Introspect: Understanding the Labour Issues in India

//14 Oct 2017
Migrant workers are not leaving Kerala because they fear for their safety. They have been departing because November’s demonetisation decision and the Goods and Services Tax, rolled out in July, have reduced the number of jobs on offer, according to fellow workers and trade union leaders.

Media reports early this week suggested that workers from northern and eastern India had received a series of WhatsApp audio messages in Hindi, urging them to leave Kerala to escape from the “locals who kill Hindi-speaking labourers with the support of the state government”. Pictures of the purported victims of such violence had also been circulated. The rumours gained credence after hundreds of migrant labourers were spotted at railway stations across the state. In reality, they were heading home for Diwali.

Kerala has nearly 25 lakh migrant workers, with 2.35 lakh workers coming every year, according to a 2013 study by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, an autonomous body that provides fiscal and social policy inputs to the state government. Nearly 20% of the workers came from West Bengal, 18% from Bihar, 17% from Assam and 15% from Uttar Pradesh.//

https://scroll.in/article/853884/loss-of-jobs-not-fear-for-safety-why-migrant-workers-are-leaving-kerala

//29 Mar 2020
Some are finding their own villages in Bihar blocking their entry; a few had to make trees their temporary homes in West Bengal; hundreds left relief camps and hit the roads in Kerala in protest. And thousands of migrant workers are still walking on highways and railway tracks even at the risk of getting quarantined.

State governments also appealed to the migrant workers to stay put and announced special measures for providing food and other facilities to them, while a few arranged special buses to ferry them to their native places.//

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/migrant-labourers-in-time-of-corona-jobless-homeless-and-miles-to-go-to-return-home/articleshow/74875506.cms

Industrial Accidents: Are we ill-Equipped?

//07 May 2020
But the company management did not bother to take care of proper maintenance of the plant during the lockdown though it had secured as many as 45 passes for its staff for the purpose.

It had stored about 2000 metric tonnes of styrene but had failed to maintain the temperature under 20 degrees Celsius resulting in the accident. When the temperatures rose, styrene gas leaked and fire broke out. The gas spread quickly taking around ten lives and causing sickness to nearly 200.//

https://telanganatoday.com/what-caused-gas-leak-in-vishakapatnam

//07 May 2020

The NDRF team reached at the spot in time and gas has been neutralised, the CP said. Visakhapatnam District Collector Vinay Chand visited King George Hospital where people affected by gas leak are being treated. The prime minister has already spoken to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and assured all possible support to the state. At least seven people have been killed, including a child, and about 120 have been admitted to hospital after a styrene gas leak.//

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/vizag-gas-leak-ndrf-leads-rescue-operations-styrene-gas-has-been-neutralised-says-cp/videoshow/75593713.cms

//07 May 2020

Indian Navy teams with about 50 breathing sets and associated portable air compressor rushed to help villagers affected by the gas leak near the LG Polymers Industry in Vizag.

The Indian Navy has provided five Portable Multifeed Oxygen Manifolds sets to the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to help the medical administration in tendering the villagers affected due to gas leak.

Director-General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) SN Pradhan said, "The incident was reported by locals around 2:30 in the morning, it was because of throat irritation and skin irritation and toxic smell. They informed the local administration. The administration officials and fire tenders reached the location. The NDRF unit of Visakhapatnam was informed at 5 am in the morning; they reached the site in half an hour and started rescue operations."//

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/andhra-pradesh-chemical-plant-gas-leak-live-updates-6-died-200-reportedly-in-hospital-11588826050031.html

//07 May 2020

Styrene can cause harm to humans by ingestion and inhalation. Irritation in throat, can lead to breathing difficulty, wheezing and respirator distress. It affects the brain, leading to headache, nausea, vomiting, unsteadiness, problems in walking, in high exposure can lead to coma and irregular heart beat. Effect on skin is mild, can also affect eyes, says Dr. Randeep Guleria, AIIMS.

There is no specific antidote, no treatment to reserve, it is mostly supportive, says Dr. Guleria.

