Author: Rituparna Bhuyan

Explainer: All you need to know about National Education Policy 2020

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India is all set to see a new National Education Policy (NEP) after 34 years. The union cabinet has approved NEP 2020 which seeks to enroll 100 percent children in the pre-primary to secondary level by 2030.

The policy also seeks to increase public investment in education sector to 6 percent of GDP from the current level of 4 percent. Moreover, the ministry of human resource development will be re-christened as ministry of education as per the new policy.

NEP 2020 will become operational as soon as it is notified by the government.

Here is a quick explainer:

Q: What happens to the 10+2 schooling system in India?

A: The current 12 year schooling system , popularly known as 10+2 will give way to a four tiered structure known as 5+3+3+4 system that will be spread across 15 years.

Under this system, kids in the age bracket of 3 to 6 will be brought under the pre-schooling and anganwadi system. The initial three years will be followed by two more years in grades 1 and 2 making it a total of five years. Experts who consulted the government on NEP 2020 recommended this as kids see maximum brain development in this age.

This will be followed by the second tier which is spread across three years covering grades 3, 4 and 5. Medium of instruction till grade 5 will be either in the mother tongue or prevalent regional language.

The third tier will comprise grades 6, 7 and 8. Vocational training will be introduced in grade 6, focusing on local crafts and trade. Students will be encouraged to do internships under experts on local crafts.

The fourth tier will comprise grades 9 thru 12 and there won’t be any distinction between streams like humanities, science, extra curricular activities or vocational courses.

NCERT will develop a National Curricular Framework for School Education to take forward a reduced curriculum under the new system which which will seek to focus on concepts.

Special emphasis will also be given to gifted kids. Moreover, students will be encouraged to choose subjects based on interest and not be confined to traditional streams like arts, science or commerce. A national assessment center called PARAKH will be set up to make standards for state boards.

Q: How will schools evaluate students?

NEP 2020 will lead to a change in the way report cards are prepared by schools. In the new system, a three pronged approach will be followed which includes self assessment by the student, peer assessment and teacher assessment. The NEP seeks to equip students passing out from grade 12 to have at least one core skill.

Q: What happens to board exams under NEP?

The PIB press release and the government presentation is not fully clear on the way forward on the board exams. While 10th and 12th board exams will continue, Anita Karwal, secretary school education said board exams will be divided into two modules every year and students will be able to take the exams by dividing the subjects into the modules. According to Karwal, board exams will be a low stake affair.

Q: How does one gain admission into higher education institutes?

National Testing Agency will conduct a single entrance examination for admission into higher educational institutes in the country after grade 12.

Q: How will the undergraduate (UG) and Post-Graduate (PG) steams work under NEP 2020?

The highlight of the UG and PG stream reforms under NEP 2020 is that multiple entry and exit options will be allowed. One can complete UG in either 3 or 4 years, depending upon the career path that is chosen.

Options in UG steam includes certificate after one year, advanced diploma after two years, Bachelor’s degree after three years and Bachelor’s with research after four years.

A UG student can use his or her Academic Bank of Credit from different higher education institutes and transfer them to other institutes at will. The PG stream will be of either one or two years duration. In the new system, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) will be discontinued.

Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities or MERUs will be set up in or near each district. According to the government, MERU’s will be at part with IITs and IIMs .

Q: How will the higher education institutes be administered?

There will be one single regulator for all higher education streams except legal and medicine. The existing regulators will be merged and a new bill will be introduced in the Parliament to facilitate this.

Institutes on higher education stream will have graded autonomy. This means that an institution with higher grades will have more autonomy with respect to academic, administration and financial issues. There will be common norms on fee for private and public higher educational institutions.

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Goyal-Ross hold phone conversation, discuss fast tracking India-US limited trade pact parleys

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his US counterpart Wilbur Ross had an informal teleconference where they discussed several trade related issues between both the countries.

The phone call happened a day after a top panel of US and Indian CEOs met and gave recommendations on taking forward economic and business ties between both the countries.

