oppn parties Good Monetary Policy Needs To Be Complemented By Matching Fiscal Policy

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Good Monetary Policy Needs To Be Complemented By Matching Fiscal Policy

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-10-10 12:34:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

As expected, the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI has decided to hold interest rates. Citing supply disruptions due to the lockdown as the main reason for inflation, it has also chosen to ignore the inflation rate which has gone beyond the limit set by it.  The MPC has also taken other important decisions to bring more liquidity in the market. The RBI governor has said tat the GDP might contract by 9.5% in 2020-21. He also said that he expects a strong performance in the last quarter f this fiscal.

But is liquidity the problem, or the main problem? Banks have enough cash but they are not lending either due to the scare of decisions being questioned or due to the fact that quality projects from reputed borrowers are not coming up. Maybe it is a combination of both these factors. Whatever the exact reason, banks are increasingly parking their funds with the RBI.

For the last six to eight months, the RBI has done much better than expected in managing the monetary policy. But with the precarious state of the economy, only good monetary policy is not enough to turn the wheels. There has to be a matching fiscal policy.

The government needs to make huge and rapid investments in infrastructure projects. It needs to find the money to make these investments. It is true that indiscriminate borrowing by the government invites ratings downgrade. But that is to be considered only when such borrowings are for funding handouts or populist schemes, or to service debts, in which case the the country is sure to fall in a debt trap. When it is a matter of life and death and when money on the scale required cannot be arranged from any other source, the government has to borrow.

The economy is crying out for investment from the government. Only the Centre is now capable of improving the business sentiment by initiating big projects. Once orders are placed for those, there will be a cascading effect that will work like magic across all sectors of the economy. Jobs will be generated, tax collections will improve and hopes will soar. Granted infra projects have long gestation periods and the government will have to service and repay the loans. But that is one risk it has to take to revive the economy. 

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