1,05,000 crore of disinvestment receipts for the financial year 2019-20. The Government will undertake strategic sale of PSUs. The Government will also continue to do consolidation of PSUs in the non-financial space as well.”

“Let me recall and reiterate this Government’s effort over the past five years to alleviate the tax burden on small and medium income-earners. This includes self-employed as well as small traders, salary earners, and senior citizens. Only when their annual taxable income exceeds Rs 5 lakh, they are required to pay any income tax.”

“So far as corporate tax is concerned, we continue with phased reduction in rates. Currently, the lower rate of 25 % is only applicable to companies having annual turnover up to Rs 250 Crore. I propose to widen this to include all companies having annual turnover up to Rs 400 crore.  This will cover 99.3% of the companies. Now only 0.7% of companies will remain outside this rate.”

“Considering our large consumer base, we aim to leapfrog and envision India as a global hub of manufacturing of Electric Vehicles. Inclusion of Solar storage batteries and charging infrastructure in the above scheme will boost our efforts. Government has already moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12% to 5%. Also to make electric vehicle affordable to consumers, our government will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles. This amounts to a benefit of around Rs 2.5 lakh over the loan period to the taxpayers who take loans to purchase electric vehicle.”  

“Start-ups in India are taking firm roots and their continued growth needs to be encouraged.  To resolve the so-called ‘angel tax’ issue, the start-ups and their investors who file requisite declarations and provide information in their returns will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of   valuations of share premiums. The issue of establishing identity of the investor and source of his funds will be resolved by putting in place a mechanism of e-verification.  With this, funds raised by start-ups will not require any kind of scrutiny from the Income Tax Department.”

Interchangeability of PAN and Aadhaar

“Mr Speaker, Sir, more than 120 Crore Indians now have Aadhaar. Therefore, for ease and convenience of tax payers, I propose to make PAN and Aadhaar interchangeable and allow those who do not have PAN to file Income Tax returns by simply quoting their Aadhaar number and also use it wherever they are required to quote PAN.”

“Mr Speaker Sir, as I have stated earlier, we have taken several measures in the past to alleviate the tax burden on small and medium income-earners as those having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh are not required to pay any income-tax. We are thankful to the taxpayers who play a major role in nation building by paying their taxes. However, in view of rising income levels, those in the highest income brackets, need to contribute more to the Nation’s development. I, therefore, propose to enhance surcharge on individuals having taxable income from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore and  Rs 5 crore and above so that effective tax rates for these two categories will increase by around 3 % and 7 % respectively.”

“We are further simplifying the GST processes. A simplified single monthly return is being rolled out. Taxpayer having annual turnover of less than Rs 5 crore shall file quarterly return. Free accounting software for return preparation has been made available to small businesses. A fully automated GST refund module shall be implemented.  Multiple tax ledgers for a taxpayer shall be replaced by one.”

“Make in India is a cherished goal.  In order to provide  domestic industry a level playing field, basic customs duty is being increased on items such as cashew kernels, PVC, Vinyl flooring, tiles, metal fittings, mountings for furniture, auto parts, certain kinds of synthetic rubbers, marble slabs, optical fibre cable, CCTV camera, IP camera, digital and network video recorders etc. Also, exemptions from custom duty on certain electronic items which are now being manufactured in India are being withdrawn. Further, end use based exemptions on palm stearin, fatty oils, and exemptions to various kinds of papers are also being withdrawn. To encourage domestic publishing and printing industry, 5 % custom duty is being imposed on imported books.”

“To further promote domestic manufacturing, customs duty reductions are being proposed on certain raw materials and capital goods. These include certain inputs of CRGO sheets, amorphous alloy ribbon, ethylene di-chloride, propylene oxide, cobalt matte, naphtha, wool fibres, inputs for manufacture of artificial kidney and disposable sterilised dialyser, and fuels for nuclear power plants. To further incentivise e-mobility, customs duty is being exempted on certain parts of electric vehicles. Customs duty is also being exempted on capital goods required for manufacture of specified electronic goods.”

