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Large scale job creation strategy needs focus on low-end manufacturing

Shashank Goyal
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Large scale job creation strategy needs focus on low-end manufacturing

India is approaching a huge window of opportunity in the form of its “demographic dividend”. From 2020 to 2040, India will have a large and growing section of the population in “working age” (15 yrs to 60 yrs) giving it a bigger workforce than China’s. Deploying this large young workforce in productive areas could potentially create huge economic output in the long run.

One of the immediately available low hanging fruit with quick results is in low-end manufacturing like apparel, footwear, and leather. Currently, China has a huge 40% market share in apparel exports. India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam appear in a distant 3% to 5% range

                                                                                Source: UN Comtrade data

As per most industry reports though, due to rising labour costs, China is slowly moving away from apparel industry and shifting its focus to high-end manufacturing. With China vacating this space, a huge opportunity is up for grabs. India already has many strategic benefits which could be leveraged to quickly grow in this space. To begin with, labour cost in India is less than one-third of that in China.

                                                       Source: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)

Secondly, the raw material is easily available locally within India. India is world’s second largest cotton producer and no import would be needed. Synthetic textiles are also manufactured locally by some of India’s well-known business houses like Ambani (Reliance), Birla (Grasim) and Wadia (Bombay Dyeing). Today, most of it is exported as raw material to China which converts it into apparel and then exports the final value-added product. Local availability of cotton and synthetic textiles, coupled with low labour cost offers a huge advantage for apparel manufacturing in India which few other countries could match.

To add to it, more jobs can be created by investing in labour-intensive industries compared to automation driven industries. The data from NSSO 2012-13 indicates that every Rs. 1 lakh (INR 100k / $1.5k) investment in apparel manufacturing is expected to create 24 new jobs compared to only 0.3 in Automobiles or 0.1 in Steel

However, most of the current apparel manufacturing companies in India are unorganized and small in size. More than 90% of apparel firms have less than 50 workers. Only 15% apparel companies in China are this small. Large Chinese apparel firms employ about 10,000 employees, some going up to 30,000 employees too. Big global customers like Levi’s, H&M, GAP etc. are not likely to procure from such smaller companies in India.

Hence, a structured policy on creating large local manufacturers in sectors like leather, apparel & footwear could go a long way in creating high volume jobs in India.

In step 1, the government could invite big Indian textile companies like Bombay Dyeing, Grasim, Reliance etc. to take over these smaller units and merge them into large apparel manufacturing entities with economies of scale. Using the raw material which they already produce on their own, they could manufacture apparel in India and export large quantities to big global customers in US and EU. As indicated by industry reports, many US fashion companies are already looking for alternative sourcing destinations beyond China.

In step 2, the government could set up apparel manufacturing zones in populous regions of eastern India (UP, Bihar etc.), as they offer a large pool of human capital and the industry demands low skill level with low training cost. The government could also extend tax breaks for apparel industry as this will enable large-scale job creation.

In step 3, the government could also invite large apparel companies from China to start manufacturing in India. These companies already have an existing customer base. They could shift manufacturing to India and export from here. Benefits for China include low labour cost with easy raw material availability which keeps them competitive. Benefits for India include high volume job creation, higher economic activity and increased export revenue resulting in higher GDP. This would be a win-win for both Asian economies.

Media and its ability to give a ‘Hindu spin’ to crimes committed by Muslims

OpIndia Staff
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Media and its ability to give a ‘Hindu spin’ to crimes committed by Muslims

In an ideal world of media and reportage, all the crimes committed by individuals would be reported as it is, without any attempt to spin the issue. It is plentifully clear, though, that the Indian media does not operate in an ideal world and out of many, one of its crimes being its ability to “give a ‘Hindu spin’ to crimes committed by Muslims”.

As recently as last week, it was reported by leading media organisations like Mirror Now and DNA carried the following headlines – “Bengal tantrik ties up man, rapes his wife, claims he was helping a couple to conceive” and “Tantrik allegedly rapes client in front of tied husband, arrested“:

Media and its ability to give a 'Hindu spin' to crimes committed by Muslims
Headline by Mirror Now digital

 

Media and its ability to give a 'Hindu spin' to crimes committed by Muslims
Headline by DNA

In a general parlance, the Tantrik – practitioner of the “tantra vidya“, is mainly associated with Hinduism, leading to a perception that the crime was committed by a Hindu individual.

