2020 Strategic and Political Analysis-1

sum · Post by **sum** » 15 Dec 2020 08:54

Software bug may have set off violence at Wistron factory

Some pics too. Seems really broken everything in sight. Sad sight to behold

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 09:02

Sachin wrote:
chetak wrote:Historically, kolar has been a hub of out of state workers, mainly from TN who came in for the work in the gold mines many decades ago and settled there.
This was only one place where CPI(M)/CPI used to win ONE seat. In last election they lost here too, as their usual candidate (a person who runs lots of bars & restaurants) jumped ship to JD(S). Wistron seems to be clue less on the employee resentment. Generally that is very rare to happen as they will have their own 'sympathisers' in the work force, who can report canteen gossips, and general information. So it could be some background instigations which triggered the rioting. The work force also seems to be young boys who are easier to rile up.

they have some permanent staff on roll and they have foolishly outsourced the majority of temp workers to some labor contractors and as usual, the bleddy HR was clueless. PYTs are almost always ill suited to the hurly burly style of contract labor management and dealing with sweaty ill kempt boozy/tarra smelling representatives. Also, these "representatives" expect to be wined and dined, usually in dingy and dimly lit bars and otherwise "taken care of".

used to be a major headache for me, especially when dealing with such "representatives" in kolkata and other places in kerala. Expenses with out supporting bills can be very difficult to explain away to the bean counters and higher management.

this arm's length, single point contact, "not our responsibility" outsourced labor contracts spell disaster unless actively managed on a day to day basis.

the problem should be traced through the contractors who will invariably well connected local politicos with deep pockets and contacts within the minority lot.

both sets of minorities are hyperactive in this area, each vying for dominance, so much so that even hiring local staff becomes a major issue

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 15 Dec 2020 09:30

Sachin wrote:
chetak wrote:Historically, kolar has been a hub of out of state workers, mainly from TN who came in for the work in the gold mines many decades ago and settled there.
This was only one place where CPI(M)/CPI used to win ONE seat. In last election they lost here too, as their usual candidate (a person who runs lots of bars & restaurants) jumped ship to JD(S).

This may be true, but AFAIK the "outsiders" (esp Tamil speakers) are concentrated in the KGF-Bangarapet area, and not as much in the Kolar town/Narsapura area, where this plant is based. So it may not be a simple outsiders issue - TN origin workers in TN also have been known to go on strike, but usually such violence is avoided. There is something else going on here and a simple outsiders narrative is most likely not the full story.

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 15 Dec 2020 09:59

sum wrote:Software bug may have set off violence at Wistron factory

Some pics too. Seems really broken everything in sight. Sad sight to behold

This report made my blood boil. While Modi and co are pouring their heart and soul into attracting manufacturing, this is whats happening once the factories are setup. Are these state level functionaries so clueless or total dolts when dealing with such things?

On Monday, Akram Pasha, Commissioner, Labour Department, quizzed Wistron and the outsourcing firms about investigative findings of non-payment of salaries and overtime violations.

If Akram Pasha is supposed to investigate the rioting, good luck with that!

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said action will be taken against firms that violate regulations. “The law is the same for everybody,”.

Not one line about punishing the perpetrator of violence or action against those who indulged in violence, it's the fault of the company and the management by default.

What got my goat was this:

“No grievance was lodged with the Labour Department. We are still investigating the cause of the violence. So far, we have arrested 149 individuals,” he said.

Not even a single redressal mechanism was used before resorting to violence.

But is it really different from Indian mentality of treating public property as baap ka maal. Entire highways are blocked for petty political reasons for days cutting off access and destroying economic activity. Isn't this a reflection of our society's value system where rule of law comes last.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 10:10

arshyam wrote:
Sachin wrote: This was only one place where CPI(M)/CPI used to win ONE seat. In last election they lost here too, as their usual candidate (a person who runs lots of bars & restaurants) jumped ship to JD(S).
This may be true, but AFAIK the "outsiders" (esp Tamil speakers) are concentrated in the KGF-Bangarapet area, and not as much in the Kolar town/Narsapura area, where this plant is based. So it may not be a simple outsiders issue - TN origin workers in TN also have been known to go on strike, but usually such violence is avoided. There is something else going on here and a simple outsiders narrative is most likely not the full story.

It's a small commute for such idle labor from nearby districts. Easier and less expensive than commuting to bangalore or other work centers.

plenty of private and also govt busses because of assured passengers to and fro.

