The vital MSME sector accounts for 30% of GDP, 40% of exports, and employs 12 crore people.

However, the small businesses of India have spent 10 years suffering in this Anyay Kaal, through neglect or through malicious anti-MSME policy. It is a well-established fact that Narendra Modi has spent the last decade working only for his few chosen friends.

As a result, MSMEs have contributed to the lowest fraction of GDP in decades, face the highest tax rates in decades, and are dealing with severe job losses and price rise. Thousands of MSMEs have been shutting down. There are six major issues relating to Modi-Made MSME Mismanagement:

1. Demonetisation: MSMEs worst affected
2. Shoddy GST implementation
3. Policies favour crony corporates
4. Ill-conceived Income Tax 45-day payment rule
5. Uncontrolled dumping of Chinese goods
6. MSME Board has been captured by BJP cronies



A short 🧵…

(1/7)indianexpress.com/article/busine… 1. Demonetisation: MSMEs worst affected

Eight years on, it has become clear that demonetisation did nothing to curb black money or counterfeit currency in India. Unable to pay employees or repay their debts, many small businesses were forced to close. Business systematically moved from smaller firms to bigger, more organised players. An RBI study has shown that MSMEs were the worst affected by demonetisation.

Overall growth cratered after demonetisation and has not recovered since then. Even before the pandemic, India’s GDP growth rate was at a 10-year low in 2019.

This policy blunder shows the BJP’s misplaced priorities and lack of concern for small businesses.


(2/7)business-standard.com/article/news-a…

Before the BJP came to power, Tamil Nadu boasted a thriving ecosystem of more than 10 lakh Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), more than any other state. The triple blow of demonetisation, GST, and the unplanned COVID lockdowns decimated the MSME ecosystem.

As @RahulGandhi has been consistently highlighting through the last ten years, and as he reiterated during the INDIA bloc's mega rally in Coimbatore on April 12th, MSMEs in the Kongu Nadu region, the state’s industrial heartland, are still reeling from the Centre’s mismanagement 🧵

(1/5) Demonetisation

This “man-made disaster” brought nearly all economic activity to a standstill. Businesses were unable to pay workers and consumption ground to a halt

• Kongu Nadu’s MSMEs, highly dependent on cash flow, were hit hard

• In Tiruppur, as many as 1,000 small factories closed, unable to withstand the sudden economic upheaval

• Textile exports fell from the expected Rs. 30,000 crores to Rs. 26,000 crores

(2/5)

मोदी सरकार के पिछले 10 साल न सिर्फ़ भारत की जनता और लोकतंत्र के लिए, बल्कि पर्यावरण और उस पर निर्भर रहने वाले लोगों के लिए भी विनाशकारी रहे हैं।

"जलवायु नहीं बदल रहा है, हम बदल रहे हैं" कहने वाले प्रधानमंत्री ने पिछले 10 साल में भारत में पर्यावरण संरक्षण के लिए किए गए सभी प्रावधानों और उपायों को सुनियोजित ढंग से ध्वस्त कर किया है।

इस दौरान एक पैटर्न सबसे ख़तरनाक रूप से सामने आया है। इसके तहत स्थानीय समुदायों से उनके वन अधिकारों को छीना जा रहा है और वन भूमि को मोदी सरकार के पूंजीपति मित्रों को सौंपना आसान बनाया जा रहा है।

पर्यावरण संबंधी मामले में इस सरकार की 10 प्रमुख विफलताएं इस प्रकार हैं:

1) विनाशकारी 'वन संरक्षण संशोधन अधिनियम'
2) आदिवासी विरोधी वन संरक्षण नियम
3) जैविक विविधता (संशोधन) अधिनियम को कमज़ोर करना
4) गुप्त रूप से पर्यावरण संरक्षण अधिनियम में संशोधन
5) वन मंजूरी के उल्लंघन के बाद प्रोजेक्ट्स को वैध करना
6) पर्यावरण प्रभाव आकलन के मानदंडों को कमज़ोर करना
7) स्वतंत्र पर्यावरण संस्थानों को नष्ट करना
8) बढ़ता वायु प्रदूषण
9) वन्य जीव संरक्षण अधिनियम को कमज़ोर करना
10) कॉरपोरेट लॉबिंग पर कोयले की खदानों को देना

(1/n) पहला मुद्दा: विनाशकारी 'वन संरक्षण संशोधन अधिनियम'

