The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 102

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The International News Weekly Edit 06 July 12, 2019 | Toronto The w w w . canadianparv asi. c o m Publisher & CEO Associate Editor Editor (India) Online Graphic Designer Official Photographer Contact Editorial Sales Rajinder Saini Meenakshi Saini Gursheesh Kshitiz Dalal Naveen Bashir Nasir editor@canadianparvasi.com sales@canadianparvasi.com Blast From The Past India’s regression to protectionism marks revival of failed import substitution policy US President Donald Trump directed yet another blast of criticism at India’s policy on import tariffs. This comes on the heels of the Union Budget where customs duty on a large number of goods, including newsprint, was hiked. This round of tariff increase is not an isolated development, but one more instance of a recent reversal of long-standing policy. After almost three decades, protectionism has re-emerged as a policy tool to promote domestic manufacturing – ignoring the elementary economic lesson that high import tariffs also act as a tax on exports, reducing the competitiveness of Indian exports. For about two decades world trade has been dominated by global value chains (GVCs). In concrete terms, it meant that emerging markets such as India and Vietnam could become one among many destinations in the manufacture of a sophisticated product. More than two-third of world trade is on account of GVCs, and China is their biggest beneficiary. Resurgence of protectionism is tantamount to rejection of an influential factor that lifted millions out of poverty. Protectionists overlook an intrinsic element of GVCs. Import intensity of economies will usually increase as production is spread across frontiers. A recent report put out by WTO, among others, showed that in almost all countries the share of domestic value added in exports has trended downwards on account of GVCs. Trade data doesn’t capture this adequately. For example, China’s domestic value content of ICT exports is only about half of the total value. The Narendra Modi government’s tariff policy can result in lost opportunities. Japan’s Nintendo this week announced that it will shift a part of its production line out of China to Vietnam to hedge the risks arising from US-China trade friction. Vietnam has embraced greater integration and is one of the big beneficiaries of GVCs. India, on the other hand, is bringing back a policy which it had tried in the past, in the Nehruvian years before liberalisation, and which failed conclusively. Meanwhile, Washington is breathing down New Delhi’s neck and could punish it further after dropping India from its generalised system of preferences; other countries could retaliate against it too. Government must reverse tariff hikes and discard the idea of using them as a policy tool. Make in India will happen, and India get up to $5 trillion by 2024, only if the world comes knocking. TNN India’s Shifting Population Profile Working people will continue to grow, but we also need to plan for burgeoning elderly Argentina Matavel Piccin There is increasing realisation of the growing numbers of older people in India. Some even claim that India will soon be a country of old people. Is there reason for alarm or rather a sign of success? On the face of it, the numbers do certainly stack up. Currently 8.4% of India’s population is above the age of 60 years. In numbers, this translates into approximately 102 million people. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UN- FPA) projections, by 2061 the elderly population (of and above 60 years) in India will increase to 425 million. In other words, every fourth person in India will be 60 years old or more. Or to reiterate, in 42 years, the number of 60+ people will be four times its current strength. However, let us not assume we are staring into a bleak reality of old men and women outliving the young. India’s youth population is not on the decline. Projections show that India’s youth population will continue to grow. Starting 2001and till 2030, India will have seen a huge increase in its working age population: 390 million will be added to the existing working age population, resulting in a billion plus strong workforce in India by mid 2040s. The good news is, mortality is on the decline, life expectancy is on the rise. In other words, Indians are living longer, working longer, and will continue to do so. Projections by UN- FPA also show that women will live longer than men, an important factor that needs to be kept in mind while formulating policies and designing programmes for elderly people. Life expectancy for women will increase, from 69.4 in 2011 to 79.7 in 2061 as opposed to for men, from 66.0 in 2011 to 76.1 in 2061. India’s fertility rate, or the number of children who would be born per woman, has decreased rapidly from 3.6 in 1994 to 2.2 in 2015-16. We are that much closer to reaching the replacement fertility rate of 2.1. This means, among other things, more and more women today have access to choices and opportunities made possible by access to family planning services. It also means women today are claiming the right to their bodies and asserting their right to choose whether, when and the number of children they want to have. They can choose to stay in school longer, to enter the labour market, participate in political life, to contribute more to their communities. So then, why aren’t we celebrating? Because even as we take these large strides towards a demographic dividend, our social structures – also going through a transformation – are not keeping pace. With migration on the rise and the young leaving their homes to move to more productive and economically lucrative states, families comprising of the elderly are being left behind to fend for themselves. A UNFPA study also shows, poverty is higher among the elderly. This trend