This though wasn’t the case and the accused was incidentally named Rahmat Ali Sheikh who apart from raping the woman also stole her valuables. Besides this, the reports claimed that the Tantrik was based out of an “ashram” thereby further appropriating the crime to Hinduism. He was arrested as soon as a complaint was filed by the couple.

Here are some other instances where the media proceeded to focus on this particular angle:

  • As per a Hindu report from April, a woman had accused a “tantrik” of raping her in Ajmer, after taking her their on the “pretext of offering prayers at a Dargah“.
  • In the same month, Times of India had carried an article titled, “Tantrik gets 10 years in jail for rape and extortion”. Like the reports mentioned above, the name of the accused was “Warsi”.

Even vernacular media has been caught using the same tricks:

  • Dainik Jagran for some reason decided to call an accused in a harassment case as “Tantrik Sufi baba” in the headline. He, in the content, was identified as later identified as Aftab.
  • Hindi News18 in its article carried the headline, “Tantrik arrested for committing misdemeanour with a minor, under the pretext of chasing away ghosts”. The tantrik was later identified as Hafiz Sajid.

Incidentally, such a misinterpretation of crimes is not limited to Muslim accused. We had reported how India Today had introduced a Christian pastor as a “Kerala priest” while reporting about his demand for jeans and t-shirts girls to drown in the sea.

It’s official : AAP government run schools are the worst in the country

Abhishek Banerjee
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It’s official : AAP government run schools are the worst in the country

It’s not me. It’s the CBSE saying this:

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The overall pass percentage in CBSE affiliated schools across the nation was 86.7%. That’s not so bad. But this is cold comfort to the kids and their parents whose future is at the mercy of Delhi government-run schools, where the pass percentage was just 69.32%!

Because the AAP always likes to be compared to the Central Government, I should point out that pass percentage in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas was 98.63%, while Kendriya Vidyalayas had a pass percentage of 97.03%.

Too bad that kids in Delhi government schools could learn neither math nor economics from the fantastic calculations of Arvind Kejriwal on the subject of bullet trains, black money and scams. Nor could they learn geography from following education minister Manish Sisodia on his travels across Europe.

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I do not revel in reporting Delhi’s educational disaster. Yes, I am a BJP supporter and I would like to see AAP exposed. But I did not want it to be in this way. Not at the cost of innocent kids. Not at the cost of our nation’s future.

Folks who follow the news closely will remember that in recent years, riding on a lucky streak of modest improvements that were probably not statistically significant, the AAP had invested significant political capital in claiming some kind of education revolution in Delhi. This is what led to puff pieces like this old one from Ravish Kumar, which were dutifully shared by AAP trolls as you can see here:

Ravish Kumar’s droning about how education can be radically improved in “just one or two years” now feels like bitter humour. So does the cheerleading of the NDTV reporter who is raving about how the inside of a Delhi government school looks like an expensive private school.

One wonders what propaganda, what excuse, what conspiracy theory will now be invented by AAP, by Ravish Kumar and other apologists to explain why Delhi government schools are the worst in the country. That CBSE examination are rigged along with EVMs or how the question papers were printed at a press in Gujarat?

Perhaps AAP Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj will do a live demo on Delhi Assembly floor showing that it is possible for someone with a pen and paper to write ZERO on the answer booklet even if the answers are correct? Perhaps a sting operation on CBSE showing how marks of Delhi government school students are sent to students in BJP ruled states?

Expect the media to seize on such conspiracy theories and fan them to the fullest. But none of this will help the students in Delhi.

In a structural matter such as education, there is always a time lag before the impact of government efforts (or lack thereof) becomes visible. It has taken just three academic years for the disaster called AAP to trigger a collapse of the education system in Delhi.

As a corollary, it follows that as and when a new government (hopefully) takes power in Delhi, it could take another three years after that to dig the capital’s schools out of the hole. In between, five batches of bright eyed-young kids could see their futures ruined by AAP’s misgovernance. What a price to pay!

