From the agricultural crisis of the ancient times till 

, the world has observed dynamic patterns of growth. Looking at the word ‘growth’, it has both positive as well as negative aspects. It seems so pleasing in the economic world ignoring what it can turn out to be. When a doctor says that in your organs there are some strange patterns of growth, what does it feel like? Of course it will bring a frown to your face and stress to your mind. Similarly, economics is growth-oriented which requires a transformation to meet the needs of the 21st century, i.e., a 

sustainable development outlook to thrive

There are human rights that need to be fulfilled for every person within the boundaries of the planet since the resources are scarce and have alternative uses. The picture that can be drawn keeping the 

 (which includes education, income and work, peace and justice, political voice, social equity, gender equality, housing, networks, energy, water, food, and health) and 

 (which when exceeds leads to chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorus loading, freshwater withdrawals, land conversion, biodiversity loss, air pollution, ozone layer depletion, climate change, and ocean acidification) in mind, 

Senior Research Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institution

, has shown this way which is in the shape of a doughnut.

Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st

, she discusses how the old economic theories and approaches have to be changed keeping in mind the 

17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations

 for the challenges to be tackled in the current century. The aim of the doughnut is to not leave anyone in the middle of the doughnut and not exceed the limits of the outer circle exerting pressure on the planet. The area between these two circles is the sweet spot to rely for the economic development where social foundations are prioritized without over-exploitation of the resources.

Further to put the plans for achieving the goal of balance to thrive, she explains how telling of a new story is important rather than continuing with the 1947 story of neo-liberalism where free rein markets overshadow the state as it is incompetent and that of opening the borders of trade, leading to globalization. The commons are tragic, so sell them off. Society? Well, there’s no such thing to ponder on and household chores are to be left with women. The neo-liberal story was proven to be false when the financial crisis hit the economies. The demand for new scripts rose in order to solve the problems and economists like her are now working to supply it, nurturing human nature with factors like empathy, cooperation, and mutual aid. The systems which are inspired by the laws of physics since the 19th century need to be looked into differently with the understanding of the complexity of what economics shows, which is based on changing human behavior. The economies which are centralized and degenerative by default should be distributive by design as more GDP growth cannot even things up instead it promotes the rich. Economies are growing whether or not they thrive but that is not the case which is feasible. Economies should be thriving whether or not they grow.

These approaches by the 21st century economist, 

 has mentioned the world’s recovery could be doughnut shaped post-pandemic.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.

Economic Recovery through Doughnut

Art is a path to bring out a person’s feelings, thoughts, and experience. Whether it is painting or writing or any form, creativity pierces through the darkness of mind making it prevalent and luminous. It being an immense power helps humans from all ages to endure. Five years old or fifty-five years old, it never fails to pave the way for ideas.

Every art form is unique in its kind yet there is one that stands out in the list because of being honest and unambiguous. 

 (golden repair) is the mending of broken pottery with the use of special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. This may be in practice since the fifteenth century when the eighth 

 his broken tea bowl for repairs. However, when the bowl was brought back from 

, it did not appease the owner. It was joined with ugly metal ligatures. Giving the 

 craftsmen the chance, it turned out to be great as the tea bowl became more aesthetic than before with the use of the lacquer.

 (an embracing of the flawed and imperfect). Instead of disguising the shattered parts, recognizing the history to repair the object into a new piece is done. This 

 technique can also be applied to the concept of self, along with that of relationships. After losing someone close due to death, divorce, or breakup; a part of self becomes like a pot fell down from its original place on the verge of losing its identity. It stays there on the ground confused as to what to do next with the fragments it has turned into. Either it may be made into something else (most probably trash) or analysing the past of it to bring it exact what it have been with a touch of beauty. After all circumstances do not leave one broken eternally rather being not true to oneself and depending upon others for fixation do.

 is a great metaphor too. When a mistake is made, one grows from its experience and takes lessons to be a better version. Scars from then can be a moment of deep pride for now. So, never underestimate these marks to not give something of value. These may be the reason for many innovations as one does not get ideas from just sitting around idle. Give a second chance of making relationship strong internally. Embracing what has gone eventually brings good tidings in life. Sufferings play a vital role in shaping one’s personality. There is so much one can learn, just take a step. What one is looking for externally, lies within or in the pages of history of one’s life may be.