In pune, I know for sure that private volvo type buses regularly come to the infosys campus to to pick up weekenders going home to bombay.

these days, many services thrive because of their willingness and their adaptability to address the flexible needs of the markets they serve.

In bangalore, many private interstate buses start from safe pickup points outside big residential colonies where the locals are told to assemble. Beats fighting with the auto and taxi wallahs at that time of the night because family members can safely drop off female and/with kid travellers who may be living within a radius of a couple of KMs.

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 15 Dec 2020 11:22

sum wrote:Software bug may have set off violence at Wistron factory

Some pics too. Seems really broken everything in sight. Sad sight to behold

How does a worker prove that he was present for longer hours than what the system was showing as hours present? There must be at least circumstantial evidence to show full attendance. For instance a worker who has clocked in for the day can't just walk out at any time he feels like. There must be a gate pass system for going out if it is not the usual shift time. It is all very intriguing.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Dec 2020 11:44

Replacing a biometric system with a fungible access card system seems bound to be failure prone. Maybe this was a COVID era simplified contactless mechanism gone awry.

Some things are not quite adding up. An article claimed the loss estimate at 440 cr. Most of it was supposedly iPhone theft. Ascribing a high Rs.60000 per unit and about Rs.360 cr worth phones, that is still 60000 iPhones, a pretty large number. To me this isn’t a case of rioting over loss of wages as much as grand theft . Sheet glass in comparison is easily broken and replaced.

For what it’s worth, every last one of them is likely a high tech brick that will be flagged as a stolen item when someone tries to register it.

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 15 Dec 2020 11:54

Thanks Suraj. Your explanation about attendance seems to make sense. Let's see what turns up on the subject, going forward.

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 15 Dec 2020 11:57

nandakumar wrote:Thanks Suraj. Your explanation about attendance seems to make sense. Let's see what turns up on the subject, going forward.

Added later: It seems to me what has compounded the problem is that post pandemic almost all factories had imposed wage cuts. So the software glitch and enforced pay cut got conflated and adding further fuel to a latent discontent.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Dec 2020 12:02

To give further insight, plugging in the volume of an average iPhone box, 60000 phones is about 65 cubic meters. For a sense of proportion, that’s almost THREE 20-ft containers worth of stuff. The Wistron folks need to make it clear none of them are going to work - without Apple whitelisting the IMEIs it cannot be registered on a network and instead will be notified as stolen. I don’t think jailbreaking works for such purposes anymore but I have not kept up with the latest in that domain.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 12:15

petty pappu is getting the beating of his life as his already pathetic image and the contemptible credibility of the mafia famiglia eyetaliano continues the disastrous nose dive. Moreover, the elections for two zila panchayat bodies in goa, were run on paper ballots so the commies, naxals and the congis are left high and dry without even the outside possibility of castigating the ever popular excuse of the often condemned rigged EVM.

the porki aapis and the pappu paapis have been shown their place and aukat once again

rafale scam, anyone

looks like a congress mukth Bharath and pappu mukth congress has quietly remained on the agenda, after all.

Goa: BJP sweeps Zilla Panchayat elections, Congress, AAP wiped out

On Monday, the ruling party BJP won 33 out of the 42 seats contested in two Zila Panchayat bodies in Goa. The Congress Party managed to win only one out of the 38 seats on which it contested. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the people have shown trust in BJP. He applauded the enthusiasm of the people of Goa to vote amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Notably, independent candidates won seven seats in the Zila Panchayat polls. Regional party MGP won four seats and AAP managed only one seat in the elections. According to the state election commission, out of 7,91,814 eligible voters, 4.50 lakh voters cast votes. Paper ballots were used in the election instead of EVM machines. This was the first time all major parties except Goa Forward Party were contesting in Zila Panchayat elections.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 15 Dec 2020 12:34

In the meanwhile with more than 60000 people at Haryana border, situation is becoming untenable
https://indianexpress.com/article/citie ... e-7105095/

Never mind Covid, even diseases like cholera will break out given lack of sanitation.

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 15 Dec 2020 13:21

To the learned folks blaming the workers, non payment of wages / overtime allowances or not adhering to minimum wages are pretty unethical business practices. The Labour Inspectors keep collecting their hafta from management to turn a blind eye to all these issues.