This brings to mind the lines, ‘Lamhon ne khata ki thi, sadiyon ne sazaa payi‘ (the mistake was made in an instant, but the punishment it brought endured for ages). When you are in the voting booth, it only takes a few seconds to press that button. But at that moment, the future of the nation is at your fingertips.

Actor Hina Khan asked to ‘dress appropriately’ during Ramzan

OpIndia Staff
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Actor Hina Khan asked to ‘dress appropriately’ during Ramzan

Reality show and daily soap actor Hina Khan was asked to ‘dress appropriately’ during Ramzan by radicals on her social media account. The actor had posted pictures where radical Islamists had told her she will go to hell for ‘dressing inappropriately’.

Radicals moral policing Hina Khan, saying she will go to hell.

They even tried to shame her for posting ‘such pictures’ during Ramzan.

Comments left on Hina Khan’s Instagram page

This is not the first time fundamentalists have attacked celebrities. A popular Bengali actress Nusrat Jahan was earlier insulted on Facebook for celebrating Durga Puja as it was ‘inappropriate’. Cricketer Mohammad Kaif was trolled by Muslim fundamentalists for celebrating Christmas with family. He was also attacked for doing Surya Namaskar. Cricketer Irfan Pathan, too, was told by fundamentalists that Raksha Bandhan is ‘against Islam’.

Mohammed Shami too has had his share of such incidents. In July last year he was trolled for celebrating the birthday of his daughter. They were offended especially by ‘the way Shami celebrated’ the birthday. He also in the past had to deal with angry comments for the photo of his wife in a gown.

Also it isn’t just Indian cricketers who have been plagued by such incidents. Even English cricketer Moeen Ali was trolled on Twitter for drawing a picture because he was going against the traditions of Islam.

Soon after taking oath, Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy meets leaders from radical Islamist outfit PFI

OpIndia Staff
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Soon after taking oath, Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy meets leaders from radical Islamist outfit PFI

According to reports, the newly elected Chief Minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy has met with the leaders of Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The Islamist outfits have been accused of involvement in anti-national activities by National Intelligence Agency.


The meeting between the leaders of Islamist outfit and the chief minister happened just after the oath-taking ceremony at the Vidhana Soudha. The leaders of JDS defended the chief minister and said that PFI and SDPI leaders had come to meet and congratulate the CM.

The Congress party had an understanding with these radical Islamist parties in the recent elections, where PFI and SDPI had withdrawn candidates to support Congress in the elections. Earlier, the same PFI was also accused of murdering an RSS worker in Bangalore.

PFI and SDPI are accused of supporting the anti-national activities earlier. Recently, NIA had filed a charge sheet against PFI members for the murder of a Hindu Munnani member. According to the charge sheet, the NIA has established a larger conspiracy behind the murder of Hindu Munnani spokesperson C Sasikumar.

The NIA had submitted a report on the PFI to the Home Ministry, claiming that the group has been involved in terror acts, including running terror camps and making bombs, and it was a fit case to be declared banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Earlier, the former Vice President Hamid Ansari was also in the news for the wrong reasons after he attended a program organised by the violent Islamist organisation. The same outfit has also been accused in Hadiya’s ‘love-jihad’ cases in Kerala.

In February this year, the Jharkhand government had banned the Kerala-based PFI in the state stating that “members of this organisation are influenced by the Islamic State terror group (IS)”. Jharkhand police claimed that there were pronounced activities of the group in Pakur and Sahebganj districts of the tribal-dominated Santhal Pargana region.

CBI case against Kejriwal’s ‘anti corruption’ foot soldier for hiring architects from detective agency

OpIndia Staff
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CBI case against Kejriwal’s ‘anti corruption’ foot soldier for hiring architects from detective agency

The Central Bureau of Investigations officials today raided the residence of Health, PWD and Power minister of Delhi Satyendra Jain. According to reports, the raid is in connection with alleged irregularities in the hiring of a creative team by the PWD department. Various locations related to the ministers were reportedly raided by CBI officials.


The CBI has also filed an FIR against the Minister. According to reports, the PWD department under Jain had allegedly hired 24 architects through a detective agency. The detective agency reportedly had no prior experience in the field and was tasked to hire the said architects for the department. CBI had earlier initiated an inquiry against the irregularities in the hiring. The creative wing was formed in 2015 and it is also reported that the hiring of the said individuals was not sanctioned as required by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Satyendra Jain has reacted to the CBI raid stating professionals were hired for different projects and all were dismissed by the CBI.