Kintsugi – A Second Chance

, is conveying a perfect message for practice to be done at the moment. The message of self-introspection of everything happened till now whether in your life or in the world will help to make this suffering phase of all of us to go through easily. Just as you scroll through the news feed on 

 consuming all the updates of everyone’s life and actions around the world, scroll through your life. You cannot understand others unless you understand yourself.

Probably, you don’t watch a flower grow due to the long period of time it takes to bloom. It goes through different seasons yet it stands there until its life span is complete. Whatever good and bad happened was a part of the phases that let you grew in as a person. Give a thought on your life before death gives a thought on you. It is okay to feel scary to start something afresh after stepping back. It is okay to hesitate before bringing a change. However, it is not okay to not try. Start by reconnecting with people by asking – 

So repeat after me, “What’s your story?”

Fighting Against Conformity

The Union Budget 2020 arrived with three themes i.e. Aspirational India, Economic Development, and Caring Society. Aspirational India includes Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development; Wellness, Water and Sanitation; and Education and Skills. Within the bracket of Economic Development comes Industry, Commerce and Investment; Infrastructure; and New Economy. Under Caring Society there are Women & Child, Social Welfare; Culture and Tourism; and Environment and Climate Change.

Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development aims to achieve the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman introduces 16-point action plan in order to achieve this goal. The plan comes with
Implementation of model laws (issued by the Centre) undertaken by the respective States to be encouraged.
Comprehensive measures will be undertaken for 100 water stressed districts.
PM KUSUM expansion will provide 20 lakh farmers for standalone solar pumps and 15 lakh farmers for grid connected pumps.
Balanced use of all kinds of fertilizers.
Public Private Partnership mode adoption in order to set up efficient warehouses through Viability Gap Funding.
Village Storage Scheme to provide good holding capacity.
KISAN RAIL to build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables.
KRISHI UDAAN for both international and national routers.
“One product one district” in Horticulture Sector for better marketing and export.
Organic, natural and integrated farming measures.
Integration of e-NWR with e-NAM.
2020-21 target of Rs. 15 lakh crore set for agricultural credit.
Doubling of milk processing capacity by 2025.
Boosting of fisheries with Blue Economy.
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana to mobilise SHGs for poverty alleviation.
An outlay of Rs. 2.83 lakh crore – Rs. 1.6 lakh crore for agriculture and Rs. 1.23 lakh crore for rural development.
Under Wellness, Water and Sanitation; health sector has been allocated Rs. 69,000 crore inclusive of Rs. 6,400 crore of Prime Minister Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) while Rs. 12,300 crore has been given for Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission scheme Rs. 11,500 crore. The third item of Aspirational India, i.e., Education and Skills, has been allocated with the amount of Rs. 99,300 crore for education sector and Rs. 3,000 crore for skill development. The new education policy is yet to be clarified by the government.
The Industry, Commerce and Investment of the theme ‘Economic Development’ has been granted Rs. 27,300 crore for its development and promotion. The second item on the list of second theme is Infrastructure. One major port will be corporatized and will be listed under stock exchange. Allocation of Rs. 1.70 lakh crore has been done for transport infrastructure and Rs. 22,000 crore for power and renewable energy sector. Within the bracket of New Economy (third item), Bharatnet programme has been provided with Rs. 6,000 crore and an outlay of Rs. 8,000 crore over a period of five years for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications.

For Women & Child, Social Welfare; the proposed budget for nutrition-related programmes has been allocated with Rs. 35,600 crore, Rs. 28,600 crore for programmes specific to women, Rs. 85,000 crore for SCs and OBCs, Rs. 53,700 for welfare of STs, and Rs. 9,500 crore for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Under Culture and Tourism, tourism promotion and Ministry of Culture has received Rs. 2,500 crore and Rs. 3,150 crore respectively. Environment and Climate Change, i.e., the last item of the last theme got the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change an allocation of Rs. 4,400 crore.

