Pandemic - Happiness Conundrum

         

           What does happiness mean to us when   the  ferocity  of covid wave  hit the lives  of the people ?  Not a single day passes without hearing the loss of a person we know. What does happiness matter to a migrant worker who lost his job and income? an average middle-class family who lost their bread winner ? a poorer household without  three square meals a day?? Happiness is squandered when  Covid  withered huge psychological and emotional turmoil in the minds of people in all walks of life. SARS-CoV-2 has its origin in China and rapidly spread to countries across Europe where  there is high human development and better institutions to combat the menace. However, further spread to developing countries was beyond the control of  its institutions. Developing world is known for  less human development and it plunged into crisis  like never before, economically and psychologically.

This  human tragedy unfolds  the fact  that, as the death toll rise, only   human life is important, nothing else!  Although the economic policy makers are focused on wellbeing of the people, the  current state of the country negatively impacts  people’s happiness. Economists always correlate individual happiness with income Cantril (1965) .  Richard Easterlin (1974) explained the  paradoxical situation of Income and happiness. Philosophers like Aristotle  says  happiness is a virtue, and it is the noblest thing in the world. Thus, economists and philosopher’s enquire happiness in the lives  of the people.   

How economics inspires happiness? What makes people happy in life  is a crucial question in   happiness  research. It   relates  subject matter of  Economics with  life, or one  may call it ‘Economics of  life’ deviating from the neoclassical or mainstream economics. The works by Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Richard  Easterlin, Tibor Scitovsky etc are leading to  an enquiry into the nature of wellbeing of people than an enquiry of nature and scope of creation of wealth.  Prof. Amartya Sen tried to look at the wellbeing and happiness of the people from a development perspective.

The debatable questions in happiness research  start from the premises of  ‘are you happy’, what are the determinants of happiness. The determinants of happiness include  (1) Personality and demographic factors such as age, gender, attainment of education, political and religious factors, size of household, marital status and  health of the individuals. (2) Micro- and macroeconomic factors  such  as  income,  unemployment  and  inflation. (3)  Institutions. Institutions are responsible for the wellbeing and happiness of the people.

 

Effect of  Institutions on  Happiness

 

Empirical studies based on World Value Surveys(WVS) shows the relation  between  overall happiness and  institutions, Veenhoven (1993) and  Diener et al., (1995). It is bit  difficult to isolate the effect of  institutions on reported individual well-being and happiness because the countries differ  significantly in a great variety of aspects. In poor countries, the probability of recording the highest category of happiness increases with GDP per capita, and  not with the institutions. Easterlin (1995) observes  that in developed countries average happiness does not increase  with  the spike  in per capita GDP over time. On contrary, the developing world has not attained significant change in the institutional quality over the last decades, but they tried to advance  economically  to some extent.  Poorer countries like Malawi still fighting with malaria and smallpox, then it is not surprising to watch that the average happiness in these countries have not changed much over time. As a general rule, people living in  developed countries  with a  high  level of  human development with better institutions  tend to be happier. 

 

But, in the scenario of a pandemic, the happiness definition changes. How much income a typical individual would need  to achieve a level of happiness to compensate the loss in wellbeing resulted due to pandemic?  Happiness is related to good institutions and wellbeing of the people and good institutions can make people happy.  It is not about so much of wealth creation, but  public happiness is important.

Can Government Policy bring Happiness ?

Happiness is  considered  as a determinant of economic outcomes: it enhances  productivity, labour market performance and national output Bryson et al. (2016) and Piekalkiewicz (2017). Advocates of happiness economics assert that maximising happiness is  the art of  policymaking.  In order to ensure well-being and happiness, institutions  play a crucial role and there is a link between institutions and individual behaviour. Common man is happy when they meet basic need, away from infections and diseases and assured  vaccine - a universal public good. Like vaccine, happiness  is also a public good. We can’t be happy without  spreading  happiness in the lives of people.

A part of this article is   carried in the Christ University, Dehi NCR college magazine 2021

 

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Role of R&D capabilities in fostering India’s Pharma Industry

 

The second wave of  Covid  19 has spread quickly creating a public health catastrophe in India. This   put nation and individuals at great risk for want proper medical care and health  facilities. Therefore, the  challenge we face at present is different in its  nature and scope than we faced last year. There is on ongoing debate about vaccine nationalism and   government’s  failure to bolster its crumbling health care system. However, there are less discussions over state sponsored research and innovation in drug development in India.