“Export duty is being rationalised on raw and semi-finished leather to provide relief to this sector.”

“Crude prices have softened from their highs. This gives me a room to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel. I propose to increase Special Additional Excise duty and Road and Infrastructure Cess each by one rupee a litre on petrol and diesel. It is also proposed to increase custom duty on gold and other precious metals from 10% to 12.5%.”

Powerful performances by children enthrall audience at Bal Utsav 2019

Shivangini Gupta
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Powerful performances by children enthrall audience at Bal Utsav 2019

When children are given a stage, they make sure to put their best foot forward. This was recently seen at the Bal Utsav organized by the Hindi Academy, when hundreds of students, in the age group of 8-16 years, from various government schools presented plays on hard-hitting social issues and enthralled the audience with their acting and performance skills. The festival was a welcome attempt to enrich the young minds, and make them understand various contemporary social problems.

Inaugurated by Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi government the six-day event was hosted at Pyarelal Bhawan Sabhagar. The students were trained in theater performance free of cost by Hindi Academy. It turned out to be a great opportunity for many underprivileged children, who can’t manage to pay the fees to participate in theatre workshops to explore their hidden talent.

The stories portrayed by children on stage were handpicked by the Academy and allotted to the directors to train and prepare students to perform them. It was a challenge for many directors and their team as they had to creatively push children to come out of their comfort zone and work together as a team to bring a story to the audience in a sensitive way, justifying the sentiments of the author related to the story. Dr. Jitram Bhatt, Secretary of the Hindi Academy, who also moderated the six-day event, said, “Through these plays, the versatility of children develops. Simultaneously, cultural consciousness ignites and it expands positivity in students. We are trying to promote our culture and literature. The literature can only be promoted if the young mind is nurtured and made aware of our culture from the beginning itself.”

The six-day festival showcased plays like “Panch Biradri” written by Lakhan Lal Pal, a story on a battle, directed by Ashish Sharma ‘Ladai’ written by Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena and directed by Javed Abraham. ‘Ladai’ portrays the grave situation of corruption in India. Sharing his experience of working with children Javed says, “Adults are easy to direct as compared to children, but I will prefer working with children any day, as they are so enthusiastic and open to new ideas.” “These workshops help children to polish and hone their inner talent, as they can’t afford to visit expensive acting classes,” Jawed added.

Other plays that were performed included “Mithaiwala” written by Bhagwati Prasad Vajpayee, “Sapno Ki Unchai” written by Ramakant and directed by Arvind Singh, “Raja Ke Kapde Desh Badal-Badal Kar Vikas Kia” written by Manoj Kumar Pandey and directed by Priyanka Sharma, “Rang-Abir” written by Bhagwan Das and directed by Nilesh Deepak. “Faisla” performed on the last day was written by Maitri Pushpa and directed by Sandeep Rawat. On the reason behind the story, Pushpa Maitri shares, “I’ve grown up seeing women being suppressed in my village. When one lady from my village was elected as chief of the village, but her decisions were made by her husband, I was astounded to see the ground reality of women empowerment.” Sandeep Rawat, director of ‘Faisla’ asked the children in his team to collect data and statistics on how many women have been elected as MLA in recent elections. The children were surprised to find out that only 70 members were female out of 400 elected MLA. “Collecting the data helped them understand the situation faced by women,” Sandeep added. Talking about the experience of training children Sandeep said, “It’s always a pleasure to work with young minds, they are very versatile and perform by putting their heart out for their performance.”

One of the plays also touched upon the issue of domestic violence. The play depicted how one vote can make a huge difference and how Basumati was pushed to reach her freedom from an abusive relationship. Two lead actors of the play, Ishan and Sneha, shared, “We thought that domestic violence is history now. But when Sandeep sir gave us assignments to research about the condition of women at the grass-root level in the country, we realized what it is like to live in rural areas as a woman in our country.”