It's only in extremes circumstances do workers usually respond like this. While we are dhoti shivering whether this instance makes us look unattractive for businesses, rather it's the businesses that should be dhoti shivering before pulling such shenanigans.

kvraghav · Post by **kvraghav** » 15 Dec 2020 13:27

The issue is that due to an issue with the attendance management, the attendance was not getting logged properly and the paychecks were auto generated due to which the amount transferred was less. Add to this, the workers were all mostly youngsters and many peacefuls. The complication even increased due to the fact that the labour contactors did not have HR dept in them. There should be some minimum criteria on HR dept for these labor contractors rather than just being L1.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 15:45

no comments but this guy is pappu and vadra's relative by marriage.

Tehseen Poonawalla Official@tehseenp · Dec 12

A Farmer's son can't eat Pizza or wear Jeans but Jai Shah s/o Amit Shahji can be in BCCI!

Fakeer Modiji can buy new planes!

I request our Armed Forces, warn the govt not to call our farmers #Khalistanis / terrorists or you'll will join the #FarmersProtests !

NO #FarmersWithModi

nits · Post by **nits** » 15 Dec 2020 15:52

WTH - is he calling for mutiny.... seriously

?

Vips · Post by **Vips** » 15 Dec 2020 17:20

This asshole and closet jihadi has been calling Modi disrespectfully by names for a while now. The pappu a**licker is taking undue advantage of figure of speech and needs to be administered a dose of jhaapads.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 15 Dec 2020 18:42

Assemblers of Apple products have seen every trick in the book to not have products be stolen. Foreign investors and GoI both knew risks going in. Better places could have been picked to minimize risks. The stealing of phones only makes sense from the broken protocols due to the virus. It's possible that weaknesses were observed and there's inside help. One doesn't have a standing inventory of phones ready to be stolen like that. I suppose that modules to assemble these phones also carry market value for phone repair shops. Would insurance company pay for retail price of iPhone or manufacturing? Or for the loss of factory time? DDM?

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 19:01

kvraghav wrote:The issue is that due to an issue with the attendance management, the attendance was not getting logged properly and the paychecks were auto generated due to which the amount transferred was less. Add to this, the workers were all mostly youngsters and many peacefuls. The complication even increased due to the fact that the labour contactors did not have HR dept in them. There should be some minimum criteria on HR dept for these labor contractors rather than just being L1.

The state govt is insisting that neither the company nor the employees had reported any labor/payment issues to the labor dept of the govt and the govt "is going to investigate".

meanwhile, per informal readings from interested WA groups, further expansion plans of the company may not materialize and they had plans of investing some hefty sums in expanding their manufacturing capacities and hiring up to 25K employees.

there are some news reports about this as well.

not a single word of arresting any of the rioting employees has been mentioned so far and also, the pissfools have perfected the art of targeting cameras to escape identifications.

I have a feeling that orders may have come from on high not to tangle with the pissfools who will surely precipitate a crisis in view of the ongoing agitations in dilli on the farmer's issue.

all the more reason to think that this operation too was well planned, to damage foreign investment prospects.

the pissfools have not acted alone, others are also involved neck deep.

when such investments of national economic importance are made, armed security should become part of the services provided by the govt or atleast offered to the company to accept or not on some nominal payment basis.

a big software company is already using the CISF to protect its campus in bangalore.

a laid back, lazy, clueless and irresponsible state govt mired in succession battles and under threat of being toppled because of dissenting politicos inside the party simply cannot be entrusted to manage an economic transition in its little state as envisaged countrywide by the PM who has worked hard to get such companies like apple to set up shop here.

some harsh action would be in order to get these selfish guys to get their heads out of their a.... and serve the hopeful people who elected them to office.

even now it may not be too late to work things out, compensate and rectify the situation to retain apple as a big client worthy of going the extra mile for.

rioters should be identified and blacklisted, regardless of caste or creed.

payment issues could have been addressed without resorting to rioting unless they were very specifically led into doing so.

we are not a banana republic, not by a long stretch.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 19:18

darshan wrote:Assemblers of Apple products have seen every trick in the book to not have products be stolen. Foreign investors and GoI both knew risks going in. Better places could have been picked to minimize risks. The stealing of phones only makes sense from the broken protocols due to the virus. It's possible that weaknesses were observed and there's inside help. One doesn't have a standing inventory of phones ready to be stolen like that. I suppose that modules to assemble these phones also carry market value for phone repair shops. Would insurance company pay for retail price of iPhone or manufacturing? Or for the loss of factory time? DDM?