India has a fast-growing presence in global pharmaceuticals. Hyderabad and Bengaluru are known for pharmaceuticals with high R& D capabilities and manufacturing. But during the second wave, many condemned  the state  for not  intervening successfully to provide lifesaving drugs to people though we claim India is the pharmacy of the world. And the state  failed miserably to adopt the  role of a risk taker at the time of a crisis.

Often, the role played by the centre and the various state governments are questioned in the current public health crisis. The subtle reaction of the centre suggests that the private players can accumulate their profit through vaccine production. The existing debates over accessibility and affordability of vaccines do not bring a relief to the suffering Indians. How can poor people be expected to vaccinate themselves, as they just do not have bare minimum a day?

Government is  a risk taker when it boosts state sponsored research  for drug development. Unfortunately, the  role of a losing state was evident  when it  obsessed with  the deadweight loss of the producers like Poonawalla. Even though there  was ample time to develop herd immunity from the first wave to the current period, it was not dealt effectively. In the meantime, countries in the Europe and USA  could manage the crisis.

USA is always in the forefront in extending state support  to sponsor innovation in the private sector for a common good. USA proved  state could take a massive scale risk to spur innovation. State played a significant role  in the fields of science and technology, small businesses etc. the invisible hand of the state was there in all radical areas including pharmaceuticals. The Orphan Drug Act  (2013) made it possible to develop drugs for rare diseases.

Orphan drugs

The drug which is used for a rare disease that affects less than 20000 people in a potential market cannot expand production without financial incentives is known as orphan drugs. The above-mentioned act supports the small firms to scale up production and allowing them to become a potential player in pharmaceutical industry. It is not only the small firms benefitted , but also the  giant firms such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and many others was encouraged to use the same. Statistics shows 59 percent of total revenues of biopharmaceutical firms comes from sale of orphan drugs. In critical times, the government of our country can take a deliberate effort of being a subsidizer of drug development and the protector of the people of the state.

 

 

Is India really a global pharmacy hub?

Recent announcement of the prime minister of India had created discussions on India’s ability as a global factory of drug manufacturing. India is by now accounting for 16000 plus pharmaceutical firms including small and large ones. In terms of volume of production India’s pharmaceutical industry is the fourth largest globally but notably in terms of value, India rank at the 13^th position globally.  One reason for this dispersion between volume and value of production are embedded in certain specific characteristics of the pharma firms in India. An interesting observation in this regard is that by and large (though there are exceptions), Indian pharmaceutical firms are generic drug producers where the role of patents in capability accumulation is less compared to the other segments of the industry.  In the last years, more than 76 percent of the  patent applications filed in the Indian patent office are by foreign firms with USA, Japan and Germany accounting for 45 percent. This trend raises doubts over the technological capability of the Indian pharmaceutical sector in fostering the emerging needs.

Public funded innovations with fair risk-reward sharing are essential to boost capability-based drug development. The government has played an active role in the development of pharmaceutical industry in India especially through two remarkable Patent Acts. The Patent Act of 1970 permit pharma companies only for process patents but not product patents. This has encouraged firms especially generic drug producers in manufacture drug molecules cost effectively and efficiently. The Patent (Amendment) Act 2005 re-established the product patent regime after three decades. Now the need of industry lies in increased R&D capability with adequate support via public funding. University/research institutions - firm based collaborations as prevalent in developed countries can be a feasible business model in fostering the future need of the industry.

Disinvestment and Government Spending Dilemma: How Smart Government can be in a Neoliberal World? /DH Business page

 

Disinvestments has been a main source of revenue mobilisation by the central government in the previous years. As of the last union budget, government plans to raise 1.75 lakh crore through disinvestment out of which 1 lakh crore should come from selling government stake in Public Sector Banks and financial institutions and 75 crores should come from the receipts of Central Public Sector Enterprises stakes. In many cases VRS and privatisation go hand in hand. For instance, the VRS announcement of Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) in 2001 to recent VRS announcements of employees in Indian Railways and BSNL in 2020 are some explicit examples.  Quite often, these schemes act as channels to offload workers before the ownership is moved to private sector. According to the current plans, a substantial part of Indian Railways would be managed by the private sector by 2023 (Vinoj and Ritika, 2020).