A press statement released by the commerce ministry said Goyal and commerce secretary Ross discussed the on-going trade parleys between both the nations and called for concluding a limited trade deal at the earliest. Moreover, both the sides also discussed the possibility of an India-US Free Trade Agreement.

On his part, Goyal raised several issues related to Indian trade and business interests including Washington designating 24 Made In India goods under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act as a result of which Indian producers are unable to participate in contracts of US government agencies. “Secretary Ross offered to set up a meeting between the labour department officials of both sides,” the commerce ministry release said.

Goyal also flagged the pending US-India Social Security Totalisation Agreement with Ross, who maintained that statutory requirements mandated by Washington will have to be fulfilled by New Delhi before talks on the pact is taken forward.

However, the US commerce secretary offered to arrange a meeting between Indian and US labour officials to resolve the stalemate. India has been pushing for a Totalisation agreement with US for a long time as Indian professionals working there are not able to repatriate social security contributions when they return to India.

Another issue raised by Goyal was on the US ban on import of wild catch shrimp from India. US has stopped shipments of shrimps from the country as it believes that practices followed by Indian shrimp farms harms sea turtles. India maintains that there are a slew of conservation measures taken by India to protect sea turtles.

Commerce ministry said secretary Ross has agreed to facilitate a discussion between the US state department and Office of Marine Conservation with the Indian Department of Fisheries and Ministry of Forest and Environment.

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India restricts imports of power tillers, components

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India has restricted imports of power tillers and their components amidst a clamour for ‘Made in India’ products through the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign.

A notification released by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) mandates that importers of the agri machinery will now have to apply for a licence before they are allowed to ship foreign-made power tillers into the country.

“Import policy of power tillers and its components is amended from free to restricted,” the DGFT has said in a notification.

The import restriction notification has been followed up with norms on licensing. As per the new norms, only manufacturers of power tillers will be allowed to apply for an import licence. Moreover, the importer “should have satisfactory and proven infrastructure for training, post-sales service, and spare parts”.

As per the DGFT notification, importers will be allowed to import only 10 percent of the value of what they imported in FY20. In addition, applicants for power tiller imports should have been in the business for at least three years.

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Piyush Goyal to meet top Trump administration functionaries to take trade talks forward

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India and the US will restart high level negotiations on a trade pact in the coming days, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on June 25. He will engage with industry captains from both countries in mid-July, and will hold discussions with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Speaking at an event organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Goyal said, “I think Mr Wilbur Ross and I will be meeting with businessmen of both the countries sometime in mid-July and will be holding talks with my US counterpart [US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer] in the next few days to quickly wrap the first immediate aspects of the trade deal that is already in discussion and look forward towards a more detailed, exhaustive and all-encompassing trade agreement between India and the US.”

Both countries have been negotiating a limited trade pact to enhance market access for over a year now. The trade issues came up for discussion during US President Donald Trump’s visit to India in February this year. New Delhi has been demanding restoration of tariff benefits under the GSP programme for Made In India goods, while the US has been insisting on greater market access on products like medical devices and electronic items.

Goyal’s planned meet with Ross and Lighthizer comes at a time when Washington has launched a Section 301 probe into digital taxes imposed on e-commerce companies by a group of countries including India.

Last week, Lighthizer told a panel of US lawmakers about plans on restoring Wilbur rossGSP benefits to India provided there is a counter offer from New Delhi. “Their [India’s] regular tariffs are bad and their retaliatory tariffs are worse. We are in negotiations with India. We took away their GSP and we are in the process of restoring it, if we can get an adequate counter balancing proposal from them. Until now, we haven’t done that. This is something that we are actively negotiating,” he told the US Senate Committee on Finance.

Goyal also indicated that India is working on a strategy to decrease its import dependence on China, even though he didn’t name the country in his remarks. “We have to diversify to cut [our] over dependence on certain geographies for a number of products such as electronics, auto components and move away to newer suppliers particularly countries like the US, Europe, Latin America, South East Asia and other friendly nations.”

