21st February

Aye, aye, Sir!

The article talks about the recent statements uttered by the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee following the unruly behavior of MPs in the Parliament. The author expresses concern over the criminalization of politics. He expects middle class of India to force the reform in the political system just as it forced the passing of RTI Act in Parliament.

As from the recent incident in the Parliament, it is evident that a steady decline in the quality of our political class has been one of the major failings of our democracy. More serious is criminalization of politics. Around one-forth of the MPs in Parliament are booked under one or the other criminal offences some of which as serious as murder. However, they have power of vote. In present system, even if all the existing MPs lose, there is no hope that the next lot would be any better. Display of green currency as a bribe by some of the members last year during the vote of confidence was the lowest point of our democracy.

Electoral reform, primarily the electoral funding, cannot be left to the politicians who are the biggest beneficiaries of the present system. If something has change, it has to be lead by the great Indian Middle Class who played a vital role in passing of RTI Act in Parliament. However, the middle class seems to be indifferent on this issue. Thus, to some extent, even we deserve such leaders for our complacency.

Call for high import duties

The article asks for reconsideration in the recent hikes in import duties on some of the raw materials by the govt and argues that the interests of end consumers should be taken into consideration before protecting the interests of few domestic manufacturers.

Recently, domestic steel manufacturers urged govt to increase the import duty on imported cheap steel. The duty has already been increased from 0% to 5%. Govt is also in the process of increasing the safeguard duty of 20% on LAB (Linear Alkyl Benzene), a raw material accounting for 50% of composition in detergent cakes and powders. Talks are on to impose safeguard duty on soda ash. Such duties would definitely be a cushion for the domestic industries but government should also consider the fact that it would also increase the input costs of finished products or downstream industries to a considerable level. The sufferers would be the consumers. 

Thus, any protection to selected manufacturers should not be at the cost of economy. With arbitrary increase in the import duties, it also runs a danger of inverted duty structure – where duty on finished products would be less then inputs. This is dangerous as it discourages value addition to the economy. This is not good especially for the economy that is trying to come out of recessionary times.

Fashion Weak

The article talks about the effect of recession on the Fashion industry across the world that has taken set back in terms of exotic shows, high profile models and startling locations. With such times, the cutprice couture days are back.

As the recession hits the industry, the players are back to basics such as encouraging columnists’ comments and buyers’ approval of the product in a relatively small gathering. Talking about numbers, the NY Fashion week saw 25% drop in sales this season while 1.8% drop in retail sales was registered by top 50 retailers in Thomson Reuters Index. Luxury conglomerate LVMH reported a marginal $2.5b increase in yearly sales. Thus, ‘intimate’ shows, off-site venues, low price models, shared catwalk space (three designers presenting simultaneously at one-third price) are back in lime-light. 

Back in India, as the top names in fashion follow the international trends, Kolkata is another name on the fashion map along with Delhi and Mumbai. The big bosses of fashion industry this year has opted for stalls instead of full-fledged ramp displays. Thus, as we truly see cutprice couture is a byword now instead of an oxymoron.