The increasing privatisation including the outsourcing of public services to private hands by and large occur as a tool for enhanced public sector efficiency. But in most of these cases which is often termed as ‘state failures’, one should not ignore that the state was trying to do something much more difficult than what many private businesses do. It is not merely the efficiency argument nor accumulation of profit the mandate behind the very establishment public sector enterprises. Rather it was to foster the essential development goals such as building infrastructure capacity, delivery of public services at an affordable rate and nation building. Moreover, the efficiency arguments do not hold true as market failures and bankruptcies of private sector firms are nor rare events in India.

These cases relating  not only  to Indian scenario as it happens all around the globe irrespective of the nature of government and stage of development. How many of us know touch pad of our mobile phones, global positioning technologies and Google’s search algorithm etc are the products of public funded research. The company, which was supposed to provide security protection in the London Olympics, was massively failed and therefore the British Army was called for. The examples do not end here.  ISRO provide its low-cost technology to manufacture Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB) to private players, which is expected to transform the automobile industry.  Product level information on the capital goods sector in India shows that it was one public sector firm (BHEL) used to dominate in terms of size of production and more importantly product diversification and forward and backward linkages. The point I try to make here is that much needed mission-oriented investments in production, infrastructure and technological innovations by and large are public funded and profits are privatised.  

As of 2017-18, top 12 corporate NPAs cost exchequer twice as much as the total farm loan waivers in India.  Privatisation of Public Sector Banks and financial institutions may now provide a case for profit run banks. But who will appropriate the profits and who carried the burden of loss and Non-Performing Assets? It was public money the loss-making banks got recapitalised. Yet another important issue in privatisation and disinvestment of public sector enterprises are lower valuation of assets. The raging controversy in the beginning of 2000s regarding the privatisation of two hotels Airport Centaur and Juhu Centaur are striking examples. It was later found that the assets were highly undervalued, and the disinvestment was done through single bidder transaction. Moreover, both hotels were profit making entities till government decided it to privatise.

The disinvestment channel of revenue mobilisation is the result of non-confidence of the government in it’s role. Scholars including Mariana Mazzucato talks about the role of the state in promoting the catching up process as an entrepreneurial risk taker of the first resort than more passive facilitator of the last resort.

Role of state: State has played an active role  in the ‘hotbeds’ of innovation and entrepreneurship  as we see in San Jose, California. Silicon Valley example shows state  not only facilitate the knowledge economy, but actively create it with a bold vision and targeted investment (Mariana Mazzucato, the Entrepreneurial State,2014). Often,  we have to learn from examples of  public sector funding ends up  than merely fixing market failures. The role of state should be that of a risk taking one. However, some of the experiences from the recent past shows the scenario of a system failure  rather than the  market failure.

Think  why Apple was able to have such a  vast  amount of  public investments  that boosted the iPhone and iPad revolution ? It has received substantial public funding in the initial stage itself.  Remember without these publicly funded ideas, there would not have been an option to  surf even! The example set by  ‘Apple’   raises  the questions that  challenge the practices of the role of the State. In the absence of government support, private actors will hesitate to undertake certain economic activities especially the research and development (R&D). The gross R&D spending in India is notably below 1 percent of GDP, but at the same time a major chunk of the R&D activities in India are carried out by central and state governments, public sector companies and research institutes, which are essentially public funded (as of 2018).

The very visible hand of state has to act smart in the challenging times and to set example with substantial state funded research. Therefore, it is important to  reflect upon how quick and smart  Government can  behave  with its better strategies of innovation, public funding of technologies rather than being non confident in playing its role in an elegant way. The role of the state should not be seen in a parasitic relationship between the public and private sectors where one party always do the necessary investments and the other appropriate the returns. It must go hand in hand where both the risk and reward are fairly shared. Instead of selling of the public assets, coordination and collaboration through effective joint ventures between the public and private sectors will prompt the private sector to carry out activities they would not have done in isolation.