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India’s trade deficit with China slips to 5-year low but Hong Kong makes up for the fall

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s merchandise trade deficit with China in FY20 slipped to $48.66 billion, at par with levels seen in FY15. The decline in trade deficit has been aided by weak import demand in a year when Indian economy grew by 4.2%, import restrictions imposed by New Delhi as well as sustained increase in shipments from Indian factories to Chinese shores.

However, there is growing evidence of Beijing re-routing its exports to India through Hong Kong to bypass trade-restrictive measures by New Delhi.

Data available with Commerce Ministry shows that imports from China in FY20 contracted 7 percent at $ 65.26 billion even as overall imports into the country dipped by nearly 8 percent in the same year.

But exports from India to China in the year under consideration remained flat at $ 16.6 billion even as overall outbound shipments from the country declined by an annual 5 percent at $313.13 billion.

The steep fall in imports from China combined with exports to the neighbouring country holding on to previous levels helped pull down the trade deficit in FY20.

Apart from a weak appetite for Chinese goods, the decline in imports from China to India was also aided by a slew of measures taken by the government.

According to Commerce Ministry officials, India either banned or restricted imports of at least 13 items in the past one year. Several of these goods originated from China.

Moreover, customs duties were also hiked in products, which saw major inbound shipments from the neighbouring country.

In addition, India has also upped the ante on trade remedial measures like anti-dumping by reducing the processing time for investigations.

But it seems Chinese companies anticipated these measures by India and have bypassed the curbs by rerouting their shipments form Hong Kong, which is administered by Beijing.

Data shows that India’s trade deficit with Hong Kong has increased to $6 billion in FY20 as against a trade surplus of $4 billion in FY18. The scales on India-Hong Kong trade tilted because a large spike in imports between FY18 and FY20.

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India to take up suspension of H1B, L1 visas with US

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India will take up suspension of H1B and L1 visas for the remaining months of 2020 with the Donald Trump administration. New Delhi is keeping a close eye on the development even as officials downplayed the impact of the curbs on India.

“Impact of the restrictions are expected to be limited for Indian professionals in US,” a government official told CNBC-TV18. The source added that US would anyways have issued lesser visas this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“Not more than 5,000-10,000 H1B and L1 visas would have been issued to India this year. In a normal year, India receives gets around 60,000 H1B and L1 visas,” the official said.

While Washington has suspended issuance of visas till December 2020, plans are also afoot to rejig the norms and allow only highly skilled professionals through H1B visas in the future. “Even in the new visa regime, we expect India to get a large share,” the official added.

As per government estimates, there are more than 3 lakh Indian professionals in US who have H1B visas and they would continue to work for the US clients as the restrictions announced by President Trump wont impact them. “We expect more work to be performed offshore as local talent not available in US,” the official added.

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Trade with China: Protect strategic interests but calibrate curbs, say ex-bureaucrats

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Former bureaucrats who have dealt with China as government servants have called for oversight and restrictions in allowing commercial presence of companies from the neighbouring nation in Indian strategic sectors. But their warning is followed by an advice to calibrate any proposed economic action against Chinese investments and imports.

**Protect India’s Strategic Sectors**

“ What I would be more worried about is cyber security. Can they disrupt your strategic communications systems or your power systems.? We need to have domestic manufacturing capability in domestic strategic sectors,” said Saurav Chandra, who used to head the industry department which is now known as DPIIT (Department For Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade). DPIIT is in charge of foreign investments and promoting commercial ties with India’s trading partners including China.

Jayant Dasgupta, who has rubbed shoulders with trade diplomats from China in Geneva based WTO agrees. “Security concerns should come up as a top priority,” Dasgupta told CNBC-Tv18. He was India’s ambassador to WTO.

According to former telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar, there is a case to keep Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers away from India so as to ring fence the country’s strategic interests. “Security is one of the acceptable reasons under WTO for placing restrictions. We should be concerned about telecom infrastructure especially the core part of the telecom infrastructure,” Chandrasekhar told CNBC-TV18.