Apart from these allocations, a few things like certain imported military equipment, some India-made mobile components, Purified Terephthalic Acid, newsprint, sports goods, lightweight coated paper, and finger print reader have become cheaper whereas there is a huge list of items that turned costlier like skimmed milk, soya fibre, raw sugar, animal husbandry based products, imported items (including footwear, toys, mustard oil, ghee/butter/oil/cheese and many more), etc.

The Income Tax comes with two options provided one with four tax slabs (old) and the other with six tax slabs (new). The gaining point under tax – Rs. 78,000 saved in taxes under the new tax system for individual earning Rs. 15 lakh according to the Finance Minister whereas the losing points – Dividend Distribution Tax scrapped, but dividend gets taxed in your hands (those in 20% tax slab worse off); cess and surcharges stay the same, not providing any additional relief to tax payers; the effective tax rates are now ten due to slabs, surcharges, with the highest rate at 42.74%; and higher tax payers do not benefit, no real boost to money in hand even for those at lower levels.

LIC and IDBI disinvestment will bring transparency, depth to market which is good for stock investors. Although disinvestment will fix the fiscal deficit and deal with the economic crises in short run, surviving solely on it in long run won’t. The rupee must come in through revenue more rather than capital in order to float the sinking ship. As the budget session went on, the corporate sector unexpectedly was not given due attention which resulted to Sensex showing the worst reactions to it heading to a crash. The implementation of the plan is what is being looked upon after the budget presentation.

Union Budget 2020: A Case of Three Themes

Tracing back in time, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) was first infected in the Guangdong province of Southern China in 2002. It affected 26 countries and gave rise to 8000 cases in 2003. It killed nearly 650 people in Hong Kong/China in 2002-2003. The transmission was thought to be from bats, spread to civet cats to humans. Human-to-human transmission was also observed in other countries i.e. Toronto in Canada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Chinese Taipei Singapore and Hanoi in Vietnam as per World Health Organization.
On 8th December 2019, a patient reported pneumonia like symptoms in a local hospital in Wuhan, China. From there onwards, similar cases have been reported. On 31st December 2019, World Health Organization’s country office was informed of these cases. Later, on 7th January 2020, Chinese authorities identified the disease is caused by a new type of coronavirus with a centre of outbreak being seafood/animal market in Wuhan. This new virus is known as Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
As per WHO, coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Novel Coronavirus is a new type that has been identified in humans recently. Basic hand and respiratory hygiene and safe food practices can act as preventive measures. When possible, avoid close contact with person showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing.
According to 21st January 2020 report of WHO, in total 282 cases (272 from China, 2 from Thailand, 1 from Japan, and 1 from Republic of Korea) have been reported across the globe of the new virus. 51 are seriously ill and 12 are in critical condition out of the 278 confirmed cases. As on 22nd January 2020, 448 cases have been recorded in China and 7 abroad. The death toll has reached 17 so far, all in Hubei province in China. This year’s Lunar New Year migration has fears mounted as it will spread the virus further.