DH Business Page 05 April 2021

 

Save Lives and Protect Livelihoods

 

The Covid 19,a disease caused by a novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV2,has spread quickly around the globe, creating a public health catastrophe all over the world. Although the world nations are taking measures to control this menace, the lives and livelihoods of the people are on hold at a significant social and economic cost to the society. This pandemic has wide spread and hit the market economies hard with the growing toll of illness and lost lives.“ The outbreak of coronavirus is disrupting people’s lives and interrupting business and other economic activities around the world.”(Masatsugu Asakawa,President ADB).This is  first  and foremost a health crisis put nations and individuals at great risk. Therefore the  challenge we face today is different in its  nature and scope than we faced before.

At this juncture, there is a dire need of  the revival of a short-term fiscal policy, provision of public good and relief package to low- and middle-income  farm households and to state and local government. In this context “ short term fiscal policy should aim at channelizing the public expenditure to equip medical personnel, and people who affected by Covid 19 pandemic” said Cesar Calderon, World Bank Lead Economist. “But it is also important to consider that most workers in the region are engaged in the large informal sector where they lack benefits of insurance, unemployment benefits and paid leave.  They usually need to work every day  to earn their living and pay for the their basic household necessities. A large prolonged lockdown would put their basic survival at great risk.”

Therefore, the fiscal policy approach is with two primary objectives-to save lives and protect livelihoods. Immediate actions to consider include  strengthening health system, implementing social protection programs including cash transfers and social grants.

Unfortunately the burden is on the grass root level of the society.  The provision of public good is necessary to offer relief to those who are suffering. And there is a requirement of safe drinking water, sanitation amidst urban sprawling, weak health systems in a large informal economy of major  metropolitan regions  of  the nation while battling with this  plaguing situation.

Certainly, this pandemic led to various undesirable  consequences  in enormous population centres of  UP and Bihar to the sprawling  cities like Maharashtra,  TamilNadu, Andra Pradesh,  Delhi and to great extent to Kerala in search of employment. Finally various state governments had to play a significant role to fight the battle. One such example is of Kerala State which was under Communist rule more than three decades and  invested tremendously in public health and education.

The Kerala Model

Although Kerala was the first state to report a  Covid 19 case in late January, the success of Kerala model proved it could stop the spread of a contagion  amidst the challenge of high population density through its proactive measures like early detection, longer quarantine, contact tracing, building shelters for migrant workers, distributing cooked meals  and adequate social support. According to Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organisation’s representative in India, this is mainly attributed to its past experience of combating Nippah Virus and its investment in emergency preparedness  with community engagement. Indeed it was a disastrous challenge with high number of foreign arrivals, one sixth of its 33 million citizens are expatriates, thousands of its students study in China, UK and Europe and millions  of its nurses are   in the health care profession  all over the world.

In the first week of April Kerala had conducted more than 13000 tests ,that is 10 percentage of  all test across India, By comparison ,Andhra Pradesh ,nearly 6000 tests, while Tamil Nadu 8000 tests. However “ cluster cases” are first reported in Karnataka, the state government has decided to ensure designated quarantine facilities. A third of all cases are in Maharashra and Tamil Nadu. Research shows that some of the 15 states and /UTs need to make a deliberate effort to flatten the  Covid curve.

The so-called exponential curve is a cause of great worry to the experts all over the world. Researches shows Covid 19 will continue to spread exponentially for months. In a country like the United States, with its 330 million people, the curve steepen for a long time. Therefore the articulation of forced quarantine strategy( Chinese government imposed on Hubei Province) is a rational solution to slow spread of the virus before it infects the masses in any state or region.

Developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific(EAP) suffer from trade tensions as the virus that triggered a supply shock  in China has ultimately caused a global shock resulting financial jerk and recession across the world. In a rapidly changing environment, the entire globe stand still and the developing countries like India has to follow sound macroeconomic policies to deal with the tremours. There is severe supply shock in the Indian cities and towns as well since the virus hit hard the supply chain and the logistics, such circumstances are evident in metropolitan cities like Bengaluru as there are cases of delayed deliveries by online stores like Bigbasket which cater the need of many in the city.