These comments came in the backdrop of New Delhi drawing up a blueprint on restricting imports and investments from China. While CNBC-TV18 reported about DPIITs plans on restricting cheap and low quality imports from China , North Block is separately working on plans to restrict Chinese hot money through the Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) route.

Also read: DPIIT working on curbing low-quality Chinese imports in the wake of border skirmishes

**Calibrate Curbs on Chinese Imports**

The three former bureaucrats however called for a calibrated response to restrict Chinese goods and investments and suggested avoiding any knee jerk reaction.

“ Revenge is a dish best served cold. We have a huge trade deficit and to handle that we need the entire gamut of geo economic instruments that we have whether it is tariffs or non tariff barriers which includes security clauses, quality control measures and standards . Also we will have to look at their investments, and we will have to look at what kind of contracts that they will be getting into,” Chandra prescribed.

“We need to distinguish between essential and non essential imports from China. For instance, if there are things that we require for keeping our own industry going , whether it is for domestic sector or for exports, we cannot really prevent imports from coming in. So we have to be careful,” Dasgupta added.

“As far as imports are concerned the situation certainly will need to be reviewed. But the litmus test for India is where does a restriction hurt us more than it would hurt China,” said Chandrasekhar. “In electronics, these are complex value chains. You have components, you have intermediaries and raw materials and lot of inter dependence. We have to be careful in which areas we impose both quality or standard restrictions and other barriers,”

CNBC-TV18 has reported that the government is discussing proposals to hike import duty against Chinese items. However, WTO Norms give only limited options like protecting security, public health or environment to hike duties against a specific country.

Trade diplomat Dasgupta believes that such WTO restrictions can be bypassed for now. “WTO itself is in doldrums. When President Trump imposed duties on steel and aluminium on seven countries including India, he invoked national security concerns. This has gone untested at the dispute settlement system of WTO and hence we need not worry about the WTO compliance bit,” he said.

**Be careful in Restricting FPI from China **
While trade restrictions against China are still in the drawing board, India has already imposed government oversight in FDI investments from the neighbouring nation, putting it in the came category as its nemesis Pakistan. Similar restrictions also also being planed on portfolio investments but ex bureaucrats who have handled the subject believes it is easier said than done.

“It wont be easy to handle FPI (restrictions) . Any restrictions being placed won’t harm anyone. But FPI investments are routed through several destinations. It is very difficult to trace the origin of these FPI funds. They could come through Mauritius route to they may come through Singapore” Chandra said.

So can the government use caps on Chinese beneficial ownership in foreign funds to curb FPI? Chandra doesn’t believe so. “Administration is the art of what is practical. Once we start looking into beneficial ownership, we don’t know what the consequences of that would be” he told CNBC-TV18.

Former telecom secretary Chandrasekhar urged caution on the issue as FPI restrictions on Chinese inbound investments could harm the Indian startup ecosystem. “Putting roadblocks on Chinese Investments at our end will have to be done only in cases where it is likely to transfer ownership. In other areas we have to be careful and not disrupt the startup ecosystem. A large percentage of the unicorns have Chines investments” Chandrasekhar said.

Dasgupta maintains that as of now, there is no evidence of China based funds acquiring controlling stake in Indian startups. “There is no harm in allowing them to come in. But is has to be scrutinised properly,” Dasgupta said.

** Unlikely to see Huawei equipment in Indian 5G **
With border tensions between both the Asian emerging economies showing no signs of thaw, the future of Chinese telecom giant Huawei participating in Indian 5 G trials is at stake. According to Chandrasekhar, who is familiar with the functioning of the Department of Telecom, it is unlikely that the Huawei will be allowed to enter the Indian 5 G telecom equipment space anytime soon, But he warns that keeping the Chinese company out has its own consequences.

“ The abrupt departure of China from participating in 5G trials will certainly be taken note of by other telecom equipment suppliers, In the current situation you cant allow Chinese equipment into core telecom infrastructure because of security concerns. We will have to device strategies to ensure that the prices of telecom equipment are moderated and services are kept affordable” Chandrasekhar said.