Earlier, there were reports of AAP using its Anti Corruption Unit to spy on officials and journalists. One wonders why Satyendar Jain felt the need to hire architects from a detective agency.

Satyendra Jain’s house was also visited by CBI officials for inquiry in 2017 in relation to a money laundering case in 2017. His residence was raided by CBI pertaining to money Laundering cases in August 2017. In August 2017, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also filed a case against him for alleged money laundering.

Violation of norms and irregularities in hiring professionals has since long haunting AAP. Earlier this month, the LG of Delhi had declared AAP’s hiring of 14 lawyers to fight their cases as ‘invalid’. The lawyers included prominent Supreme Court lawyers like Indira Jaising and Anand Grover. The PWD department of AAP is already embroiled in an alleged 10 crore PWD scam. Anti- Corruption Bureau officials had arrested Arvind Kejriwal’s nephew Vinay Bansal earlier this month.

P Chidambaram moves Patiala House Court for anticipatory bail, court gives protection till 5th June

OpIndia Staff
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P Chidambaram moves Patiala House Court for anticipatory bail, court gives protection till 5th June

Scam-ridden former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, today moved an anticipatory bail plea at Patiala House Court in the Aircel-Maxis case, where he is accused of violating foreign investment protocol. Following that, Delhi’s Patiala House Court has sought a reply from Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the anticipatory bail plea.

Court has also given time to the ED to reply till 5th June and no coercive action can be taken against Chidambaram till then.


The ED in this matter has been probing the role of the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in granting the FIPB approval, which allegedly involved a total amount of about Rs. 3,500 crores, even though Chidambaram only had powers to approve project proposals worth Rs 600 crores. For any amount exceeding Rs 600 crores, Chidambaram was required to take an approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Chidambaram’s son Karti too has been under scrutiny over allegations that his firm received about Rs 1.16 crores from Aircel and other companies in form of a ‘consultancy fee’.

Earlier in February, during one of the raids at his house, a classified CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) status report ‘draft’ on the 2G scam has been reportedly found by the ED. He had also moved Supreme Court and sought protection to his right to privacy and right to live in dignity.

Communist China to sponsor the oldest community Durga Puja in Kolkata’s Salt Lake

Anubhav
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Communist China to sponsor the oldest community Durga Puja in Kolkata’s Salt Lake

This year, the Durga Puja in Kolkata is all set to get a Chinese makeover. Communist China in its effort to strengthening cultural and commercial ties with Bengal has decided to sponsor the oldest community Durga Puja in Salt Lake township. The BJ Block puja is one of the notable community pujas in Kolkata where millions of people visit the Puja every year. The Chinese consulate, which is also situated in Salt Lake will sponsor BJ Block’s puja this year.

Though in the past and especially during the Doklam standoff the relationship between India and China has been less than amicable, the consulate has been consistent in their effort to get involved in the culture of Bengal. They have been giving prizes to Puja organizers in different categories in association with the Kolkata Police for the last couple of years.

This time, they have decided to expand the periphery of their involvement. They are not only going to sponsor BJ Block’s puja but also send a team of artists to Kunming in China’s Yunnan province, where these artists will get master classes in designs inspired by Chinese architecture. The idea is, the entire theme, from the gates to the deity will represent Chinese art forms. The plans for which, are still being firmed up.

Consul general, Ma Zhanwu commented on the transcending religious threshold that Durga Puja embodies and how the Chinese consulate has become quite involved in this festival in the last few years.

Consul General also pointed out their previous engagements with the festival, he stated –

“Last year, we gave away safety awards to the organizers who were able to showcase immaculate safety preparedness inside their pandals. While last year we sent these organizers for a trip to China, this year we are likely to bring a slice of China to a Durga Puja pandal for everyone to enjoy.”

The secretary of BJ Block puja committee Umashankar Ghosh Dastidar is a happy man as he spoke about the ambitious project and how the talks with the consulate are still going on. The BJ Block ties up with different state governments every year to showcase that particular state’s cultural heritage.