While the performers were ecstatic, the audience was equally enthralled. Rahul, a 22-year-old boy was overwhelmed by watching the children perform. “I have been coming here from the first day, but I did not anticipate that the children will be so perfect at portraying the emotions and the sensitivity of the story,” he shared. Asha, a 43-year-old lady, whose child was also performing in the play was overwhelmed by her child’s performance. “I did not know that my boy could understand topics like this and then perform it in such away. I am grateful to the organizers for giving him this chance and training him,” she shared. The six-day festival concluded with an award ceremony followed by melodious Rajasthani Lok sangeet.

(All photographs clicked by Shrikant Kukreti)

“Defence Expert” doles out bundle of lies on politicization of Indian armed forces

Nilesh Kunwar
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“Defence Expert” doles out bundle of lies on politicization of Indian armed forces

Lately, politicization of the Indian Army has become the pet subject of discussion and debate amongst those who specialize in matters military and their overall prognosis of the situation presents a rather grim picture. In one such piece titled ‘At the doorstep of Indian military politicization’ (Kashmir Times, June 26, 2019), Ali Ahmed has discussed this issue and concluded that the apolitical character of the Indian armed forces is under serious threat. Whereas the author must surely be having good reasons for his convictions, but the credibility factor of any argument nose-dives the moment one allows unfettered speculation to overwhelm logical assessment.

This is exactly what has happened in this case.

According to the author, the Indian Air Chief “rewrote history” when he spoke about Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets not having crossed the Line of Control (LoC) after the Balakot strike. He goes on to mention how “The air force has gone out of its way to bolster the ruling party head’s questionable claim that some 300 terrorists perished in its aerial surgical strike.” What the author doesn’t realise is that since this attack failed to cause any damage, whether the PAF did or didn’t intrude into Indian airspace has become a non-issue and being irrelevant, even political parties have lost interest in the same.

As far as mentioning terrorist casualty figures are concerned, it needs to be remembered that while the Indian Air Force (IAF) has the ability to carry out post-strike damage assessment of the target by examining the visible impairment, it doesn’t have the electronic and human intelligence capability to conduct internal damage evaluation of its targets. So, since the IAF is merely repeating the casualty figures put out in public domain by the centre, it would be unfair to term this as a motivated act of appeasing the government. Lastly, if the author considers the claim of some 300 terrorists being killed in Balakot airstrike “questionable” and believes that nothing of this sort happened, then he may like to ponder over why did the Pakistan Army delay visit of journalists to the target area by nearly one-and-a-half-month?  

The author goes on to note that “the army chief has endeared himself to the government in his leading the army,” and what exactly he’s hinting at initially escapes interpretation. But things become clear when he states that the army chief’s “personal interest is in his justifying to himself – as much as to others – his controversial elevation to the job based on his counter insurgency expertise, and also the government’s line through its first term resulting in over 600 youth dead.” This complex elucidation raises concerns on whether the army chief has in any way violated the constitutional charter of the army by its mis-employment merely to appease the government, and if so, why hasn’t the author quoted specific instances of the same?

The next issue concerns the author’s view that the army chief’s bid to prove his credentials as a counter insurgency expert and toe the government line left “over 600 youth dead.” This is certainly a very serious allegation and that’s why it’s unfathomable why the author has failed to corroborate the same by revealing who these 600 deceased youth were; under what circumstances were they killed and why? Could this be an inadvertent oversight or an intentional omission just to avoid disclosing the fact that most of these were armed terrorists killed in gunfights with security forces?

 Passing off the Pulwama car bomb suicide attack on a CRPF bus that claimed 40 lives as a “false flag operation” without even providing an iota of evidence to support this bizarre claim is a highly irresponsible act since it could further traumatize the already grieving kith and kin of those who lost their lives in this attack. If this was indeed a false flag operation (as the author is suggesting), then why hasn’t he explained what made Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) take responsibility for the same and end up landing in trouble with its chief Masood Azhar being designated a global terrorist by the UNSC (United Nations Security Council)? By making his outlandish false-flag allegation, isn’t the author overstepping established norms of civility and showing scant regards for human sensitivities in his bid to sensationalize this humongous human tragedy?

