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Dear Readers,

Bharat: On August 15, Bharatwasis will celebrate Independence Day paying homage to millions of brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives in the independence movement. Swami Vivekananda said, “India must conquer the world and nothing less than that is my ideal.” While returning to Bharat from America, he said, “I loved India when I was coming to America and now each particle of dust of India is holy to me.” Now, Bharatwasis have to work hard with devotion, righteously, selflessly and fearlessly. Bharat has to be ‘Atmanirbhar’. Bharat has to achieve it to provide employment and feed her population. Since 2011, industries have not done well. A severe slowdown started in 2018 due to scarce opportunities and stringent financial regulations. Covid-19 has aggravated matters beyond control by adversely affecting all sectors.

India’s forex reserves stood at USD 517.64 billion on July 17, 2020 – a 20.2% rise over the same period last year. Forex reserves were estimated at USD 430.78 billion on July 19, 2019. Import is less due to the falling price of oil and in quantity also. Surprisingly, China has emerged an importer of Indian steel. It is up 63% by volume and 23% by value. For Tata Steel and JSW Steel, exports constituted 50% of their total despatch in the first quarter steel. Indian steel makers are enjoying ` 7500 per tonne cost advantage over Chinese mills on account of iron ore alone. From 2011 to mid-2017, Indian steel producers were hit hard and suffered losses as cheap steel products were coming from China. In mid-2017, India increased tariffs and later imposed dumping duties. Thereafter, steel industries started reviving. Due to heavy losses, number of steel companies like Bhushan Steel, Essar Steel, Electrosteel and others became bankrupt.

NBFC, NBHFC: The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das pleaded with the government for forming a ‘Samadhan Nigam’ with legal rights to resolve the financial crisis of NBFCs and NBHFCs. Depositors’ money is at risk.

MSMEs: Recovery could take two to three years. This sector needs huge amount of support to make Bharat Atmanirbhar.60-70% of MSME loans, if not more, can become NPAs if moratorium is not extended beyond 31st August.

Agriculture and dairy development: Due to Green Revolution, food grains production has increased to 300 million tonne in 2019-20. Per capita grain availability stood at 165 kg for the year. Milk production has also increased to 188 million tonne in 2019-20. Per capita milk availability has increased to 40 kg annually compared to a global average of 136 kg. Agriculture development is very low. The central and state governments have a number of programmes for providing nutritious food to school children. They should supply more milk in the programmes. Substantial quantity of milk powder and other milk products are being imported. These should be curbed to promote local farms and producing units.

Moratorium: It is needed beyond August for one to three years depending on the speed of recovery.

Bharatiya wealth creators: A Bharatiya wealth creator Mukesh Ambani, CMD of Reliance Industries, is now the fifth richest just after Mark Zuckerberg in the world ahead of Warren Buffet, Sergey Brin and Elon Musk. His father Dhirubhai Ambani had been a successful and one of the richest industrialists, rising from the level of a petrol station filler boy. He was fortunate to have the blessings of banks, financial institutions and government policies. It was not only these factors, but his own vision, perseverance, insight, hard work, faith in himself that led to his business growth; to giant oil producer, telecom, retail from consumer textile industry (‘Vimal’ brand). Having working with his father from the very young age Mukesh Ambani has acquired all talents, acumen, intricacies and complexities from his father. He has carried his legacy forward and has now expanded the group’s presence in other sectors including telecom.

Cover Story - Environment and pandemic: In the Bible, God is pictured as creating plants and trees on the third day. God is depicted as a gardener. In Hinduism, green is the sign of Wednesday, the day of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and benefactor of wisdom and prosperity. ‘Anahat’ (heart centre), the chakra in the human body is symbolised by the green colour. It helps the heart, lungs, liver, circulatory system, skin and pancreas stay healthy. So, it is recommended to have green vegetables a lot, not meat. The national flag of India bears the green colour at the bottom. Islam has green flag. Quran says, “Greenness as paradise where righteousness prevails.”

Covid-19 pandemic is the most urgent and recent threat to the world. Climate change has been persisting as the great threat to the world. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is rescheduled to be held in Scotland in 2021 due to Covid-19.

Earlier, the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) 2019 of the UN stated that the damage to the planet has been dire, threatening the people health and lives. Man-made pollution and damage to the environment have been affecting the health of the people, causing deaths.

Bharat needs to have green growth. Solar power units have come. Many solar projects that had come before 2016 are at the verge of closure. They had high cost of capital. Power purchase agreements by states, governments, and discoms have been cancelled and revised downwards by 50% causing great loss as they are not in position to serve interest cost of high capital invested due to cost of plants, which have become cheaper now. New plants should be given current lower rates. Decentralised solar power plants are required. Rural areas can have solar plants for which government should provide land.

To conclude, all need to protect Mother Earth, the Environment and Nature as we hope for Nature to protect us.