The Covid 19  also has a serious impact on poverty. Nearly 24 million fewer people will escape poverty across the region in 2020 than would have in the absence of the pandemic(using poverty line of  US$5.50/day).If the situation deteriorate further, the repercussions will be more on developing countries. Therefore, the targeted fiscal measures are inevitable. In addition to national action international cooperation is a must to vaccine against this crisis.

It is a twin challenge of doctors treating patients  and policy maker articulating strategy, hence various state governments find it tough to relax the lockdowns as the potential cost to the human life is huge. Thanks to the people on the frontline  trying to defeat the outbreaks risking their lives, those working in health care,  doctors and nurses, delivery agents and countless many to care  for us and to ensure the necessities at this difficult time. Mitigating measures need to be lifted as an exit strategy from Covid 19 that  flattens the epidemic curve while overcoming extraordinarily challenging times.

(an article in the backdrop of first wave of covid in India,in February 2020)

Mechanics of Fuel Price in Deregulated Regime /DH Business Page

 

 A litre of petrol costs Rs.90.44 and a litre of diesel costs  Rs.80.77 in the state capital, Delhi  and Rs.96.81 and Rs.87.79  in financial capital, Mumbai ( as per data, IOC, April 16,2021). The scenario of the retail price surge is not different in states like  Kerala (petrol- Rs.92.26 per litre and diesel- Rs.86.74, as per April 16, 2021) the electoral battles  grounds of  South India. Mainstream political parties are damn silent about the ever time  spike  in  oil prices  which   affects the lives and livelihoods of  people. The inherent upward trend has lost some momentum after the election commission announced results in some states. 

Both centre and state governments blame the international price fluctuations when there is a hike in petrol price. India imports more than 82 % of crude oil from other countries and  fuel price  is correlated with the international price of brent crude oil. But as everyone knows, by the same token, domestic prices also must decline followed by a decline in global prices. Quite often the upward movement go hand in hand but not downward movement. Why? Theoretically the demand-supply factors determine  the high prices, but often   economic theory alone  cannot explain the rise in oil prices as it has other components of central and state taxes and dealer commission. The high price is always associated with the ‘dynamic pricing’ by the government.

Deregulation of Fuel Prices

In order to understand how fuel prices are being decided, we should see a bit of the deregulation of petrol and diesel prices. Government had periodically  intervened in the  retail prices of fuel, in  2010  (Dr. Manmohan Singh) deregulated the price  of petrol and gave  liberty to Oil Marketing Companies to  fix price of petrol based on calculation of their cost and profit. Further deregulation of diesel was implemented in 2015(Mr. Narendra Modi).  The rationale of deregulation is to manage the cost of  the oil prices by  retailers like BPCL, Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL as these companies were suffering due to losses and the compensation from government do never reach them on time. The deregulation of petrol prices in 2010 and diesel prices 2014 gave companies the rights to revise the prices. Despite these changes made in the system, the oil prices are at a skyrocketing level, and the progressive promises made by the political parties during the times of election nowhere helpful at this critical juncture.

Why a small country like Nepal has no refinery and mainly depending on India for its oil requirement has a lower price of fuel ? Would fuel prices be lower than what actually is ? Major oil producing countries had a cut in oil production since  there is a steep fall in the demand  especially  when transportation sector was stand still  during the  days of pandemic. Why high oil prices in India  despite fall in the international prices of crude oil ?  the trend in prices gives a clear picture.

Trends in the Fuel Price

The  trend shows the  domestic prices are not coupled with the  fall in international prices. Then what would be the reason for the current surge  in the oil prices ? Therefore, it is important to look at the methodology of oil prices in India.

Fuel price dynamics

The composition of oil prices  consists  of three factors. 1. Processing and cost of refining crude oil – base price. The OMC’s purchase crude oil from the international markets, after the processing  the fuels like Petrol and diesel produced also requires substantial freight charges 2. state and central tax 3.dealer commission. And the prices are calculated based on this criterion.

                                                         

Price Buildup	May 2014	April 2021
Base Price	47.12 (66%)	30.09 (33 %)
Centre’s Tax	10.39 (14%)	36.47 (40 %)
State’s Tax	11.9 (17%)	20.96 (23 %)
Dealer Commission	2 (3 %)	3.65 (4 %)
Total Retail Price	71.41 (100%)	91.17 (100 %)

 Petrol prices build up for State Capital.