The way things are going, it seems that the day isn’t far when someone will come out with the claim that JeM chief Masood Azhar is actually an Indian ‘mole’ who had been ‘cultivated’ by Indian spy agency R&AW during his long imprisonment in Indian jails. Then, in order to facilitate his ‘seamless insertion’ into Pakistan and avoid suspicion, R&AW setup the entire IC 814 hijack drama that originated in Nepal and ended in Kandahar. The creator of this ‘Kandahar conspiracy theory’ would then claim that Masood Azhar was ‘activated’ by his masters in New Delhi to organize the Pulwama suicide attack with the help of Indian intelligence agencies so that the BJP could extract electoral advantage from this tragedy !!

Giving wings to one’s imagination is fine, but, even the wildest flights of fantasy must have some limits!

The author has come up with specific predictions but the chances of him eating his own words are rather dim because he has balanced the odds very well. Mentioning that the present air chief “is likely lining up for a kick upstairs, as no less than India’s first Chief of Defence Staff equivalent,” he has simultaneously also hinted that the present army chief could also get this job as “the army latest play of music for the ears of its political master has been the rejection of any notion that surgical strikes were also carried out by the opposition when in government.” Similarly, while he uses this surgical strike issue to suggest that the northern army commander is playing hard ball to become army chief, he counter-balances this by talking of “a current frontrunner for next army chief (who) has links with the new ruling party working head, dating to their juvenile friendship.”

So, no matter who becomes what in the days to come, the author’s prognosis will in one way or the other prove to be correct- and that’s exactly what writing on military related issues and being a ‘defence expert’ is all about!

Fractures of Bones and the Costs of Competent Research

Scott Douglas Jacobsen
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Fractures of Bones and the Costs of Competent Research

Professor Gordon Guyatt, MD, MSc, FRCP, OC is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact and Medicine at McMaster University. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

The British Medical Journal or BMJ had a list of 117 nominees in 2010 for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Guyatt was short-listed and came in second-place in the end. He earned the title of an Officer of the Order of Canada based on contributions from evidence-based medicine and its teaching.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2012 and a Member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2015. He lectured on public vs. private healthcare funding in March of 2017, which seemed a valuable conversation to publish in order to have this in the internet’s digital repository with one of Canada’s foremost academics.

For those with an interest in standardized metrics or academic rankings, he is the 14th most cited academic in the world in terms of H-Index at 240 and has a total citation count of more than 247,000. That is, he probably has among the highest H-Indexes, of any Canadian academic living or dead.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, you’ve also done some work with regards to fractures of bones. Now, it is not necessarily your main stream of research. We were talking off tape about two particular narratives.

One with regards to the pluses and minuses of a big nail and a small nail with the regards to the tibia. Another with regards to an ultrasound device. You noted the devices have a less strict qualification system to get them certified than do pharmaceuticals or drugs.

Distinguished Professor Gordon Guyatt: Yes! It is dramatic. The standards to get a drug on the market are moderately high. They are not as tough as they used to be, and that is an area of controversy, but they are still substantially more stringent than devices.

Devices can get out there much easier than you can drugs. The review process and the barriers you have to jump over are much less with devices than drugs.

Jacobsen: That also leads to of question that is a preface to all of this. Why did the strictures for pharmaceuticals go down? Why are devices less strict than pharmaceuticals in general?

Guyatt: In terms of the first question, there is a controversy, so there is a trade-off. So, some people would say, “Let’s get new drugs out to people, where previously it took too long.” We had these drugs that are beneficial.

There are all these obstructions and the poor patients are suffering because the drugs are not coming out soon enough. On the other hand, there is another argument that it is not infrequent that drugs come out. We find out bad things about them later; that even apparent benefits do not benefit people. So, on the one hand, good drugs get out, and do not make people wait.

On the other hand, be appropriately cautious, make sure that people are benefiting, and make sure and be more careful about the potential adverse effects, that is the argument back and forth. I am not sure that there is any definitive right or wrong.

But there are many of us who have concerns about the pharmaceutical industry and the way the pharmaceutical industry operates. We are on the side of, “Come on. Wait. Do not do it too soon. Make sure it is right, and better too. There are lots of good drugs on the market now.”