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DPIIT working on curbing low-quality Chinese imports in the wake of border skirmishes

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on policy measures to discourage low-quality Chinese imports, which includes make up items, watches and cigarettes.

The proposed curbs came up for discussion in a meeting where top officials from multiple ministries huddled up at the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday to discuss the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative that seeks to boost self-reliance in Indian industry.

The meeting at the PMO took place in the backdrop of border tensions between India and China in several locations in Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers lost their life in a skirmish with Chinese People’s Liberation Army on June 15.

People aware of the development told CNBC-TV18 that top officials from the DPIIT, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Revenue were part of the meeting, which was overseen by senior functionaries of the Prime Minister’s Office.

The DPIIT has prepared a list of low-quality imports that are made in China which includes goods like cigarettes, tobacco-based items, paints and varnishes, printing ink, make up goods, shampoo, hair dyes, glass items as well as rear view mirrors. This list was shared with multiple Industry bodies like the CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM on Saturday and feedback has been sought by Sunday along with suggestions on import curbs that can be imposed.

Meanwhile, in the meeting at the PMO, discussions revolved around tariff and non-tariff measures, including non-tariff barriers to promote Atmanirbhar Bharat mission. In the run up to the meeting at the PMO, the DPIIT and the Department of Revenue have been discussing customs duty hike on at least 300 items for some time.

Officials also discussed the implications of any tariff policy action on Indian Industry as many sectors import intermediates and raw material from the neighbouring nation.

In addition to the feedback on low-quality imports, the DPIIT has separately sought tariff line data from Indian industry on “cheap Imports” as well policy action that can be taken to tackle import surge. The feedback from India Inc. will be taken into account while finalising economic policy action against China.

As per the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) rules, a country is allowed to hike custom duties against a specific trading partner only under limited circumstances like protecting national security, environment as well as public health. On Saturday, such international rule-based trading norms were also part of the discussion.

India has already tightened public procurement rules which now give preference to companies with indigenous content in government contracts. Moreover, foreign direct investment (FDI) rules were tightened in April. The new rules make government oversight mandatory for Chinese investments in India.

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India eyes multi-pronged strategy to reduce China import dependency amid heightened border tensions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As border tensions between India and China continue, policy makers in New Delhi maintain that the country is working on a multi-pronged strategy to reduce India’s dependence in Chinese imports and improve capability of the domestic manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, some government departments have either cancelled or are planning against using Chinese companies’ services. China accounts for 14 percent of India’s imports and is a major source for goods like mobile phones, telecom equipment, plastic toys and critical pharmaceutical ingredients.

According to people aware of the developments, one of the primary strategies under consideration to restrict low quality Chinese imports is to prepare technical regulations that specify minimum product related standards. CNBC-TV18 had reported about the Ministry of Commerce and Industry identifying 371 non-essential goods on which quality control orders will be issued.

According to government estimates, India imported nearly $127 billion worth of these products spread across sectors like steel, consumer electronics, telecom equipment, chemicals, cutlery and rubber articles.

Moreover, the cabinet recently approved a proposal to set up project development cells in select ministries, which will prepare blueprint of investible projects that will be pitched to prospective foreign investors.

The third strategy relates to sops for specific industries. As a part of this plan, India recently announced a production-linked incentive scheme for medical products as well as electronic goods. According to sources, New Delhi plans to scale up the incentive regime.

The union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently gave its nod to set up an empowered group of secretaries—a panel of senior government officers—that will recommend sectoral incentives for domestic and foreign companies.

The fourth strategy under consideration is to hike customs duties. While discussions on the proposal is on, officials maintained that duty hike may not be a sustainable way of promoting the government’s Make in India initiative and, as a consequence, customs duties will be increased only after detailed parleys.

Lastly, the government is working on a phased manufacturing programme which seeks to make India a global hub for 12 sectors that include air conditioners, furniture, toys, chemicals, ready-to-eat food products, man-made fibres, capital goods, pharmaceuticals and auto components.

Industry bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) have already given their inputs to the government on the programme.

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