Methodology of prices shows the  various costs involved in the production of fuels from initial stages to final stage. Petrol and diesel are refined and processed  from the crude oil  and  it is distributed by the retailers in  the final stage. The cost involved in the initial stage of processing, refining and freight charges of  Petrol include in the base price  of Rs. 30.09  (April 2021). The Central excise duty is Rs.36.47, the state duty is  Rs.20.96, the dealer commission is Rs.3.65. and the final retail price is Rs.91.17 which includes a major portion as tax. Although   the base price was high, the retail price was comparatively low in May 2014. Hence the pricing shows the increase in fuel prices is correlated with the tax by the central and the state government and not always due to the spike in the price of crude oil in the international market.

Thus, the common man is forced to pay a high tax for fuel, which is nearly 200 % percent of the cost of refining. India  has more than 256 refineries like  Jwalamukhi, Digboy, KG Basin etc and two oil producing authorities such as   IOC and ONGC. The government stopped the subsidy to the oil marketing  companies and the fuel prices are under the control of state and central  government and there is a habitual increase in the fuel price bimonthly since July 2016. Now that it is not a surprise  as it changes  in every 24 hours. Even if  there is fall in the international prices, Government still charges fresh taxes to assimilate profit from the fall in prices.

Often a  clear picture of the situation can be brought into light  with an  interaction to auto men/taxi drivers which  divulge the pain of  common man  in the scenario of escalating fuel prices creating heavy burden  on people’s lives. This despair  continues in  every Indian  household   irrespective of  their ownership of a vehicle. Lives of the people  cannot be improved without adequate measures to boost the  demand in the rural-urban households. Although the trend in headline inflation remains at  moderate rate of  5 % , the core inflation increased to 5.96 % in March 2021, the rising prices put pressure on the cost of inputs and other commodity prices.

Surprisingly  state like Meghalaya reduced tax from 31.62% to 20 % in the recent past, however  Rajasthan has highest duty of  36 %. Lackadaisical attitude of the state and the political parties leads to cascading effects in the lives of the people. The hike in oil prices impacts the transportation sector, hitting the lives of many with the increase in the prices of necessary items and the  increase in freight charges and it leads to the slowing down of manufacturing sector  which leads to the vicious circle of low income and low productivity. Keeping  high oil prices and reducing fuel subsidies to the oil producing companies create a detrimental situation to the economic growth as oil is a commodity which fuel the dreams and development of the nation.

 

 https://www.deccanherald.com/business/mechanics-of-fuel-price-in-a-deregulated-regime-978701.html

 DH Business Page/26.04.2021

 

 

Ever growing Bengaluru Periphery and Ineffective Planning/ DH panorama

 

Bengaluru is one of the fast-growing cities of India. With   urbanization and increase in  population, people are migrating   from other states to Bangalore city causing urban sprawl. Peri-urbanization has brought some important changes in the fringe areas of Bengaluru. Land use land cover changes is a major challenge of Bengaluru periphery. Land use in urban and peri-urban areas has grown with the increasing population and urbanization.  Prior to the industrialization, cities and towns were not developed , however the modern cities of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries sprawled into the countryside, resulting in the structural changes due to the demands of urban dwellers. The peri-urban areas exhibit an intimate relationship between the city and its surroundings.

Peri-urban phenomenon of  countries like U.S, China, Thailand, Indonesia and Chile shows that peripheries of each countries are different. According to Kundu, peripheries of the U.S is considered rich , however in the case of India it is a degenerated periphery. Hence there arises a question why do countries develop such fundamentally different types of peri-urban spaces  ? In Indian cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Jaipur peripheries are different .Bengaluru is one of the best examples of peri-urban transition in the recent past .Peri-urban growth of Bengaluru  is attributed to population growth, IT  corridors and industrial developments.

