Morning Brief: Jobless Growth Myth Busted; New Telecom Policy; Steps To Merge Ministries 

Good morning, dear reader! Here’s your morning news and views brief for today.

Jobless Growth Myth Busted: The government, which has been at the receiving end over lack of jobs in the country, now has the backing of some top economists who say that just because there is no data to prove job growth, it doesn’t mean India is not creating jobs. “If we had a decade of near jobless or jobless growth my guess is that we would have seen blood on the streets,” J P Morgan emerging market research head Jahangir Aziz said on Thursday. “The fact that we haven't seen blood on the streets, from that I will conclude that jobs have been created,” he said at the 4th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave in Mumbai. NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has recently termed the claim of ‘jobless growth’ as ‘bogus’.

New Telecom Policy: Adopting next generation technology will be the key focus area of the new telecom policy being drawn up by the Department of Telecom. It has started ground work for the policy and will start consultation with stakeholders as the industry is going through a tough phase due to financial stress and tariff war. The government has already constituted an inter-ministerial group and has been holding meetings with stakeholders to discuss the issues related to the sector. The group’s recommendation, which is expected soon, will help formulate a new policy by identifying areas that require urgent attention, said a department official.

Modi Wraps Up Historic Israel Visit, Heads To Germany For G-20 Summit: After wrapping up his historic three-day visit to Israel during which he discussed key issues like terrorism and economic cooperation with the top Israeli leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday left for the German city of Hamburg to attend the G20 Summit. Modi, who became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Jewish nation, signed seven agreements to boost bilateral cooperation in key areas like science and technology, water, research and space. In Hamburg, Modi will attend the G-20 Summit on 7-8 July. The theme chosen for this year is ‘Shaping an Interconnected World’.

Process Of Merging Ministries Begins: The Union government has started the process of merging two key ministries – urban development and housing and urban poverty alleviation – as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of “minimum government” in the urban sector. A proposal has been sent to the Union cabinet. Once approved, this will be the first instance to merge ministries after the National Democratic Alliance government came to power in 2014. M Venkaiah Naidu is currently in charge of the two ministries. Both the ministries have a history of merger and de-mergers. They were originally one ministry in 1952 when it was known as Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply. They were bifurcated twice since then.

India Declares Itself Free From Bird Flu: After conducting a thorough surveillance, India has declared itself free from bird flu (avian influenza – H5N1 and H5N8) and notified it to the World Organisation for Animal Health. India had reported outbreaks of avian influenza at Delhi, Gwalior, Rajpura, Hissar, Bellary, Allappuzha, Kottayam, Ahmedabad, Daman, Khordha and Angul during October 2016 to February 2017. The move will help it resume export of poultry products to the countries which had banned trade in such items early this year. The countries which banned Indian poultry products include United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

India Tops In Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Growth: India’s aviation sector is flying high, quite literally. It reclaimed, after two months, the top rank in domestic air passenger traffic growth in the world for May, according to data released by International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Thursday. Until March 2017, India had topped the domestic charts for the highest growth rates for 23 months in a row. In March, its domestic passenger growth rate came down to the third position among major aviation markets like Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia and the US. India’s passenger traffic grew by 17.7 per cent in May, said IATA. It was followed by that of China at 16.8 per cent, Russia 12.8 per cent and Japan 10.3 per cent.

Jammu and Kashmir Put On Alert Ahead Of Burhan Wani’s Death Anniversary: Security has been beefed up in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the first death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani this weekend. All preventive measures to maintain law and order in all districts have been taken keeping in view the call of separatists and United Jehad Council, Kashmir Inspector General of Police Munir Ahmad Khan said. They include preventive arrests of miscreants or to ensure that no unlawful assembly takes place, he said. Khan said every step, including suspension of internet services (no blanket ban though), would be taken as per the requirement.

Microsoft To Shed 3,000 Jobs: Microsoft on Thursday announced a major reorganisation that will lead to nearly 3,000 job cuts in sales staff outside the US, in a move to focus on the growing cloud business. According to a report, the job cuts amount to less that 10 per cent of the company's total sales force. “Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others,” the company said. Microsoft had more than 121,000 employees worldwide at the end of March, according to its website.

MUST READ OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

GST Shows Legacy Issues Make For Difficult Policy Transitions: There are some obvious transition issues in terms of the robustness of the information technology platform for such a data-intensive taxation system. The textile industry’s current woes, for instance, are a consequence of the non-transparent legacy of India’s taxation system being replaced by GST.

Government Holds The Key To Tackling Climate Change, But Solutions Will Come From Business: The Business and Climate Summit has brought together businesses, investors and policymakers to mobilise the business community in support of climate action ahead of the UN climate negotiations and emphasise swifter government action on policies.

Tesla Is Starting To Face Serious Competition: Now that the established manufacturers are playing in the electric vehicle space, their greater versatility, geographic reach and financial resources make the world a dangerous place for Tesla.

China Putting Cart Before Horse: Regional implications of China’s growing stock footprint haven’t been widely explored; but raising foreign exposure to China’s corporate imbalances raises the stakes for Asia.

SWARAJYA SPECIAL

Why The India-Israel Emotional Connect Is Unnerving Our ‘Secular Liberals’: Indians have a genuine affinity to Israel precisely because of the Islamist threats facing both. Secularist cohorts may be keen to delegitimise the India-Israel partnership by lumping Israel with Pakistan, but the comparison sucks.

We hope you enjoyed reading our morning brief. Have a great day ahead!

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