“Unless, something is a real breakthrough. Wait to make sure that it is a breakthrough,” it is more of an small incremental game. Let’s test it before it gets out. So, that is the tension as far as that is concerned.

Jacobsen: To the second question, it had to do with devices having much lower standards.

Guyatt: It is a historical accident. So, way back in the early 60s, what changed the landscape with respect to drugs was thalidomide, it was given to women to prevent the nausea of pregnancy. It ameliorated the problem.

However, it caused these horrible limb abnormalities in the kids. People said, “Oh! You’ve got to do things differently here. This is bad news.” So, it changed the environment as far as drugs. Where I suppose, there haven’t been any particular catastrophes in terms of devices.

They are seen as potentially less dangerous and the culture of tough regulation has never grown up.

Jacobsen: Now with regards to fractures of bones, what is the background with regards to doing some side research with Jason W. Busse regarding?

Guyatt: First, there is Mohit Bhandari. So, Mohit Bhandari is an orthopaedic surgeon who came to me when he was still in his training as an ambitious young guy. He came to me wanting to train in research methods, which is what I train people in. He said, “I’d like to do a big orthopaedic trial.”

So, I said, “I tell you what. Here is the trial you want to do,” and it was this trial of when people fractured their tibia. You need to put a nail in to hold the pieces of the tibia together again properly.

There are two ways of putting the nail in. You put in a little nail that maintains the blood supply in the bone marrow. Or you put in a big nail that requires reaming out the bone marrow and the little nail has the advantage of maintaining the blood supply, which is promoting healing.

The big nail has the advantage of the structural bed being a better structure. So, Mohit said, “It is a real controversy whether we should be using these big nails or small nails. We should sort that out.”

So, I said, “Okay, tell you what, tell me who the leading guy in North America is in this field. Let’s see if he would be interested in heading up a trial where we do this.”

So, we got in touch with him. He is in the States. Let’s talk to him. So, we talked to him. We said, “We are want to do clinical trials. Would you be interested in leading the trial because we need some established authority to lead to trial?” So, he said, “Sure.”

So, he helped us gain access to leading orthopaedic colleagues.” Eventually, we got the trial funded in part in Canada and in the States. Mohit led the trial. By the time the trial was finished, he was on faculty as an investigator and ended up leading the trial to completion and getting the appropriate credit as the leader of the trial.

So, we enrolled over twelve hundred patients, which was a big trial at the time. It was one of the biggest in orthopaedic trauma that had previously been done. It found out that, overall, it did not make much difference whether you used a big nail or the small nail, but possibly a small nail was better in the more severe fractures.

The big nail was better in the less severe fractures and ended up as one of the first big major orthopaedic trauma trials.

Jacobsen: Why the small nail for big fractures and the big nail for the small fractures?

Guyatt: The theory: surgeons before they started had this suspicion. They said, “In the cases of the more serious fractures, the maintaining of the blood supply may be more important. In the less serious fractures, the maintaining of the blood supply is not as important.”

That was the rationale beforehand. They had the idea. So, it became more credible because they had the idea in advance when we found that the small nail seemed to be better in the more serious fractures. The big nail in the less serious.

It made us more inclined to believe that because that was the hypothesis that the surgeons stated and they had some biology for it before the trial started.

Jacobsen: with regards to the last part of the research which regards to fracture bones at least that we have talked about on tape one of them has to do with an ultrasound device.

Guyatt: Okay! So, story, there is so a guy named Jason W. Busse. Another guy who did a Ph.D. with me. By training, he is a chiropractor, but he got interested in research. He came to work with us. He was also working closely with Mohit.

So, the opportunity came along; I am sure through Mohit. I do not remember the details. It was with a company that makes an ultrasound device, which was reportedly enhancing the healing of fractures and in keeping with the lower standards of evidence for our devices.

This device has been licensed for use on the basis of some evidence – not convincing, not strong. These are not high quality studies. It is based on the enhanced radial x-ray healing of fractures and the company then said, “We think our device is great. Let’s get some randomized trials strong and randomised trial evidence about the effect of the device.”

