By Rajiv Shah
India loses US dollars 41.17 billion dollars, or 2.34% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as a result of corporate tax avoidance. While in quantitative terms this loss is the fourth largest in the world, next to the United States (188.8 billion dollars), China (66.8 billion dollars) and Japan (46.8 billion dollars), the loss as percentage of GDP tells a totally different story.
The size of the economies of US, China and Japan is much bigger than that of India, one reason why their quantitative loss due to corporate tax avoidance is more than that in India. However, in percentage of GDP lost, India’s 2.34 per cent is much higher than the US’ (1.13 per cent), Japan’s (0.93 per cent), and China’s (0.75 per cent).
Revealing this, a new research paper by the United Nations (UN) think-tank headquartered in Helsinki, the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), “Global distribution of revenue loss from tax avoidance”, calculates, …

By Rajiv Shah
In its new report, well-known US-based Pew Research Centre has said that “among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Russia, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Nigeria had the highest overall levels of government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion.”
A peep into the data collected by Pew suggests that, on a scale of 10, India’s government restrictions index (GRI) as well as social hostilities index (SRI) has deteriorated. If it was 4.5 for GRI in December 2014, it reached 5.1 in December 2015. As for SRI, it was 7.9 in December 2014, which reached 8.7 in December 2015.
Worse, compared to the neighbouring Pakistan, India’s SRI is higher by 1.5 points: For Pakistan it is 7.2 in December 2015 (down from 8.1 in a year), as against India’s 8.7. As for GRI, Pakistan fares worse that India, with a score of 6.2 in December 2015 compared to India’s 5.1.
GRI has been arrived at by assessing the level of restrictions on religion by governments around the world by seeking …

By Rajiv Shah Contesting data on poor work rate participation (WRP) among women data, as calculated by the Government of India, well-known Gujarat-based economist Indira Hirway, has said that, if calculated on the basis of latest methodology, men spend 27 per cent, while women spend 38 per cent of their time on work.
Revealing this in a book, “Mainstreaming Unpaid Work: Time Use Data in Developing Policies”, published by Oxford University Press (2017), and edited by her, Prof Hirway says, the methodology, time-use survey (TUS), being adopted across the world, takes into account “unpaid work”, or the work which does not give women any direct remuneration. The book contains 10 research articles by scholars, Indian and foreign, focusing on continued gender discrimination in data collection, whether it is Latin America, Africa or Asia-Pacific.   TUS, according to Prof Hirway, includes unpaid work that “falls within the production boundary of the System of National Accounts (SNA) as well as u…

By Rajiv Shah
While Indian youth appear to be becoming outwardly modern in their appearance and consumption habits, their “thoughts and views reflect a troubling inclination towards intolerance and conservatism”, says a new study, carried out jointly by Delhi-based Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
The study has found about two in five young Indians to be either highly or moderately style conscious, becoming “fond of wearing stylish clothes and shoes, keeping the latest mobile phones and visiting beauty parlours and salons.”
However, the study regrets, “A significant proportion of aspirational, style-conscious, smartphone-savvy and mall-visiting young Indians to be also holding illiberal (even regressive) views, although they may be slightly less likely to do so compared to those who are not as stylish and aspirational.” “Even as they embrace a certain aspect of Western modernity, the youth do not seem to subscribing to We…

By Rajiv Shah
A recent study has starkly revealed that, in the recent past, the poorer and oppressed sections of the Indian youth have refused to go out and take part in protest movements as vehemently as the youth from the middle classes have done, even as the number of participants in protests, too, has gone down.
Prepared jointly by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), and titled “Attitudes, anxieties and aspirations of India’s youth: changing patterns”, the report finds that “participation in protests and demonstrations among the youth is relatively higher among some occupational groups”, but is lower among unemployed, women, semi-skilled and unskilled workers.
According to the study, running into 180 pages, “More than one-fourth of youngsters engaged in business (27%) said that they had participated in a protest in the last two years.” It adds, “Professionals, government employees and skilled and service …

By Rajiv Shah
Even as a new study has said that close to half (48%) the youths of India do not wish to identify themselves with any political party, what should be an eye-opener for the Congress is, while 20% of the Indian youths are “fond of the BJP”, exactly half, 10%, like the Congress.
Released early this week, the study has been prepared jointly by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
Carried out among 19 states among 6,122 respondents in the age group of 15-34 between April and May, 2016, its survey suggests, with the decline of the Congress, the regional parties, such as AIDMK, DMK, Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Shiromini Akali Dal, others appear to have gained, with 13% youths “liking” them.
The survey finds little support among the youths, just about 4%, among the parties identifies as “socialist”: Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Natio…

By Rajiv Shah
National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), the apex body of India’s Dalit rights organizations, has in a report submitted to the United Nations (UN) insisted that the country’s reservation measures “must be extended to Dalits of all faiths, especially to Dalit Christians and Muslims.”
Pointing out that Dalit Christians and Muslims are “presently excluded from the reservation benefits owing to religion-based discrimination”, NCDHR report insists, “The Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950, Paragraph 3's religious ban ought to be removed/deleted or amended by Union of India for the extension of Scheduled Castes privileges to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Castes origin.”
Prepared following consultations with 563 Dalit rights bodies across India with the help of the All-India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, Dalit Ardhik Adhikar Andolan, the National Dalit Movement for Justice, and the National Dalit Watch, the NCDHR report, titled “Joint Stakeholders’ Report on C…