वन संरक्षण अधिनियम, 1980 एक बेहद महत्वपूर्ण कानून है जो भारत के जंगलों को क़ब्ज़े और वनों की कटाई से बचाता है। लेकिन मोदी सरकार के 2023 के संशोधन ने इसे अंदर से खोखला कर दिया:

• यह संशोधन 1996 के टीएन गोदावर्मन मामले में सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश का उल्लंघन करते हुए, भारत के 25% वन क्षेत्र, या लगभग 2 लाख वर्ग किलोमीटर जंगल की सुरक्षा को ख़त्म कर देता है। ऐसा करने के पीछे का एकमात्र उद्देश्य देश के जंगलों तक प्रधानमंत्री के पूंजीपति मित्रों की आसानी से पहुंच सुनिश्चित करना है।

• यह अधिनियम 2006 के वन अधिकार अधिनियम को भी कमज़ोर करता है। इसकी वजह से विशाल क्षेत्रों में वन मंजूरी के लिए स्थानीय समुदायों की सहमति और अन्य वैधानिक आवश्यकताओं के प्रावधान समाप्त हो जाते हैं। कई आदिवासी समुदायों ने इसका विरोध किया था और राष्ट्रीय अनुसूचित जनजाति आयोग ने 2022 में इस पर गंभीर आपत्ति जताई थी।

• पूर्वोत्तर के जंगल विशेष रूप से असुरक्षित हो गए हैं, क्योंकि इस संशोधन में देश की सीमाओं के 100 किलोमीटर के भीतर के जंगलों से सुरक्षा छीन लेने का प्रावधान है। मिज़ोरम और नागालैंड सहित पूर्वोत्तर की राज्य सरकारों ने एनडीए का हिस्सा होने के बावजूद इस अधिनियम का विरोध किया।



शुक्र है कि #ElectoralBondScam के बाद सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने 1996 के फैसले के मुताबिक वनों की परिभाषा कायम रखने को कहा। सुप्रीम कोर्ट का यह निर्णय सिर्फ़ अस्थायी रूप से इस विनाशकारी कानून के प्रभाव को रोकता है लेकिन जून 2024 में सत्ता संभालने वाली INDIA की सरकार इसे हमेशा के लिए रद्द करेगी।



(2/n)hindi.newsclick.in/Forest-Conserv…
thewirehindi.com/268833/uphold-…

The last 10 years of the Modi regime have been a disaster not just for India’s people and democracy, but also for the environment and the people who depend on it.

The Prime Minister who famously said that the “climate is not changing, we are changing,” has systematically destroyed protections for the environment in India.
The key patterns are to strip local communities of any power over their forests, and make it easier to hand forest land over to the Modi government’s crony corporate friends.

Here are 10 specific failures of this government on environmental issues:

1) Disastrous ‘Forest Conservation Amendment Act’
2) Anti-Adivasi Forest Conservation Rules
3) Dilution of the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act
4) Secretive amendments to Environment Protection Act
5) Legalisation of projects after violation of forest clearance
6) Weakening of Environmental Impact Assessment norms
7) Destruction of independent environmental institutions
8) Rising Air Pollution
9) Wildlife Protection Act weakened
10) Coal mines given on corporate lobbying

(1/n) Issue One: Disastrous ‘Forest Conservation Amendment Act’

The Forest Conservation Act, 1980, is a critical law that protects India’s forests from encroachment and deforestation. However, a 2023 amendment by the Modi Sarkar has hollowed it from within:

• The amendment removes protections for 25% of India’s forest cover, or almost 2 lakh square km of forest, in violation of the 1996 TN Godavarman Supreme Court order. The intention is to hand over access to our forests to the Prime Minister’s corporate friends.

• This Act undermines the Forest Rights Act of 2006, doing away with provisions for the consent of local communities and other statutory requirements for forest clearance in vast areas. The National Commission on Scheduled Tribes raised objections to this in 2022, as have many tribal communities.

• Forests in the Northeast are particularly vulnerable, as this amendment will strip protections from forests within 100km of the nation’s borders. Northeastern states including Mizoram and Nagaland, despite being under NDA rule, have opposed this Act.



Thankfully, after the #ElectoralBondScam, the Supreme Court has ordered that the dictionary definition of a forest must be followed, as per its 1996 decision. While this temporarily pauses the impact of this disastrous law, the INDIA government that takes power in June 2024 will repeal this law once and for all.



