PROGRESSIVE RATIONALIST

The H1B visa suspension by the US to have Rs 1200 crore impact on Indian IT firms , Crisil ratings said. The coronavirus pandemic has induced protectionism around the world encouraging domestic aspirations. The protectionism adversely affects the migrant labours abroad and in the country. In the globalization era, the protectionism against free movement of labour affects the labours and also leaves the employers to deprive of cheap labours. Also read: Reverse Migration - Stress in the rural economy Protectionism isn't the solution The CoVID'19 has affected the economy and left many jobless but protectionism is definitely not a solution for the revival. The suspension of H1B visas has created a debate and a strong resistance among the tech employers in the US mainly those depended on Indian IT employees. However many experts argue that the visa ban won't help in increasing domestic employment. This kind of protectionism to increase domestic employment is done not only in th...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday lowered its growth forecast for the Indian economy in 2020 by 4.5 per cent , a "historic low" , citing economic slowdown due to the two-month-long COVID-19-induced lockdown. The fund, however, also said that India is expected to bounce back in 2021 with a 6 per cent growth rate. In 2019, India's growth rate was 4.2 per cent.  The CoVID'19 lead economic crisis is different from other economic crisis in history and needs a different strategy. To revive the economy and boost growth govt should attract global investments and also increase liquidity and monetize the poor so much. Govt is highly ensuring the supply side hitch through credit guarantee schemes but only if the consumer has money in their hands these businesses would perform.  Govt should not worry about the fiscal deficit and inflation for about 6 months. Only through more public spending, money would reach the poor - Garib Kalyan Rojgar is a good example. An...

Govt. has come up with Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (Poor Welfare Employment Scheme) to provide employment in rural areas and reduce the financial stress created due to the nationwide lockdown. The scheme is  a merger of 25 govt schemes including housing scheme, providing drinking water through taps, road construction etc. and govt has planned to implement it in 116 districts across 6 states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) . The CG has fixed 125 days target to implement the scheme and a total of 6.7 million guest workers to be provided works in house construction, rural infrastructure development, Anganwadi construction etc (that are a part of 25 govt schemes merged in GKRA) according to their skillset. The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan is a part of the relief package of 20 Lakh crores announced by the govt last month. The budget of the scheme is 50,000 crores and FM announced on June 18,2020 that the funds will be drawn from the 61,500 crore...