AK series of weapons have been stolen from govt manufacturing units in bengal and given to the naxals along with the manufacturing plans and drawings

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... ZqcTL.html

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 724784.cms

https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-2 ... ar-2670556

so a few stolen iphones among pissfool friends doesn't seem like such a big deal, no

just saying onlee.

Theft seems to be on the minds of gangs that form very quickly in any manufacturing plant because there is a huge market for factory fresh stolen goods.

trucks are stolen every month from the plants all major truck manufacturing companies in India.

that requires a huge network, both inside and outside the plant and finely tuned coordination to accomplish.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 19:33

at singhu border

children have "joined" the farmers’ protests

kvraghav · Post by **kvraghav** » 15 Dec 2020 19:35

Why shouldnt all these children be moved to child services run ashrams since the parents seems to be more worried about money than their health?

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 19:46

some of the destruction at the iphone plant in karnataka

Unbelievable how this was allowed to happen.

This could halt production for weeks.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 20:04

the very same thing happened at the sterlite plant in TN and the hans were funding that. the EJ lot was deeply involved in that anti national mess and as a result, India imports copper today, and that too, from china of all places. An entire well developed local industrial ecosystem that worked with and around the copper produced by sterlite has completely shut down today.

this has all the hall marks of being a repeat of the sterlite factory targeting and by the very same people who funded that effort too.

as mentioned in an earlier post, this seems to be a joint enterprise of the ropers and the rolers.

the ISI is quite active in and around bangalore and there are many pakis illegally staying here for many years on end, just like in hyderabad.

Bengaluru iPhone factory violence | Wistron assesses damage at ₹437 crore

Bengaluru iPhone factory violence | Wistron assesses damage at ₹437 crore

Special Correspodent BENGALURU,
DECEMBER 13, 2020

A group of outsiders armed with iron rods and clubs forced its way into the premises: company

The total loss incurred by Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) after thousands of workers ransacked its iPhone manufacturing factory at Narasapura industrial area, near here, on Saturday is estimated at ₹437.70 crore.

In his complaint to the police, Prashanth T.D., administrative officer at the plant, claimed that a group of outsiders armed with iron rods and clubs forced its way into the premises around 6 a.m. and targeted the HR block first.

“They breached the four main entrance gates, ransacked offices, smashed lockers and desks, and destroyed documents containing details of employees,” said a senior police officer. Once inside, they were joined by contract workers who had been demanding their wages -- overdue by three to four months, and overtime pay. “We have intensified our probe to identify the ring leaders of the armed mob, based on the complaint filed by Wistron,” the police officer added.

Security guards tried to stop them, but were allegedly overpowered and beaten. By then a contingent of police arrived on the scene, but were overwhelmed by thousands of other workers. Four cars and two golf carts, valued at around ₹60 lakh, parked on the premises were set on fire before an additional police contingent reached the spot.

According to the police FIR, after ransacking the offices the workers moved to the production unit where phones belonging to the employees and kept in lockers, along with other valuables, were looted. They allegedly smashed the computers, printers and CCTVs as well as thousands of smartphones that were getting ready for production. Equipment, including production machinery, phones, laptops, etc. worth ₹412 crore were lost as the protesters went on a rampage. The damage to factory premises itself, including floors, ceilings, and AC power units, was estimated around ₹10 crore.

128 people arrested
As of Sunday, the police had arrested around 128 people who participated in the violent protest. “We have had information on the people who instigated the attack . They are on the run and efforts are on to track them down,” the senior police officer added. Another 300 people have been detained for questioning.

Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India), which is part of the Taipei-based Wistron Corporation, has around 15,000 “employees”, but only around 1,400 are on the rolls. The rest are contract workers, who allegedly joined in the violent protest.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 15 Dec 2020 20:36

Its just a desperate move to take the country back to the communist-socialist dark days of the 70s and 80s where even running a small unit with 30 employees would attract labor union leaders like a fruit attracts flies on a hot day. The communist backed AITUC has come out supporting the Wistron workers, similarly congress and JDS backed union leaders have forced Toyota to reduce its production by 90% in their Bidadi plant with no end in sight. Someday when these factories close for good the same workers will blame the government for their plight.

Not far from Bangalore in the JDS fortress of Hassan district there's a textile plant owned by 'HimatSingka' group. The rumor has long been they are on the hook for a Rs 10 to Rs15 crore payment every year to the Gowda family without which police begin harassing the the trucks and workers go on flash strikes. A couple of years ago one such strike quickly went out of hand and the workers resorted to arson and large scale vandalism. Not surprising last heard Himatsingka has begun subcontracting manufacturing to a Bangladeshi company.