Bengaluru became one among the million cities of India since 1961. Bengaluru has emerged as a fastest changing city and the major reason for the transition is the growth of industrial and IT corridors .However the rapid transition has led to unplanned growth and management especially in terms of infrastructure and services. The area of the city recorded significant increase by 92.1 percent and the population by 37.8 during 1991-01. The spatial expansion of the   urbanized area has increased from 226 sq.km in 1995 to 710 sq.km. Such an explosive growth cannot sustain without   sound city planning.

The matter of major concern is the lack of ability to absorb exodus population in the name of IT and the giant leap that is taking place in the recent past. The physical spread of the city is mainly attributed to the following factors   such as institutional establishments, large scale industries, IT corridors, growth of Infrastructure and Transportation facilities. The city has expanded much more  in the last two decades because of the growth of IT corridors, places like ITPL, White field ,Electronic city and Manyata Tech park regions are the typical examples .That had leads the out growths to the immediate neighbourhoods demanding more housing and infrastructural facilities. The physical spread of Bangalore is attributed to establishment of transportation facilities, airports, metros etc. Gradually more developments are taking place in area beyond the Central Business District. Bengaluru periphery is acting as an engine of economic growth due to the setting up of   industries and IT parks in the peripheral areas.

Bengaluru city has undergone different phases   of economic growth .In   the first phase (1951-61) growth is due to the public sector undertakings with the employment generation avenues. The second Phase (1960-70) is mainly because of the industries and state-run businesses. The third phase was due to the off shoot of private sectors since 1980s. The fourth phase is since 2000, this is due to the growth of IT and other services. This phase continues till the present day of  Bengaluru.(Heitzman ,2004 and Sastry,1988). Some writers have compared the unprecedented growth of Bengaluru with the situations of Delhi and Paris. At present area beyond the 198 wards of BBMP is considered as the peri-urban Bengaluru (as per BMRDA).

 

The peri-urban cluster of Bengaluru include the above eight Taluks.An empirical research   is done for the East Bengaluru periphery Hoskote region  and South Periphery Kanakapura region. Research   shows that   there is a rapid transition in the East Periphery Hoskote Region compared to the South Periphery in the case of Bengaluru city. Hoskote  has close proximity to Whitefield that is a major IT hub of the city. There is a surge in demand of residential units, nearby areas such as Hoskote is also on the continuous spree of development to feed the rising demand from Whitefield. Peri urban   transition sets forth in the form of transition in the usage of land as a resource and it leads to various further changes. Peri urban transition takes place because the city slowly progress towards the rural country side. However in the case of Bengaluru city, the pace of transition is very high due to the rapid   industrial, IT and infrastructural developments.  The analysis   reveals that there is declining core and expanding periphery   in the case of Bengaluru Metropolitan City.

There is a  rapid land use changes in and around peripheries of Bengaluru city. The land use changes is mainly due to the recent upsurge in urban growth   and concentration of  IT industries in the periphery. Hence there is spatial expansion and rapid spread of the population in the peripheries.  Peripheral areas have gradually become the engine of economic growth   with the   establishment of IT industries in the peripheral areas   of   Bengaluru. However, this rapid expansion of the peri urban interface is a challenge to the development.  They include the   competition of land resources for agricultural and non -agricultural uses, inflated land values ,unrestricted and uncontrolled expansion causes adverse environmental conditions  thereby a substantial cost to the environment.

Although   most   economic costs are figured into the land use decisions, most environmental externalities are not. These environmental externalities lead to considerable social cost to the society   and   leads to inefficient results. The fundamental challenges include market failures- environmental externalities and lack of   proper city planning in the context of expanding periphery of the Bengaluru city.  The state of urban sprawl in the Bengaluru city highlights the threat for effectively managing the urban sprawl.

Unlike the developed countries  where there is a strong institution for policy enforcement, the problem of rapid spatial expansion in Bengaluru  and other cities of India is observed to be an outcome of ineffective planning ,inadequate policy enforcement. Therefore,   in the present context   we need to arrive   at an integrated spatial planning support system   and   sustainable urban planning   and policy measures.

