After 9 Years of Stagnation, Amrit Kaal Budget is Just Band Aid; Unemployment rising, but MGNREGA Outlay Lowest Ever in Govt’s Term

Govt keen to cancel independent probes, Adani takes Haifa as FPO salvaged, Shanti Bhushan dead, Adoor quits film institute and at NDTV, it’s Adani in, journalists out

A newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas | Contributors: MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia, Sushant Singh and Tanweer Alam | Editor: Pratik Kanjilal

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Snapshot of the day

February 1, 2022

Pratik Kanjilal

Credit Suisse has stopped accepting Adani group bonds as collateral for margin loans to clients of its private banking arm. And Reuters is reporting that Australia’s corporate regulator has said it will review a short seller’s report that has flagged a wide range of concerns about the Adani Group. The conglomerate’s stocks in India were down despite the Sensex being up on Budget day. Wednesday’s stock losses saw Gautam Adani slip to 10th place on the Forbes rich list with an estimated worth of $84.1 billion, just below rival Mukesh Ambani, who has an estimated $84.4 billion. Before the Hindenburg report, Adani was ranked third.

Supporting a petition which challenges the reports of independent fact-finding committees on the Northeast Delhi riots of 2020, the Union government has told the Delhi High Court that reports published by any “private/extrajudicial body” are liable to be declared null and void. The Union government affidavit says that reports by private organisations or extrajudicial commissions have built a biased and selective narrative “to sway public opinion in favour of a particular community” and “ought to be restrained”.

India imported more Russian crude in January, the month after the EU price cap was announced. Russian crude made up 28% of Indian supplies, the highest ever.

The first Amrit Kaal Budget was unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Three headline numbers were announced: 

• Capital investment outlay is to be 3.3% of GDP in FY24, increasing 33% to Rs 10 lakh crore.

• Capital outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore has been provided for the Railways. This is the “highest-ever outlay, about nine times the commitment made in 2013-14.” 

• The fiscal deficit for FY23 is estimated to be 6.4% of GDP. For FY24, the deficit is seen at 5.9% of GDP.

The rest was an election manifesto, with predictable acronyms and several invocations of PM Modi. Surprisingly, the outlay for MGNREGA, the world’s largest employment programme, fell to the lowest in the entire five years of this government: Rs 60,000 crore. The Budget speech said that the ‘saptarishi’ were guiding India’s ‘Amrit Kaal’: inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential, green growth, youth power and financial sector. You can read more here, here and here, to see how it all unfolded in real time. The Budget papers are here.

The price of jet fuel was hiked 4%; petrol and diesel prices remain unchanged. The rate hike will pressure airlines ― fuel makes up almost 40% of operating cost.

The Opposition has slammed the President’s speech, calling it the BJP manifesto for 2024. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said it is the “government’s statement that has come through the President”, and there’s nothing new in it.

The government plans to introduce 19 new bills, including the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill that aims to empower the commander-in-chief or the officer in command of inter-services organisations for maintenance of discipline and proper discharge of their duties, in the Budget Session of Parliament. A total of 26 bills, including seven which are pending, will form the legislative agenda of the government. The first half of the session will be primarily spent on discussing the President’s address to the joint sitting of both Houses and the Budget, and could end on February 10.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has reiterated his commitment to shift his capital to Visakhapatnam, abandoning his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu’s development of Amaravati. In March 2022, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had ordered works in Amaravati to continue, but the YSRCP government has reportedly made no progress. The Jagan government later approached the Supreme Court to challenge the HC order. The Opposition TDP says it’s contempt of court.

The five-member Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud yesterday recommended to the government the names of Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar for elevation to the Supreme Court. The court has seven vacancies now. The unusually candid resolution said that while the Collegium was “unanimous” about Justice Bindal, Justice Joseph was of the opinion that Justice Aravind Kumar could be considered at a later stage.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider in open court a plea by the Centre seeking review of its 2022 ruling wherein the top court had declared the amendments that were introduced in Benami law as unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha: “This is an unusual request. It relates to the Benami Prohibition Act. Some of the provisions were not even challenged and struck down. Large matters are being disposed of.” 

Oreva Group managing director Jaysukh Patel yesterday surrendered before a Gujarat court in connection with the collapse of a suspension bridge in Morbi that killed 135 people in October last year. Patel was managing director of Oreva Group, the firm that held the contract to maintain, repair and renovate the bridge, and was among the 10 accused in the charge sheet filed by the police on January 27.

Acclaimed filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has resigned as chairman of the KR Narayanan Film Institute of Visual Science and Arts (KRNNIVSA) in Kottayam, Kerala. Ten days ago, institute director Shankar Mohan had quit following months-long protests by a section of students and staff accusing him of caste discrimination. In his resignation letter, Adoor wrote that the “baseless” accusations were attempts to mar Mohan’s four decades of exemplary service to the film industry. Adoor submitted his resignation letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan following a discussion with him on Monday. In a statement, he lashed out at the government’s enquiry commission, accusing it of not contacting him or Mohan, and taking lies spread on social media at face value. He also criticised the media for “failing to reveal the truth”.

Restofworld.org reports that India’s tech unions see an opening amid a layoff tsunami. Indian tech workers have stayed away from unions, which they see as blue-collar entities. They are also wary about alienating employers.

Shahrukh Khan’s Pathaan has offered a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered Hindi film industry, but cinema attendance in Hindi-speaking markets has nearly halved post-Covid. Though hits like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Drishyam 2 sold 15 million tickets, it’s only a fraction of the pre-Covid blockbusters like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dangal, which drew 50 million each. Footfalls for Hindi cinema fell to 189 million in 2022 from 341 million in 2019, 316 million in 2018 and 301 million in 2017, according to media consultants Ormax. Rising ticket prices have shored up revenues but reduced audiences. Discount initiatives like National Cinema Day don’t work when films start streaming to homes within four weeks. 

BBC reports that the crew of a Vistara flight from Abu Dhabi tied an Italian woman to her seat after she allegedly punched a staffer and spat on another. She was arrested on arrival in Mumbai on Monday and later released on bail. Her lawyer has denied the allegations, but Vistara said its staff had to restrain the woman for “continued unruly conduct and violent behaviour”. Indian carriers are less tolerant about passenger misbehaviour after the ‘peegate’ incident on Air India, followed by a bizarre investigation. 

Australian opening batsman Usman Khawaja missed his flight to India on Wednesday due to a visa delay. The Australia squad left for the high-profile four-Test series against India without Khawaja, who is expected to depart today. “Me waiting for my Indian visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow,” wrote Khawaja, while posting a meme on social media. The Pakistan-born batter has played 56 Tests, 40 ODIs and nine T20s for Australia. The 36-year-old also featured in the IPL back in 2016. He was named Australia’s Test Player of the Year on Monday, an award named after the legendary Shane Warne.

Acclaimed lawyer Shanti Bhushan (97) passed away last evening. He had represented Raj Narain in the legendary case in the Allahabad High Court which led to the unseating of Indira Gandhi as PM in 1974.