By Vishwaprasad Alva
In our eagerness to root out corruption and drive compliance, have we over-empowered the hundreds of regulatory and tax agencies in the country? Shouldn’t we be backing it up with an equally powerful and quick grievance redressal and justice system to avoid excesses and misuse?
In the past, even if the corruption levels were higher, the honest people managed to survive without fear. In this new regulatory regime, the corrupt have their old infrastructure intact, but the law-abiding common man and industry suffer due to the sweeping powers held by the banks, and tax and regulatory agencies. The pressure of achieving high targets, and shortage of trained and competent staff may be the reason. The tribunals and judicial system, as always, take years to deliver justice.
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Most sectors have more than a hundred state, central and local regulatory bodies that are empowered to summon, block, or stop business. There’s not one for hand-holding and support.
Covid-19 has resulted in some manufacturing jobs moving to India for its low and semi-skilled labour and its captive market. High-skill talent will continue to migrate out of the country if we don’t act decisively and immediately.
Being non-corrupt is a great virtue, but accessibility, humility, domain expertise, and freedom of expression are equally important. Corruption in the central leadership and top bureaucracy has reduced, but we are seeing a steep increase in opportunities and incidents of corruption at the lower levels.
People are constantly bombarded with messages, mails, notices, summons, and warnings from various government bodies. Either the artificial intelligence algorithms deployed are not refined or the officers do not have the time to study a matter in detail before issuing notices. It is the individual or the industry who should prove themselves innocent. All are guilty unless they are proven innocent.
More than 90% of our own 600 small- and medium-scale vendors are eager to sell their businesses because they can’t handle the harassment and notices from the tax and regulatory bodies. Small shops, traders, and medium, small and micro enterprises could succumb to the pressures and collapse in the near future.
Startup India and other initiatives that encourage start-ups and private enterprise will struggle to take off in this scenario. Start-ups are plagued by an unfair, opaque, and rigged government procurement process. We need to measure and publish data of the start-ups that have reached break-even, instead of the number of start-ups registered in the Registrar of Companies. Core R&D, manufacturing, and product start-ups are an indicator of the nation’s progress, not just fintech, services and e-commerce companies. The draconian angel tax, goods and services tax, tax regime, and penalties need to be reviewed before investments in core product manufacturing and tech start-ups dries up.
Large corporations who depend on economies of scale and automation will enter all areas of retail, manufacturing, and service, causing a shortage of labour in the semi-skilled and unskilled segment, and unemployment in the core R&D and science segments. We will see more job-seekers than entrepreneurs. A potentially huge pool of employed people who paid taxes in their prime with no adequate social security, health cover, or quality of life in their old age will create a new set of challenges. The highest-taxed nations have strong public health care. We are heavily taxed with no rights or cover for the taxpayers.
Much of the destruction in history has been caused by powerful leaders with good intentions. They were clean, godly, selfless, and nationalistic, but surrounded by a coterie and lost touch with reality.
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We have a Prime Minister and a team that is hard-working, selfless, and non-corrupt. Hype, publicity, and arrogance of power shouldn’t block the tailwinds that Covid-19 and the China crisis offered to India on a platter.
Breaking with the past, this government has chosen many ministers for their hands-on experience and domain expertise. They are performing well. There are also the mediocre ones who are stuck with electoral politics throughout their term. Being humble and accessible, being open to disagreement, and free discussions are the key to ensure larger participation in nation-building.
The slogan “minimum government, maximum governance” has seen some ministers having too many portfolios and rendered ineffective. Elections all year round, petty politics, and inter-ministry communication barriers have taken a toll on administration.
With hopes of a stable government with full majority, we should look forward to aggressive administrative and judicial reforms, a boost to core research investments, simplified tax and regulatory structure, and the creation of a fast-track quasi-judicial arbitration infrastructure.
Pushing Ram Janmabhoomi, Article 370, insurgency, terrorism, and communal violence onto the back burner, it is hoped that the third term directs all the resources and efforts to help India reach its peak for social harmony and economic prosperity.
Vishwaprasad Alva is the managing director at Skanray Technologies.