From One to World; Novel Coronavirus – A Report

During the proceedings in the Parliament, the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Amit Shah, said in his introductory speech for Citizenship Amendment Bill (now an Act) on 11th December, 2019 that ‘persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will get citizenship in India under this Act.’ These words surely show concern about humanity, however the amendment goes without the word ‘persecuted’. Moreover, had the persecution been ceased after 31st December 2014 in the aforesaid three countries? This criteria is violation of Article 14 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights as persecution is not done date-wise. On 10th January 2020, CAA has come into force as per the notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs. This means those non-Muslims in Assam who were stripped down from their citizenship after the Assam-NRC would acquire back their status.
Furthermore, not only is there a Citizenship Amendment Act but also a proposed nation-wide NRC, i.e., National Register of Citizens. On 20th June 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed both NRC and CAA in a joint sitting of both the houses of Parliament. In NRC, if the documents (unspecified as of yet) of a current Indian citizen falls short then they will be termed as illegal immigrants irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, age, race, etc. As CAA comes with pan-India NRC, likewise citizens/illegal immigrants will be queued to get themselves registered and out of the queue there will be many who will be termed as ‘illegal’. You would ask why, does CAA not provide them citizenship? The answer to that is no, it does not! To get citizenship under CAA, one needs to prove that he/she does not belong to India and rather an illegal immigrant from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan.
National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act aren’t the only two knots on this string, there is another knot that has commenced its work in the country, i.e., the National Population Register (NPR). Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on 22nd December 2019 in his rally that there has been no discussion on a nation-wide NRC except of Assam. Although, NPR has a link with nation-wide NRC as per the questions answered (Starred – Q. No. 229: Integrating Aadhar Card Project with NPR of 23rd July 2014 and Q. No. 304: Linking NPR with Right to Vote of 30th July 2014; Unstarred – Q. No. 305: National Identity Card for Each Citizen of 9th July 2014, Q. No. 1586: Present Status of NPR of 23rd July 2014, Q. No. 378: Identifying Citizens while preparing NPR of 26th November 2014, Q. No. 1943: National Identity Card of 13th May, 2015 and, Q. No. 4583: Progress of NPR of 8th May 2013) by the Ministry of Home Affairs at Rajya Sabha website. However, there is Unstarred Q. No. 4583: Progress of NPR of 8th May 2013 which carries the same link. There is a statement of former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh of 18th December 2003 in Parliament proceedings which is as follows – “I would like to point out that with regard to the treatment of refugees after the Partition of our country, the minorities in countries like Bangladesh, have faced persecution, and it is our moral obligation that if circumstances force people, these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in our country, our approach to granting citizenship to these unfortunate persons should be more liberal. I sincerely hope that the hon. Deputy Prime Minister (the then Shri L.K. Advani) will bear this in mind in charting out the future course of action with regard to the Citizenship Act.” The BJP-led government claims it to be an idea of previous Congress government. There is no mention of the word ‘refugee’ in the Act as such BJP is claiming on the basis of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s aforementioned statement neither a religious identity was attached to it.
In order to defy these three, protests are happening throughout the nation to convey to the government that these must be withdrawn which are unconstitutional and inhuman as they are a direct violation of Preamble of the Indian Constitution and Article 15 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Even Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen has told reporters in Bengaluru at the Infosys Science Foundation’s Infosys Prize 2019 that one cannot have certain type of fundamental human rights linking citizenship with religious differences. NRC proved to be a failure in the state of Assam as many illegal migrants were categorized as citizens due to the documents they possessed, through unfair means, and many citizens were categorized as illegal migrants due to lack of documents. Moreover, the Indian Economy is in a constant decline with the GDP falling from 5% in Q1 to 4.5% in Q2 of 2019-2020. The unemployment rate is the highest in at least forty-five years. There is also a steep decline in foreign funds in Telecom, Pharmaceuticals and, Power in 2018-2019, and $3 Billion is the total economic cost of net bans (2012-2017, all states). The implementation of these laws will further cost crores and crores of rupees.
As the protests go on throughout the country, there are bound to be supporters of these Acts and the Government. Those who are in favour of these laws are either not fully aware of these laws or are supporting to save their interests. Police invest their time to disperse these protests and to stop them from happening, willingly or not, only to save their own livelihood. One point of support is also seen from this side which says (repealing Article 14 of the Constitution of India from their minds) the Act as constitutional because the Constitution of India applies only on existing Indian citizens.
After what these CAA-defenders have tried is definitely not what state of Kerala has done. On 14th January 2020, Kerala becomes the first state to challenge CAA in Supreme Court under Article 131 and its petition suggestive of violation of Articles 14, 21 and 25 of the Constitution of India by the Act. On 22nd January 2020, the Supreme Court is going to hear all the petitions. Moreover, the Punjab government passed an Anti-CAA Resolution ensuing one by Kerala. With continually increasing Nation wide protests and stark opposition in political and popular front. Will this be CAA’s endgame? Let’s see.

Articles by Nabiha Fatmia

Economic Recovery through Doughnut

Kintsugi – A Second Chance

Fighting Against Conformity

Union Budget 2020: A Case of Three Themes

From One to World; Novel Coronavirus – A Report

The Other Side: CAA & NRC in Retrospection

Economic Recovery through Doughnut

Kintsugi – A Second Chance

Fighting Against Conformity

Union Budget 2020: A Case of Three Themes

From One to World; Novel Coronavirus – A Report

The Other Side: CAA & NRC in Retrospection