According to Dastidar, people will be able to experience authentic Chinese culture including, dragon dance and Chinese flute music at their Puja.

After apathy on account of CM Pinarayi’s visit, police arrest accused in Kevin’s honour killing case

OpIndia Staff
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After apathy on account of CM Pinarayi’s visit, police arrest accused in Kevin’s honour killing case

A day after the body of Kerala ‘Dalit Christian’ man Kevin Joseph was found from a canal in Kollam in Kerala, the police have finally arrested the father and brother of Kevin’s wife Neenu. According to reports, the duo was trying to flee to Bengaluru.


The Kerala police have been facing severe criticism with their handling of the case as Kevin’s family members alleged that even after their continuous pleading all through the day and till late night on Sunday, after Kevin was dragged by armed men, the personnel at Gandhinagar police station at Kottayam did not take any necessary action. Instead, Kevin’s family were reportedly told that the police were busy preparing for CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s scheduled visit to the district.

Neenu’s brother Shanu Chacko, who was the main accused of the crime, and her father Chacko were arrested yesterday from Iritty in Kannur. Out of the total 14 accused, the police have so far arrested 5. Kevin’s body was reportedly buried in Kottayam on Tuesday evening where mourners gathered continued their protests over Kerala Police’s apathy and inaction shown after Kevin’s family reported his kidnapping. The police reportedly lathi charged several times to control the mourners at the funeral.

It was reported that the police personnel at the Gandhi Nagar station kept ignoring Kevin’s family after they went to report his kidnapping. The police neither registered a kidnapping case nor issued a lookout alert for the Innova vehicle in which Kevin was taken by armed men from a relative’s house. It is being alleged that Kevin could have been saved had the police taken prompt action.

Kevin was from a ‘Dalit Christian’ family and worked as an electrician. Neenu is reportedly from an upper caste affluent Christian family. Neenu’s family, especially her father and brother were vehemently opposed to their relationship. It is reported that Neenu’s mother is a Muslim. After a 3 year long relationship, Neenu and Kevin had married and registered their wedding at the sub registrar’s office on May 25th. Kevin was killed 2 days later.

After locals and media outlets raised voices against the police inaction, Gandhi Nagar station Sub Inspector MS Shibu and another ASI were suspended. SP Mohammad Rafique had been reportedly transferred. The Kerala Human Rights Commission has stated that it is a case of honour killing and asked the state police to submit a report within 3 weeks on whether there was any negligence of duty on part of the police staff.

Jignesh Mevani, an elected representative, peddles photoshopped image, target-bullies private citizen

OpIndia Staff
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Jignesh Mevani, an elected representative, peddles photoshopped image, target-bullies private citizen

In what can be seen as hitting a new low for Jignesh Mevani, who was earlier caught spreading misinformation about the death of a labourer, shared a photoshopped image of a popular speaker and columnist Shefali Vaidya, who has often exposed left-wing and ‘liberal’ hypocrisy and on several occasions bullied and threatened.

Tweet by Jignesh Mevani which he has now deleted.

Mevani shared an image where Vaidya was Photoshopped next to an image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Art of Living’s Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the image was juxtaposed next to an image from the film ‘Oh My God’ which takes on superstitions and fake self-styled godmen.

Acting like a lowly troll, Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani, who was associated with Aam Aadmi Party before breaking away and fighting elections last year, targeted a private citizen, Shefali Vaidya, just because their ideologies don’t match. Mevani got called out for his troll-like behaviour which bordered on target-bullying an individual.


Some even asked Twitter to act as swiftly against harassment of right-wing women as it does for people with different political ideology.

Eventually, Jignesh deleted the tweet, but he did not apologise to either of the people involved in the Photoshopped image for the harassment.

This is not the first time an elected representative has bullied a private individual. Earlier, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien had lowered the dignity of the house and defamed Twitter users by reading out propaganda material written by abusive troll masquerading as a journalist, Swati Chaturvedi, accusing them of giving criminal threats to other people while being followed by Prime Minister Modi.

While most of those who cry ‘harassment’ from ‘paid trolls’ on Twitter remained silent, some even encouraged Mevani since it has since received over 600 retweets and 2,200 likes. Mevani had contested as an independent candidate with the support of Congress in Gujarat elections held in December last year.

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