Views expressed are personal
By Vishwaprasad Alva
In our eagerness to root out corruption and drive compliance, have we over-empowered the hundreds of regulatory and tax agencies in the country? Shouldn’t we be backing it up with an equally powerful and quick grievance redressal and justice system to avoid excesses and misuse?
In the past, even if the corruption levels were higher, the honest people managed to survive without fear. In this new regulatory regime, the corrupt have their old infrastructure intact, but the law-abiding common man and industry suffer due to the sweeping powers held by the banks, and tax and regulatory agencies. The pressure of achieving high targets, and shortage of trained and competent staff may be the reason. The tribunals and judicial system, as always, take years to deliver justice.
Most sectors have more than a hundred state, central and local regulatory bodies that are empowered to summon, block, or stop business. There’s not one for hand-holding and support.
Covid-19 has resulted in some manufacturing jobs moving to India for its low and semi-skilled labour and its captive market. High-skill talent will continue to migrate out of the country if we don’t act decisively and immediately.
Being non-corrupt is a great virtue, but accessibility, humility, domain expertise, and freedom of expression are equally important. Corruption in the central leadership and top bureaucracy has reduced, but we are seeing a steep increase in opportunities and incidents of corruption at the lower levels.
People are constantly bombarded with messages, mails, notices, summons, and warnings from various government bodies. Either the artificial intelligence algorithms deployed are not refined or the officers do not have the time to study a matter in detail before issuing notices. It is the individual or the industry who should prove themselves innocent. All are guilty unless they are proven innocent.
More than 90% of our own 600 small- and medium-scale vendors are eager to sell their businesses because they can’t handle the harassment and notices from the tax and regulatory bodies. Small shops, traders, and medium, small and micro enterprises could succumb to the pressures and collapse in the near future.
Startup India and other initiatives that encourage start-ups and private enterprise will struggle to take off in this scenario. Start-ups are plagued by an unfair, opaque, and rigged government procurement process. We need to measure and publish data of the start-ups that have reached break-even, instead of the number of start-ups registered in the Registrar of Companies. Core R&D, manufacturing, and product start-ups are an indicator of the nation’s progress, not just fintech, services and e-commerce companies. The draconian angel tax, goods and services tax, tax regime, and penalties need to be reviewed before investments in core product manufacturing and tech start-ups dries up.
Large corporations who depend on economies of scale and automation will enter all areas of retail, manufacturing, and service, causing a shortage of labour in the semi-skilled and unskilled segment, and unemployment in the core R&D and science segments. We will see more job-seekers than entrepreneurs. A potentially huge pool of employed people who paid taxes in their prime with no adequate social security, health cover, or quality of life in their old age will create a new set of challenges. The highest-taxed nations have strong public health care. We are heavily taxed with no rights or cover for the taxpayers.
Much of the destruction in history has been caused by powerful leaders with good intentions. They were clean, godly, selfless, and nationalistic, but surrounded by a coterie and lost touch with reality.
We have a Prime Minister and a team that is hard-working, selfless, and non-corrupt. Hype, publicity, and arrogance of power shouldn’t block the tailwinds that Covid-19 and the China crisis offered to India on a platter.
Breaking with the past, this government has chosen many ministers for their hands-on experience and domain expertise. They are performing well. There are also the mediocre ones who are stuck with electoral politics throughout their term. Being humble and accessible, being open to disagreement, and free discussions are the key to ensure larger participation in nation-building.
The slogan “minimum government, maximum governance” has seen some ministers having too many portfolios and rendered ineffective. Elections all year round, petty politics, and inter-ministry communication barriers have taken a toll on administration.
With hopes of a stable government with full majority, we should look forward to aggressive administrative and judicial reforms, a boost to core research investments, simplified tax and regulatory structure, and the creation of a fast-track quasi-judicial arbitration infrastructure.
Pushing Ram Janmabhoomi, Article 370, insurgency, terrorism, and communal violence onto the back burner, it is hoped that the third term directs all the resources and efforts to help India reach its peak for social harmony and economic prosperity.
Vishwaprasad Alva is the managing director at Skanray Technologies.
Views expressed are personal
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