  /http://www.deccanheraldepaper.com/ 12.11.18/DH Panorma

 

 

Land Administration : A long way to go/ DH Main Article

 

The rapid urbanization has led to the complexities in land transaction in India, it is   further exacerbated by   migration, industrialization and frequent land use changes with the expansion of the cities. Land continues to be a major source of income to government   through stamp duties, and is a key element in implementing a wide range of government programs.  Experts such as land administrators, lawyers   and surveyors are involved in the process of creating and defining land parcels and land rights,   but   the land registration process does not guarantee title ownership , though the right to property is a legal right in India. Hence there arises complication in the land administration in India.

Land administration is the way in which the rules of  land tenure are applied and made operational. Land administration     comprises a wide   range of systems and processes to administer. The processes of land administration include the transfer of rights in land from one party to another through sale, lease, loan, gift and inheritance; the regulating of land and property development; the use and conservation of the land; the gathering of revenues from the land through sales, leasing, and taxation; and the resolving of conflicts concerning the ownership and the use of land.

The Global Plan of Action for Sustainable Development adopted by the Rio Conference 1992 (Agenda 21), pointed out   the   major issues the world faces at present. They are    poverty, problems of   sustainable settlement, deforestation and environmental degradation. And these are directly related to the land issue. The major problems are related to   access to land for the urban and rural poor, to create efficient and accessible land markets and the lack of proper land records in certain states.

There are conflicts and challenges for the land management  in the Indian context. Initial  land administration focused on land revenue only, but the scenario has completely changed with urbanization and growth of the cities . It is  difficult   to  define  land parcels and to describe  associated rights especially in the metropolitan cities  since the cities are expanding to the fringe areas at a rapid rate. Land  administration  and policy  has not  clearly demarcated  land markets  both in urban ,rural areas as well as the peri urban areas in most of the Indian cities. Illegal transfers of land and  lack of coherent management of restrictive land and their updated information , boundary dispute, ownership rows, land re-measurements, payment of land taxes, land possession and non- encumbrance certificates are vexatious issues in Indian context.

 In most of the   countries, land administration is one of the most corrupt public services. According to (Transparency International, 2006) bribes paid annually by users of land administration services are estimated at $700 million in India. Moreover rural land transacted   after 1882   are maintained by both the revenue department and the stamps and registration department. This overlap   further increases transaction costs and frauds in the records.

There are   complaints   related to the   land administrators because they   are not able to provide immediate relief to the people because our land records are manual and they cannot be immediately checked. However there is a paradigm shift in the   recent years.  Most of the States in India now have digital information about land and digital parcel maps. At some places both are integrated. Computerized land registries are   operational in states like   Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. To great extent it helps to overcome weaknesses in the public sector. It has   reduced the scope of   corruption associated with the land administration. Changing form of ownership is another major challenge.

The land related conflicts leads to court cases and litigations resulting in social cost , creation of fake documents where single property is sold to several persons ,encroachments ,illegal constructions are the major loopholes. Hence   more control at the official level is required to tackle these irregularities. The E-governance in the context of complicated land management practices is a innovative remedy .Interestingly  the considerable efforts taken by GoK via Bhoomi, KAVERI and Mojini projects is a promising approach to overcome the hurdles of land administration of the state.

Hence the need of the hour is the counteractive measures such as   computerization and integration of land records   allowing   private sector participation in surveying,  reduction of  stamp duty  that reduces the malpractices in the process of land registration. In order to achieve  the sustainable  and rational outcomes  appropriate laws are required and their implementation will be focus  of the land administrators. Countries like Australia are advanced with E-land. The advent of  technology and pressures on land administrators created by increased population and land use changes  necessitated E-land administration.The latest concept is I-land. I-land is integrated, spatially enabled land information available on internet which facilitates government policies by information such as people, interests, rights, prices and transactions. Proper execution is required so that each state   makes a fast journey from on-line to E-land and I-land administration.

 The  commodity ‘ Land ’  has  the power to transform the   governments  and institutions of the economies of modern societies and their functioning.  Land information with spatial data infrastructure has the power   to transform economies and   societal   functions through the ways in which tax is collected, services are delivered, spatial expansion etc. Effective   land administration system is the sole motive   of   an efficient   land market. Hence   better   land management   policies are required   for the land markets of modern economies. Therefore, the challenges    ahead   for the administration   and policy makers is to capitalize the opportunities   of modern world for better  service delivery.

   http://www.deccanheraldepaper.com/ DH main article 03.01.19