will only continue and perpetuate. Furthermore, large family units have broken down into nuclear families, leaving the elderly alone. The breaking down of gender stereotypes has also made way for the young daughters-in-law, traditionally caregivers of the elderly, to transition to working women. It’s all good news, except that the old are falling through the cracks. Unlike countries like Japan that provides a comprehensive social healthcare package to the elderly, India is not quite ready to deal with this demographic transition that is taking place. The World Assemblies on Ageing (Vienna, 1982 & Madrid 2002) signalled the need for governments to implement measures to address this. In India too, several consultations have been held, and southern states like Kerala are leading the way by setting aside 10% of annual village funds to take care of the elderly. The need of the hour is context specific policy planning for the elderly in India. Ageing will happen at a different pace in different states. For example, there is an almost ten-year difference in the male life expectancy in Kerala and Bihar; 77.8 vs 69. In 2061, the female life expectancy will be 85.5 and 79.1 years in Kerala and Bihar, respectively. Per capita income, which could be taken as an indicator for economic wellbeing of people including the elderly, is Rs 22,890 in Bihar while it is more than Rs 1lakh in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. While policies and plans can’t be a one size fits all, there is need for a minimum national package of services to ensure dignity for the elderly. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that most of the labour force in India is not covered by retirement pension plans and the elderly are generally dependent on children or on property for an alternate source of income. Innovative and sustainable models of social support, care and social protection need to be planned and institutionalised now so that the country is ready with viable models and solutions to support the large number of elderly people in the not too distant future. Social bridges could be established to ensure that the knowledge sitting with the old can be transferred to the young, and that the young can help the elderly bridge the technological gap such as use of smartphones and social media. Without it, India’s elderly population remains highly vulnerable to loneliness, ill health and neglect. India cannot let them fade from its collective consciousness. Source Credit: This article was first published in The Times of India. The writer is India Country Representative, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Today is World Population Day Parvasi weekly & people associated with it are not responsible for any claims made by the advertisement & do not endorse any product or service advertised in Canadian Parvasi. Please consult your lawyer before buying/hiring/contracting through the advertisement Publised in this newspaper. The Canadian Parvasi is in the business of selling space and the clains made by the advertisement are not tested/confirmed by an independent source.
The International News Weekly world July 12, 2019 | Toronto 07 Wrong placing of height barrier blamed for Dubai bus crash that killed 12 Indians Dubai: The lawyers of the Omani bus driver, who rammed the vehicle into a height barrier in Dubai that killed 17 people, including 12 Indians, have told a UAE court that the restriction bar violated the GCC safety guidelines. Twelve Indians were among the 17 people killed in the horrific bus accident on June 7 when the bus, coming from Oman, wrongly entered a road not designated for buses and crashed into a height barrier that cut the left side of the bus and killed passengers sitting on that side. The other deceased include two Pakistanis, one Omani and one Filipina. Mohammad Al Tamimi, one of the two lawyers representing the driver, told the Dubai Traffic Court that the distance between the warning signboard and the height barrier was only 12 metres, the Gulf News reported on Tuesday. “The mistake is in the place of the height barrier, according to the pictures in the accident scene. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) guideline for positioning advance warning signs states that if the road’s speed limit is 60km/h, then the distance between the signboard or height restriction chain and the height barrier should be 60 metres, not 12 metres in our case,” Al Tamimi told the court. According to Traffic Prosecution, the speed limit on that road is 40 km/h. The Dubai Police blamed the 53-year-old Omani driver, who was moderately injured, for the accident, saying “at times a small mistake or negligence can lead to adverse consequences”. “It was too short a distance to stop the vehicle. It is not the defendant’s mistake and not his negligence. Putting the height barrier in a wrong place caused the accident,” Al Tamimi said. Al Tamimi claimed there is no proof that the defendant was driving the bus at 94kph when the crash happened. He asked the court to assign a specialised engineer from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to inspect the crash site and make a report of the positioning of warning signboards and the height barrier, the report said. Meanwhile, the second defence lawyer Mohammed Al Sabri accused the RTA of eight “mistakes” found by a report prepared by the company that owns the bus. He submitted a copy of the report to the court and requested the appointment of an expert to examine the accident location and check if the “mistakes” were committed by the RTA. “The reason behind the accident was the solid height barrier and its positioning. The sun at the time of the accident [5pm] blurred the signboards to the driver. The confession of the driver is not enough to convict him,” Al Sabri told the judge. Last week, prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha Al Felasi, director of Traffic Prosecution, said the driver couldn’t follow the signboards as the sun shade had obstructed his view. “He admitted to lowering the sun shade and didn’t notice the signboards or warning signs, despite having used the road several times before the accident,” said Al Felasi.