(2/n)frontline.thehindu.com/environment/fo…
thehindu.com/sci-tech/energ…

Of all the various failures of the Modi Government, the sheer incompetence and maliciousness of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is among the most harmful and self-evident. Here are eight major failures of the Modi Sarkar’s Ministry of Agriculture:

1. Extortionate GST on agricultural inputs
2. Non-utilisation of Ministry funds
3. Failure to double farmer income
4. Inadequate MSP increases & non-implementation of Swaminathan Commission Report
5. Failure to Diversify Crops
6. Dependence on Imports for Edible Oils
7. Failures on Trade Policy
8. Rising Indebtedness and Farmer Suicides

A thread follows (1/n) 1. Extortionate GST on agricultural inputs

The design of the GST has been completely anti-farmer. Due to GST, nearly every input a farmer requires has gone up in price. In 2004-05, in the UPA’s first Budget, excise duties on tractors were abolished. However, under GST, the tax rate on tractors has been increased to 12%, while GST on tractor tyres is at 18% and spare parts at 28%. Meanwhile, fertilizer has been taxed at 5% under GST, in addition to high GST on fertilizer inputs like ammonia, at 18%. At a time when farmers are already struggling with rising input prices, adding high GST tax levels is nothing but malicious.

(2/n)

No amount of slick PR, social media posts by Ministers, and grand announcements can hide the manner in which the Indian Railways has been utterly mismanaged during the Modi regime — a decade of degradation with an anti-poor mindset.

Five key issues emerge:

1. Ticket Vasooli
2. Anti-poor infrastructure priorities
3. Lagging train speeds
4. Callous attitude to passenger safety
5. Deteriorating Railways finances

Let’s go through each of these issues one by one (1/10) Issue One: Ticket Vasooli

The Railways report an average price per passenger, per km. In 2013-14, this was Rs. 0.32/passenger-km. By 2021-22, this had more than doubled to Rs. 0.66/passenger-km (a 107% increase!).

If we compare this to the UPA’s performance from 2003-4 to 2013-14, we see a much more reasonable increase from Rs. 0.24 to Rs. 0.32 (a 33% increase). @INCIndia sees the Railways as the backbone of India’s society and economy, not just as a vehicle for vasooli collection!

(2/10)

After Amit Shah & Yogi, now it’s Modi’s turn to make outrageous comments due to despair & desperation.

On May 10th, people of Karnataka will guarantee the end of the BJP 40% Commission Sarkara. A few days later Congress Guarantees will be implemented like we have in RJ, CH & HP. Rajasthan Govt's promises fulfilled:

-Old Pension Scheme implemented
-Indira Gandhi Urban Employment-125 days of work
-Right To Health-free emergency treatment in pvt & govt hospitals
-Chiranjeevi Yojana: ₹25 lakh insurance in pvt hospitals & ₹10 lakh accidental insurance
2/n

Our commitment to the women of Karnataka for their protection& progress:
☑️Gruha Lakshmi:₹2000/month to women
☑️Gruha Jyothi:200 units/month free electricity
☑️Yuva Nidhi:₹3000/month for unemployed graduates

Congress delivers on its promises-as we have done in RJ,CG, HP⬇️
1/n Rajasthan Congress Govt for Women:

☑️Mukhyamantri Gas Cylinder Yojana- LPG Cylinder at Rs. 500

☑️Chiranjeevi Scheme: Rs. 25 lakh health insurance in pvt hospitals & Rs. 10 lakh accidental insurance

☑️Right To Health - free emergency treatment in pvt & govt hospitals

2/n

Kiren Rijiju, the latest entrant to the Modi stable of Distorians, now says Nehru did not want Tawang to be part of India. This utter lie is exposed by 2 top secret telegrams that were declassified in 2018. Read on… 1/5 The first telegram is dated March 11 1951, which Nehru would have seen as the External Affairs Minister.

2/5

The PM has once again whitewashed REAL history. He overlooks the following facts only to castigate Nehru on J&K. All this has been documented well in Rajmohan Gandhi's biography of Sardar Patel. These facts are also known to the PM's new man in J&K. 1. Maharaja Hari Singh dithered on accession. There were dreams of independence. But when Pakistan invaded, Hari Singh acceeded to India.