Only time will tell how successful we will be in building "Atmanirbhar Bharat". The immense success and brand creation India has built around its IT and BPO industry will not scale to manufacturing because of unionism and political interference. The clock is ticking with increasing automation we probably have <20 yrs before some of these low to medium skill manufacturing jobs disappear forever.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 15 Dec 2020 21:13

https://gulfnews.com/business/investors ... 7420397506

Investors start to line up for India-UAE $7b 'food corridor' project

These include DP World and DMCC, which is linking Indian farmers to its trading platform

Dubai: Eight food processing units to be set up in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh with UAE funding is being explored, as the two countries work on a broader alliance on food security.

This will also extend to managing the food supply chains. For instance, DP World is exploring “synergies” for offering integrated supply chain solutions, while DMCC’s (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre) has an agriculture trading platform - ‘Agriota’ - inking farmers in India with food companies in the UAE in an effort to boost food imports from India.

This was confirmed by Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary - Foreign Trade Affairs at UAE’s Ministry of Economy at the India-UAE Food Summit in Dubai.

Punjab offers its bounty

A Minister from the Punjab government, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, invited UAE investors to get into food processing in the state, which is one of the country’s largest producers of crops.

India’s new farming laws will help the country’s farmers by removing the middlemen from the equation, said Sharafuddin Sharaf, Vice-Chairman of Sharaf Group.
Empowering agri industry

“The Indian government is taking major initiatives that aim to boost India's food trade, including new laws introduced to empower farmers in India by giving them direct access to the market and self-reliant packages,” said Sharaf. “Given the current regime of transparency and time bound responses by the Government, the gestation period for projects will surely reduce further.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 15 Dec 2020 23:13

Ambar wrote:Its just a desperate move to take the country back to the communist-socialist dark days of the 70s and 80s where even running a small unit with 30 employees would attract labor union leaders like a fruit attracts flies on a hot day.

As an ex-DGP of Kerala Police is said to have opined - "Communism survives on empty stomach". Only in a disgruntled society can this ideology cause fissures and destory the whole society.

chetak wrote:as mentioned in an earlier post, this seems to be a joint enterprise of the ropers and the rolers.

I have a feeling that orders may have come from on high not to tangle with the pissfools who will surely precipitate a crisis in view of the ongoing agitations in dilli on the farmer's issue.

Looks like the Chinese have started their 'retaliation' for the huge economic damage which India caused them by throwing out a large number of their useless phone apps and blocking of cheap electronics stuff. Electronics industry may now be targeted with more vigour to prove that India is not a place for electronics stuff.

chetak wrote:children have "joined" the farmers’ protests

This is also an indication that the protesters are now in the mode of "emotional blackmail" or basically using children (next would be young women) as shields. All tactics to some how keep the attention of people alive. The RoP protestors generally use this tactic of using women & children as shields. The women also have the duty of wailing and throwing tantrums at police stations where the RoP folks would be detained. Tried & tested tactic with the latest being the Bangalore riots.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Dec 2020 23:27

Further reports indicate Wistron have scaled down the damage estimate from $60 million to just $7 million.

sunnyP · Post by **sunnyP** » 15 Dec 2020 23:30

So how do Modi, Shah et al get out of this farmers’ protest mess?

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 23:36

x posted from the 26/11 thread

Most people think that she did this out of overzealousness but I think she did it on purpose and at whose prompting can only be guessed.

Even a pseudo "intellectual" shill like her, grossly egoistical, ethically compromised and maniacally opinionated, could not have been so boneheaded so as to imagine that such grossly unprofessional and immoral violations in the live reportage of a terrorist attack would end well and without consequences.

Barkha Bibi in Wiki Leaks
=====================
both via@iMac_too
=====================
Check India related files highlighted

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 15 Dec 2020 23:47

sunnyP wrote:So how do Modi, Shah et al get out of this farmers’ protest mess?

Last heard they are planning to water it down, whatever that means. They have already agreed to most of the demands by the Punjab farmers, besides the Punjab govt has stated they will not allow these farm bills to take effect in their state, so it is now just pure politics for one upmanship.