“His reckless driving, not paying attention to the road and his speeding, caused the disaster,” he added. The verdict in the case is expected on July 11, while the defendant will remain under police custody. 14 killed, 79 injured of threat from ‘overseas forces’ in Pak train accident Islamabad : At least 14 people were killed and 79 others injured when a passenger train collided with a democratic system.” Tsai, who faces re-election in January, has repeatedly called for international support to defend Taiwan’s democracy in the face of Chinese threats. freight train in Pakistan's Punjab province on Thursday, authorities said. The accident occurred around 4 a.m. at the Walhar Railway Station in Sadiqabad. Rahim Yar Khan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jamil Ahmed Jamil said all passengers, onboard the Akbar Beijing has regularly Express headed to Quetta, had been removed from the sent military aircraft and train and track clearance operations were underway, ships to circle Taiwan on drills in the past few years. Tsai last went to the United reports news. Jamil Dawn added States in March, stopping that heavy ma- over in Hawaii at the end of a chinery was being Pacific tour. used to remove a night at a time on transit was looking forward to finding Seeking to bolster Taiwan’s passengers who stops.The US State Department has said there had been no change in the US “one- China” policy, under which Washington officially recognises Beijing and not Taipei, while assisting Taiwan. more international space for Taiwan. “Our democracy has not come easily, and is now facing threats and infiltration from overseas forces,” Tsai said, without naming any such force. defences, the United States this week approved an arms sale worth an estimated $2.2 billion for Taiwan, despite Chinese criticism of the deal. Taiwan has been trying to shore up its diplomatic alliances were stuck in the train, adding that they were being provided with food and water. Rahim Yar Khan DPO Umar Farooq Salamat said that based on initial reports, when the signal changed on the track, the passenger train went on to the loop line where a freight train was parked resulting in the Speaking at Taipei’s “These challenges are amid pressure from accident. main international airport also common challenges China, which has been whittling Prime Minister Imran Khan offered his condolences at Taoyuan, Tsai said she would share the values of freedom and transparency with Taiwan’s allies, and she faced by democracies all over the world. We will work with countries with similar ideas to ensure the stability of the down its few remaining diplomatic allies, especially in the Caribbean and Latin America. to the families of the victims. Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has announced compensation of 1.5 million Pakstani rupees for the families of the deceased. US House passes Bill removing country-cap on issuing Green Cards Taiwan Prez leaves for US, warns Taoyuan (Taiwan): Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen left for the United States on Thursday on a trip that has angered Beijing, warning democracy must be defended and the island faced threats from “overseas forces”, in a veiled reference to China. China, which claims selfruled and democratic Taiwan as its own and views it as a wayward province, has called on the United States not to allow Tsai to transit there on her overseas tour. She is spending four nights in the United States in total, two on the way there and two on the way back on a visit to four Caribbean allies. Tsai will go to New York on her way there, and then is expected to stop in Denver on the way back. Tsai’s time in the United States will be unusually long, as normally she spends just Washington: The US House of Representatives has passed by an overwhelming majority a legislation to remove the seven per cent country-cap on Green Card applicants, a development which could end the agonising wait of tens of thousands of talented professionals from countries like India who have sought permanent residency. The bill, when signed into law, increases the percountry cap on family-based immigrant visas from seven per cent of the total number of such visas available that year to 15 and eliminates the seven per cent cap for employmentbased immigrant visas. A Green Card allows a non-US citizen to live and work permanently in America. Indian IT professionals, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on the H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of the coveted Green Card or permanent legal residency. The bill titled ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019’ or ‘HR 1044’ to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, and for other purposes, was passed on Wednesday by an overwhelming 365-65 votes in a 435-member House. Lifting the per-country cap would mainly benefit professionals from countries like India, for whom the wait for Green Card is more than a decade. Some of the recent studies have said the waiting period for Indian IT professionals on H-1B visas is more than 70 years. The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from Financial Year 2020-22 by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers), and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85 per cent would be allotted to immigrants from any single country, Congressional Research Service (CRS) said. The bill, however, has to be passed by the Senate, where the ruling Republican Party enjoys a majority, before it can be signed into law by US President Donald Trump.
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