So, we arranged. We made a deal with the company. Jason W. Busse was leading the trial. He set up a randomized trial of this ultrasound device. We got some funding from the industry. We got some funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research. So, off we go, we are doing our trial, early on when we were doing the trial.

Jason did a systematic review of all the evidence that was available thus far. The evidence said, “We are not so sure of this radiological healing. There is no evidence at all that anybody functionally benefits from this. Because if your x-ray looks better, and if you cannot walk sooner or have less pain or something like this, who cares if the x-ray looks better?”

We published this in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this review. The company was not thrilled. In fact, Jason was the first author of this. The company told Mohit, “We want nothing more to do with Jason, get rid of this Jason. He has stabbed us in the back.”

However, Jason was the principal investigator in the study. We were not going to Jettison Jason. So, although, the company did not want in on meetings and so on. Anyway Jason continued to lead the trial. So, usually with these studies, we are committed to go to the end to get as definitive an answer as possible.

We do not go looking at the data partway. However, the company had access to the data part way. They looked at the data. They find nothing good is happening. They say, “Let’s stop the trial.”

So, we fought with them. We managed to continue longer than we would otherwise. However, eventually, they stopped the trial, but not before we would have enrolled 500 patients. That was enough to get a reasonable conclusion.

Then we did not get the complete follow up. Some because they stopped it, but not bad. So, the trial is finished. No benefit whatsoever either on fracture healing or on function in the patients. One of the issues was there was only about 70% or 80% compliance with the device not bad.

What about in terms of what you would expect out in the real world anyway, they obviously did not get the result. So, the first thing, they made all sorts of arguments about how we should present the results.

Either the results said that this compliance was so low, it is not a problem or there is a subgroup that benefits. Anyway, we went through a prolonged discussion about that. We said, “No, sorry, there are not any subgroups who benefit from this device as far as we can tell. It does not do any good.”

So, they tried. They delayed us. They threatened us all with a couple of years between when we would have had to publish and when we published. Because of all their obstruction and so on. Then, of course, they fund going to meetings and say, “Do not pay any attention to this trial and so on.”

But eventually, we published that in the British Medical Journal. In addition, we have another initiative that tries to get ground-breaking evidence that might be practiced, changing out to clinicians as soon as possible.

Then we published one of these rapid recommendations about do not use this ultrasound along with the trial. So, that was an adventure.

Jacobsen: Thanks for the opportunity, anytime.

Guyatt: A pleasure.

We conducted an extensive interview for In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal before: here, here, here, here, here, and here. We have other interviews in Canadian Atheist (here and here), Canadian Science (here), Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Conatus News, Humanist Voices, News Intervention (here and here), and The Good Men Project (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Photo by Owen Beard on Unsplash

Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla passes away

News Intervention Bureau
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Industrialist Basant Kumar Birla passes away

Nonagenarian industrialist and Birla group patriarch Basant Kumar Birla passed away on Wednesday. He was 98. Birla, the youngest son of philanthropist Ghanshyam Das Birla, was born on 12 January, 1921. By fifteen years of age, he was already actively associated with a large number of companies and eventually became the chairman of Kesoram Industries. He also established the Indo-Ethiopian Textiles Share Company, which was the first major joint venture by any Indian industrialist. In response, the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, awarded him the medal of the Order of Menelik II, the highest Ethiopian award.

In April 1941, he married Sarla, the daughter of activist and writer Brijlal Biyani, after having been introduced to each other by Jamnalal Bajaj and Mahatma Gandhi. They had a son, Aditya Vikram Birla, and two daughters, Jayashree Mohta and Manjushree Khaitan.

He was the chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, which runs an engineering college named BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology in Pilani, Rajasthan, the Swargashram Trust, which administers a Sanskrit school in Rishikesh. He also established Birla Public School in Qatar and the Birla College of Arts, Science & Commerce in Kalyan near Mumbai. He is the author of several books, including an autobiography entitled Svantah Sukhaya.

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