Sadly after standing ground on CAA and fighting countless battles within and outside the country on countering the false narrative against CAA the government is yet to create rules. I don't know if its the lethargy at the ministerial level or the usual obfuscation by the babudom.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Dec 2020 23:54

Ambar wrote:
sunnyP wrote:So how do Modi, Shah et al get out of this farmers’ protest mess?
Last heard they are planning to water it down, whatever that means. They have already agreed to most of the demands by the Punjab farmers, besides the Punjab govt has stated they will not allow these farm bills to take effect in their state, so it is now just pure politics for one upmanship.

Sadly after standing ground on CAA and fighting countless battles within and outside the country on countering the false narrative against CAA the government is yet to create rules. I don't know if its the lethargy at the ministerial level or the usual obfuscation by the babudom.

the punjab farmers/govt are already angling for an exclusive deal on the 7 billion UAE food supply business.

the gulf ropers are slyly trying to lock down future food supplies from India for when their oil runs out and the world turns on them vengefully for all the humiliations that these camel owners have heaped on the rest of the countries by lording it over them.

Last year, it was announced that UAE entities would invest up to $7 billion (Dh25 billion) in India's food sector over three years as part of the UAE-India food corridor project that aims to secure the Gulf country's food security needs.Dec 8, 2020

Investors start to line up for India-UAE $7b 'food corridor ...

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Dec 2020 23:59

Please avoid rumor mongering atop rumor mongering. 'I heard' and 'I was told' are not credible prefaces to anything. Post a link to a government press release or an at least somewhat credible source.

The reason for this is that the entire basis of the protests is smoke and mirrors, deliberate misrepresentation of the new laws, and general lack of familiarity with the laws by multiple people, even those sympathetics to the laws. Vague and unfounded statements are not a productive approach at the best of times, and certainly not in this context.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 16 Dec 2020 00:10

Here Sir - https://indianexpress.com/article/india ... s-7100193/

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Dec 2020 00:37

Totally unnecessary to use sir

Thank you for that reference. Personally after a first read, I see very little dilution of the laws in their intent. The amendment proposes that a) states can make laws on who is a registered buyer and b) states can define taxes to ensure a level playing field between their own APMC and private buyer.

These are fine as far as amendments go. There's nothing involving MSP here, which is because it's not any form of law or even de facto 'assurance'. These kinds of state level freedoms are tools states can use to either ensure local conditions are effectively handled so that they can maintain relative competitiveness, or just keep their entrenched power structures in place such that they shoot themselves in the foot.

I have no problem with laws that give states this freedom. It's a good set of proposals and are sane given that federal law in recent times has tended towards more of concurrent list items being centrally dominated. Divesting some more administrative control over states is a good thing - let them use those capabilities to compete with each other. Not everything can or need to be centre driven. I prefer laws that give states more capabilities and enable them to compete - in the long run it generates more vibrant growth. Chinese reforms have historically focused on exploiting this - competitiveness is a very powerful human motive.

The real problem with the protests is that the maximalists have long since taken over, and any effort to offer sane amendments are likely to be rebuffed by fakers 'protesting' now in between their paneer tikka pizza meals. The government should just go through with the amendments if other states find them interesting. Beyond a point there'll be no purchase for this particular cause and they'll need to go find something else to wail about.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 16 Dec 2020 01:34

The hans are thrilled with their handiwork.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 16 Dec 2020 01:55

Woke quiz shows of the future

or present TV shows

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 16 Dec 2020 02:16

Ambar wrote:Here Sir - https://indianexpress.com/article/india ... s-7100193/

This is relatively old news sire and are the list is concessions made after their meeting with Amit Shah. The farmers have rejected them and only want 3 laws to be annulled. They have since then occupied one more road.

If you notice the language they talk about fateh and 6 month provisions. I wonder what happens if they decide to block all roads which would be the next logical progression.

GoI has not managed to break away any faction yet and IMHO it will not be possible as this is a matter of face for the farmers.

Beyond a point there'll be no purchase for this particular cause and they'll need to go find something else to wail about.

No purchase beyond Punjab Haryana is right, but for the farmers it is a matter of honour. They won’t budge, especially with the likes of Kejriwal and YoYa pouring oil in the flames

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Dec 2020 02:18

Tanaji wrote:this is a matter of face for the protesting mobs.

Fixed that for you.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 16 Dec 2020 03:22

https://indianexpress.com/article/india ... k-7053966/ Why are farmers from other states coming to Punjab to sell paddy in bulk?

Punjab and Haryana are the only two states where the procurement continues to be wholly routed via APMC mandis. No wonder poor farmers of Bihar and UP are forced to sell their paddy through traders in Punjab’s mandis.