Clothes are to be removed, exposed eyes can be washed with water, tissue and tower to clean the skin, individuals have to be monitored for breathing difficulty, some will have to be put on ventilators. Many will require oxygen facility. Nebulization can also be given. In serious cases steroids have been given. This is a illness that is not universally fatal. Depending on degree of exposure, effect can be higher, he adds.//

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/many-fall-sick-after-gas-leak-at-lg-polymers-plant-in-visakhapatnam/article31523178.ece

//07 May 2020

The management of a chemical plant near here where a gas leak left 11 people dead and hundreds hospitalised on Thursday was booked on charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence police said.

In a related development, the Andhra Pradesh High Court took cognizance of the styrene gas leak and issued notices to the state and the Central governments, while observing how such a plant was allowed to operate in the midst of human habitations.

The Centre on Thursday allowed airlifting of a special chemical from Gujarat to avoid any further damage at the factory in Vishakhapatnam, where the gas leak took place, officials said.

The move came after LG Polymers India Pvt. Ltd requested the central government for airlifting 500 kg of chemical PTBC from Daman airport to Vishakapatnam which would be useful in avoiding any further damage due to the leakage of Styrene gas.//

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/many-fall-sick-after-gas-leak-at-lg-polymers-plant-in-visakhapatnam/article31523178.ece/amp/

Indian Economy and Development - Assignment 2

Find the balance of payments of your country in the IMF BOP Statistical Yearbook 2012 (use the standard presentation of the BOP, do not use the analytic presentation yet, the difference will be explained later on, in the first video of “The Basics of External Sector Analysis”). Also, find the balance of payments of your country published by either the central bank, or some other statistical agency. Compare the current account across different presentations.

Are they structured in the same way? Are they presented in the same currency?

Do they show the same numbers (after converting to the same currency if needed)? Is the current account balance the same? How about the financial account, or reserve assets? Are errors and omissions the same?

At this stage of the course we have not started yet to discuss how to analyze external sector developments. Becoming familiar with broad BOP developments is a preliminary step towards a fully fledged analysis. The next few questions will help you build such familiarity.

Is balance on goods and services in surplus or deficit? How about the primary and secondary balance?

How much does your country export and import relative to GDP?

How do the balance on goods and services, and the primary and secondary balances contribute to the overall current account balance?

How has this contribution changed over the past 5 years?

You may want to take note of your observations as they will become useful later in the course. Also, please save your sources of data as you will use them for other activities.

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Compare the capital and financial accounts across different presentations of the balance of payments of your country (for example, from the IMF BOP Statistical Yearbook 2012 or from the central bank of your country; possibly using the same sources of data that you used in the previous activity--use the standard presentation of the BOP, do not use the analytic presentation yet, the difference will be explained later on, in the first video of “The Basics of External Sector Analysis”).

· Are they structured in the same way?

· Do they show the same numbers? Are the balances on the capital and the financial accounts the same? Are reserve assets the same? Are net errors and omissions the same?

Let us now keep building familiarity with external sector developments in your country.

· Look at the most recent year. In case the current account was in deficit, how has your country financed such a deficit, by selling assets or by borrowing, or both? In case your country experienced a current account surplus, how has it used such surplus, to acquire assets or reduce liabilities? How has this changed over time, say in the past five years?

· Is your country receiving direct investment flows? That is, how large is direct investment, net incurrence of liabilities? How about portfolio investment, net incurrence of liabilities?

· Has your country accumulated reserves or lost reserves in the most recent year? How about over the past five years?

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Look again at the BOP of your country, preferably an analytic presentation. Find or compute the all the balances (on goods and services, primary and secondary, current, etc.) as a percent of GDP (the IMF Data Mapper likely has most of these data—a video in the Introduction explains how to access and use this tool). As discussed, this provides a better sense of your country external position relative to the size of the economy. Can you describe the external sector developments of your country?

· Has the current account improved or deteriorated in the past 5 years? What balance (within the current account) has contributed most to this development?

· Has the country been a net lender or borrower? Have your country accumulated or lost reserves over time?

Now, turn back to real sector data for your country, specifically saving and investment.

