Editorial analysis: India’s trade deficit alarming; Green tribunal losing relevance; China crushes Hong Kong

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In ‘Editorial analysis’, The Raisina Hills critically reviews comments of India’s top five English newspapers – The Indian Express (IE), The Hindu (TH), The Times of India (ToI), The Economic Times (ET) and Deccan Herald (DH).

India’s finance is in a very bad shape. The June trade data showed that Indian exports are bearing the brunt of early signs of recession or a lack of demand in the world market, while imports are ballooning because crude oil, gold and coal are much costlier.

ET, IE and TH have come out with Edits, each capturing the grim scenario, and explaining why the government had come out with measures such as additional excise duty on export of petro-products, cess and import duty on gold.

ET has made a case for allowing rupee to fall further to boost exports. Rupee is at an all-time low level against dollar, but dailies have argued that it hasn’t lost much value in contrast to other currencies.

But India’s bulk of trade takes place in dollar only. The newspapers fail to tell the readers that over 85 per cent of India’s imports and exports take place in dollar. Thus, advocating further depreciation of rupee would only hurt India’s poor, low and middle-income people, while the exporters would get an artificial boost, which may not last longer, since they’re lagging behind even Bangladesh in export of textile products, for reasons of not scaling up adequately.

IE has grimly taken note of projections by experts that India’s current account deficit, which was 1.2 per cent of the GDP last year may go beyond 3 per cent in the current fiscal.

Culprits, IE stated, in the widening trade deficit are crude oil (jumped by 94 per cent), gold (up by 170 per cent) and coal (242 per cent).

India’s June trade deficit was USD 25.6 billion. TH reminds that this is the second time in a row that trade deficit has hit record high.

Some of the recent measures by the government on exports of steel, petro products, wheat and so on may further keep pressure on exported items. TH notes that rupee can go to the level of 82.

The three dailies, however, don’t tell that India hasn’t qualitatively expanded its export basket, which could have provided cushion against weakening of demand in the global market for conventional goods such as textile, machinery and so on.

People used to live in toxic smog in the national capital region (NCR) territory during October-November months, while fatally resigned to 365-day life in poisonous smoke emitted by landfills’ fire may have forgotten that there is a body called National Green Tribunal (NGT).

ToI reminds that NGT does exist, while putting it in the dock for its quality of orders, which are frequently being challenged in the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The daily noted that the NGT is grssoly under-staffed, as against the mandate of 10-20 judicial and expert members each, there are just seven judicial members and six experts.

ToI hints, though meekly, that the political will is lacking to back the NGT. In fact, green lobbies have evidently gone in hibernation, since construction in the Himalayas, sandmining, felling of trees are norms of the day despite regular occurrence of landslides in the hills.

SINCE THE outbreak of the Covid-19, the Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time went outside the mainland and visited Hong Kong where Beijing has unleashed unprecedented jailing of dissenters, political activists against the promises made to England that for 50 years the city will continue with its democratic norms and civil freedoms during transfer of power in 1997.

DH quotes Jinping’s remarks during his visit to Hong Kong such as “the city has risen from the ashes” and “became truly democratic after coming under the control of patriots”.

Hong Kong’s contribution to Chinese GDP has slumped from 18 per cent to two per cent, DH noted, and that must be the cost of “Beijing’s patriotism”.