1. 14 अगस्त को विभाजन विभीषिका स्मृति दिवस के रूप में मनाने के पीछे प्रधानमंत्री की वास्तविक मंशा सबसे दर्दनाक ऐतिहासिक घटनाओं को अपने राजनीतिक लाभ के लिए इस्तेमाल करना है। लाखों लाख लोग विस्थापित हुए और जानें गईं। उनके बलिदानों को भुलाया या अपमानित नहीं किया जाना चाहिए। 2. बंटवारे की त्रासदी का दुरुपयोग नफरत और पूर्वाग्रह की भावना को भड़काने के लिए नहीं होना चाहिए। सच ये है कि सावरकर ने दो राष्ट्र का सिद्धांत दिया और जिन्ना ने इसे आगे बढ़ाया। पटेल ने लिखा था, "मुझे लगता है कि अगर विभाजन स्वीकार नहीं किया गया, तो भारत कई टुकड़ों में बंट जाएगा"।

1. The real intent of PM to mark Aug 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day is to use the most traumatic historical events as fodder for his current political battles. Lakhs upon lakhs were dislocated and lost their lives. Their sacrifices must not be forgotten or disrespected. 2. The tragedy of partition, cannot be misused to fuel hate & prejudice. The truth is Savarkar originated 2 nation theory and Jinnah perfected it. Sardar Patel wrote, “I felt that if we did not accept partition, India would be split into many bits and would be completely ruined”.

खाद्य पदार्थों पर जीएसटी दरों में वृद्धि के लिए वित्त मंत्री द्वारा बिना तर्क के दी गई सफाई पर 10 प्वाइंट में हमारा जवाब। 1. 'ब्रांडेड और लेबल्ड', 'प्री-पैकेज्ड और लेबल्ड' से अलग है। पहले में बड़ी कंपनियों के प्रोडक्ट्स प्रभावित होते हैं।जिनकी कीमत अधिक होती है। इनके खरीददार मध्यम एवं उच्च मध्यम वर्ग हैं।

दूसरा छोटे व्यवसायों को प्रभावित करता है जिनके प्रोडक्ट के खरीददार निम्न आय वर्ग एवं गरीब हैं।

Our 10 point answer to FM’s laboured defence of increase in GST rates on food items 1.'Branded & labeled' is very different from 'pre-packaged & labeled'. The former affects only products of big companies priced higher and bought by middle & upper middle classes. The latter affects small businesses whose products are bought by the lower middle class & the poor.

A thread on the population control debate:
The crucial tipping point in demography is when replacement level of fertility reaches 2.1. Subsequently after a generation or two, population will stabilise or begin to decline. Kerala was first in 1988, followed by TN 5 years later.1/n By now, a large majority of Indian states have achieved replacement levels of fertility. By 2026, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will also do so with Bihar being the last by 2030. 2/n

Today marks 3 months since the ‘PM CARES’ Fund aka ‘Modi Fund’ was announced.

Its purpose, the name, the massive fundraising, its special treatment & the thousands of crores unspent raises many questions.

The only clear answer is that PM DOES NOT REALLY CARE.

Here’s why:
1/n The numbers first.

@IndiaSpend estimated a whopping ₹9,677.9 cr total donation to ‘PM CARES’ Fund(based on govt press releases & media reports). Another ₹2,098.2 cr had been pledged to the Fund as of last week.

ONLY ₹3100 cr has been released from the ‘Modi Fund’. Why?
2/n

Why has the Government of India discontinued daily briefings on the health situation?

All countries inform their citizens through the press in a time of crisis.

At such times credible and professionally competent faces should be telling us what is happening.

1/5 The health ministry official when he was briefing last kept saying that MAYBE the peak will never come.

What are we to make of this assertion?

Is there a larger design to this statement made not once but thrice?

2/5

Mr. Modi is championing self-reliance now. He forgets the entire purpose of planning launched by Nehru in 1950 was self-reliance. It has been the continuing theme for decades. Self-reliance in manufacturing,science & tech, financial resources & self-sufficiency in agriculture.1/n Mr. Modi and his drum-beaters are now appropriating the self-reliance plank which has been the pillar of India's development strategy. The Prime Minister is a past master at shamelessly stealing ideas and passing them off as some great inspired thought of his own. 2/n

In light of the fake news doing the rounds that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru did not want Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his cabinet, sharing a series of letters & documents.

Here's the truth:
1. Nehru letter to Mountbatten of July 19th 1947 with Patel right on top of new cabinet list 2. Nehru letter to Patel dated July 19 1947 shows how Patel was a close confidante & ally of Nehru in cabinet formation.