· Can you reconcile the developments in savings and investments to the development in the current account? (you will have to compute saving and investment in percent of GDP)

Finally, find data about the current account balance of countries similar to yours (the IMF Data Mapper will be very useful to this purpose). To find countries similar to yours, you may look at neighboring countries, or countries of a similar income level, or countries the economy of which has a similar structure (for example, if your country is an exporter of oil or other commodities you may want to look at other exporters of oil or commodities; if your country is a small open economy you may want to look at other small open economies).

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Using the IIP and BOP of your country construct the following indicators, if data are available (the IMF Data Mapper likely has most of these data):

· Total external assets and liabilities in percent of GDP

· Total external debt in percent of GDP (possibly, divided by private and public or government debt)

· Reserves in months of imports of goods and services (for the most recent year you may use the imports of goods and services of the same year)

· Reserves in percent of short term debt at remaining maturity

Consider now the evolution of these indicators over time.

· How have these indicators evolved over the past five years?

· Is any of these developments suggesting a build up or attenuation of external risks and vulnerabilities?

Finally, look again at the group of countries that you considered in the previous ACTIVITY.

· How does your country compare to other countries?

· Has your country experienced changes that are different from those experienced by other countries?

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Using the IMF Data Mapper or any other source of data, find the exchange rate of your country vis-à-vis the US dollar (or vis-à-vis some other currency that is relevant for your country) and the real effective exchange rate.

· Has your national currency appreciated or depreciated over time in nominal terms? How about in real terms?

· What explains the real appreciation/depreciation? How high is inflation in your country?

· Is there any link between exchange rate developments and the external sector developments in your country?

Indian Economy and Development: Assignment - 1

GDP of the Country

Visit the website of the ministry of finance, or the central bank, or the national institute of statistics of your country and search for GDP data (you may also find such data on the IMF website, or the website of other international organizations, such as the World Bank or the OECD).

How much is GDP in your country?

If available, check the sectoral composition of GDP (that is, using the production approach). What are the three sectors that contribute the most to GDP in your country? What share of GDP do they contribute to?

What is the composition of GDP according to the expenditure approach? How large are consumption and investment as a share of GDP?

Please, write a short paragraph summarizing your findings.

Saving Investment of the Country

Go back to GDP data for your country.

Compute GNI and GNDI in the past 5 years. Are these very different from GDP? How much larger/smaller is GNDI relative to GDP (in percent of GDP)?

Compute absorption, saving, and investment in percent of GDP over the past 5 years and describe the evolution of national saving and investment. What do you observe? Has saving increased or decreased? How about investment?

Find GDP data of countries similar to yours (the IMF Data Mapper will be very useful for this purpose—a video in the Introduction explains how to access and use this tool). These can be neighboring countries, or countries of a similar GDP level, or countries the economy of which has a similar structure (for example, if your country is an exporter of oil or other commodities you may want to look at other exporters of oil or commodities; if your country is a small open economy you may want to look at other small open economies).

How do your country’s saving and investment (in percent of GDP) compare with those of peer countries?

How have these evolved over the past 5 years in peer countries?

Please, write a short paragraph summarizing your finding.

Growth and Inflation

Find out what real growth and inflation have been in your country in the past 5 years.

What has been the growth performance over the past 5 years? Has growth increased, decreased, or remained broadly the same?

What about inflation? How does this relate, if at all, with the growth performance over the same period? Has your country been experiencing a positive or a negative output gap over this period?
What factors are attributed, in the economic debate of your country, to your country's growth performance and inflation?

Compare growth and inflation of your country to that of other countries, in particular major trading partners. Check if there is any commonality between them.

Please, write a short paragraph summarizing your findings.

Contribution to GDP Growth:

Find data on the expenditure components of GDP for your country.

What are the share of consumption, investments, exports, and imports to GDP? How have these evolved over the past 5 years?

How much did consumption, investments, exports, and imports grow during the past 5 years? What can help explain the development in consumption, investment, exports and imports in your country, over the past 5 years?

Which, among consumption, investment, exports, and imports, contributed the most to GDP growth over the past five years?

Please, write a short paragraph summarizing your findings: