solidly but astride it has a proud record when it comes to our defense type. really, that's why we, we building these where we're building ours. this diplomatic stylish, has redefined the bilateral relationship between these 2 countries. france says scott parsons behavior and the scrapping of this contract doesn't just affect this alliance, but has far reaching consequences for other countries considering future partnerships with australia. france says it wants a concrete effort made by stella efforts to get the relationship back on track with neither side showing any sign of backing down that could take time. sarah clark, how da 0 queensland, australia. ah, this is al jazeera, these are the headlines. iran says it has defended a vietnamese flagship from being seized in the sea of oman. it says, revolutionary guard troops boarded the ship late last month because the tanker was

about to be taken by the us. american defense officials have disputed. he runs version of events. the u. n. has found evidence that all sides and he feel p as t gray conflict, the violated human rights, and some may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. it's report says the convict has seen extreme brutality surveillance integrity has been subjected to brutal violence and suffering. the joint investigation team uncovered numerous violations and abuses, including unlawful killings. an exceedingly shall executions, torture, sexual and gender based violence violations again. so if you tease and forces placement of civilians, gunman have attacked the capital of south kiva, province and eastern democratic republic of congo, colon, 3 security forces personnel, heavy fighting bouquets, nearly ours, and continued throughout the day on wednesday. officials say the previously unknown

armed group targeted several police stations, and an armory 6 attackers were killed and 36 others were captured. as an upbeat mood sensor leaders reach to landmark climate deals at the top $26.00 summit in glasgow, including agreements to reverse deforestation. ant, cut me feign emissions by the end of the decade. leaders have flown outs, leaving officials to r note sticking points like finance. her wealthier countries are going to help others adapt to climate change and move to renewable energy. and the world health organization is approved. india's co vaccinate vaccine for emergency use is produced by barret bion tank. more than 10 percent of vaccinated indians have taken the kovacs and jab w at your approval means they're not. collation will be more likely to be accepted in other countries. those are the headlights stay,

stay where this context india is up next. ah hello. 2 and welcome to context india, i'm fetus. those are coming to you from bai and context india. we take the time to deliver a full em all considered analysis of this country. it's politics and it's people to 4 episodes were taking a close look at what has perhaps been the biggest crisis india has faced since independence covered panoramic. this week, we're looking at the virus impact on the indian economy. the pandemic said almost no country in the world, some weather the better than the others. but the overall impact has been deep and will likely last away. in india, inequality on unemployment,

or at some of the highest level they have been in recent years. i'll be speaking with jensen, a member of parliament from the volunteer agenda, representing the central government and professor devonne, vice president of the indian society of labor economics. at the close of this week's episode will feature an excerpt from a piece of pen demagogue music created through the covert month of this week. the artist drill featuring is a rapper from south india. ah, i want to place before you 2 faces. the theme do the economy on the left is what became defining images of the 1st wave of colbert in india. in 2020 labourers rendered jobless over night, leaving cities and walking hundreds of miles back to the towns and villages. casualties of a sudden stringent look down on the right,

some of the richest people. as the world grappled with a pen, demik, india added to 38 billionaires to it's 2021 which list 2 sets of images to very different realities. but one story that just mean equality and india exacerbated by the panoramic during the been to make unique when you became absolutely obscene in this country. this is part of the global strip. but in india, the super rich, i did an enormous feature there. let me just give you a few data points just man of this. andrew migration money was making so much money every 2nd that an informal sector worker would have needed 3 years of work to make the amount of money that notation money in one second. so it's really obscene and i would say more of the number of 1000000000 us it federal and shortly . and the impact on the vehicle segment is also in government. is the result this

challenges. but as far as my analysis is, there may dowdy be of in leaving when the 1000000000 is because of increased valuation in the stock market. but for the weaker section, it has been a german and government who hits radiance. the schemes has tried to support the bottom step of the population and we are looking into it. the gaping inequality in india are not new. the result of decades of economic problems, the virus has aggravated each and every one of these condition. let's talk about some of the big ones, starting with employment. at the end of the 1st year of the panoramic 2020 figure compiled by the international labor organization showed that india unemployment rate was that 7.11 percent highest. the country had seen in the last decade and the 2nd be recovered exploded in april 2021. jobs took another massive hit according to

the center for monitoring and economy within the 1st half of the year. more than 95000000 people fell into unemployment. but it wasn't just the numbers of a significant. it was that kind of jobs being lost. let's take the case of april 20, 213400000 salary jobs are lost to be approved. 2020. what. what were they? they were mostly medium as small as get into praise, the shutting down. and as they were shutting down, their salaried employees were losing jobs. now those people are not going to get them very easily back. whereas if you are pushing a cart, it could be a carpenter, it could be a vegetable selling woman, it could be a person who's doing a gig in a, in the modern economy. all these people, when the unlocking happen though and back to work, got law of ages, but they were back to work. not like the salary people who were hit pretty badly.

so it's very difficult for salary people to get their jobs back. and that's a severe structural hit. now, the policies announced by the more the government to shore up the economy, a p, a sizable v. so d r g b i may say caught the name is gun, mark it. he odd. mom made a bird part of headline program up in it, but, but the self reliant india stimulus package consisted of 3 installments of government id amounting to a total of $14.00. 5 trillion will be approximately $193000000000.00 as nearly 10 percent of india's $21920.00 g d p. in addition, they've been specific measures targeting the floor and of hon programs and easily access to cache as well as food green. while the monetary, some of the official announcements have been staggering,

dispersement of actual money at reach the hands of those who needed the most as raised questions. if you're looking at utmost under water, these were national no horse, and there were also more target lemons. i think during the been to make it would have been important to treat missed much more in depth gosh transfers or directly boosting up the health infrastructure. but then also other no, one of the problems is that it docs off investment in boosting the a shorter infrastructure through the participation of private sector. it sounds good, but if you'd just announced a package image, you're giving you don't want the resources for the private sector. it would end up again lining the pockets of the lens and creating some grand for infrastructure for that. but, but goal will not be that. there are 3 important elevation,

an ottoman never part of one large location was do the work segment in the bottom. step out the population that it was transferred to the fall. most people who love the jobs and those who need directions, i checked. the 2nd is mark, we are one is being given and supported to the agriculture economy, medium, small and micro enterprises and st renders. and the part portion is about the large industries big corporate exec. i thought the ottoman never bought a very, very segregated into these 3 the government programs. notwithstanding a state of india many less than considerably as a result of course, 19. ready this is not a phenomenon exclusive to india, but the magnitude of the slide in this country was in

a class of its own. ready years of progress and india had made in addressing mosse poverty, has been robust. do studies that came out in the 1st half of 2021, back out, a report published by the university in bengal. lou showed that in the 1st year of the panoramic $230000000.00 indians were pushed below an owning special of $375.00 piece of d. as $5.12 had to find them ignore happened. it had estimated 50000000 indians would have, in fact emerged from under this limit. the 2nd report by washington d. c based pure research center. 2 figures were of particular note, fosters india shrinking middle class estimated to have contracted by 32000000 in 2020. a. bed with a number may have reached the pandemic had not happened. the 2nd figure was of india's extremely those giving an income of less than $2.00 a day. this demographic is estimated to have increased 75000000 accounting for

nearly 60 percent of the global increase of poverty. the 1st year of the pandemic, the pandemic slammed into an economy that was already on shaky ground. yes, before 2020. the crew and virus made a difficult situation much more so. and how they get government addresses. this is something that will be watched around the world. after all, india is home to 17 percent of the world's population. if the 6th largest economy in the world, and how would fit, have an impact on the global economy? i'll be speaking with jam sit help, member of parliament with the bar jumped up party representing the central government and professional devonne noted economist and vice president of the indian society of labor economics. welcome to both of you and i thank you for your time. my 1st question missing had the b, j. b has always cost itself is good for business and good for economics. in your

opinion, do you believe that the b j b has in fact been good for our economy? the b j b has been wonderful. find as a company and the business sector is booming despite the good ben demik, the reforms that the under 2 items of g s t, the insolvency in bankruptcy court, the monetary policy committee, the social security programs that we implemented as well as the massive build out of infrastructure have all made a huge difference. and the net result of all of this has been that we've seen that the corporate sector has flourished. revenues have grown strongly, profits of growing strongly. and of course the stock market is of record highs right now. uh, we have the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world. so this boards extremely well for the future. and i conclude by saying that india is well on track to achieving as 5 trillion dollars g b. target progressive and you agree that the beeping has been good for our economy . then i agree with the question that is the b g. p has been good for the corporate

sector, but only for the god protector and not for anybody else in the country. the or that the lowest from 2016 onwards, the noise is g d p. now rate of 4 percent, the highest unemployment in the by the us. so now, you know, and then be talk about the good. i mean, there's no kind of development, you know, there's no concept of people where this is concerned and there is no indicator on which india has not fallen in global ranking. your take nutrition, you take hair, education, gender a, what a pollution, but as freedom. and now at the global 100 index, we are even below nick bon and bangladesh, indigo pakistan. so no, really, what is this kind of economic policy? the just focus is on a very tiny percentage of people and forgets the citizens of the,

of the country. so i think these are the fundamental issues really, which got it raised by that a nation is growing up, collapsing met members as an element. take that back to you. feel research center this year said that india has added $75000000.00 people to it's extremely poor category and be account now for 60 percent of the global increase in poverty. would you say that this inequality is not necessarily entirely a problem of the pandemic, and is, is the problem of badly managed economics? i think we have to wait for the official statistics on all of this. before we come to any conclusions. the numbers that you're quoting come from on official sources that have yet to be validated with, and i just wanted as to what the official numbers would you wait for. because we have to look at the official numbers. we have to see what the word bank, the i m f and others. such are international agencies and our own statistical agencies are seeing before we jump to any conclusions now anyway, because i'm

a elected member of parliament from the looks of. and my job is to go to our remote villages. we'll do a radius of our country to out of my constituency that if you look at the benefits that we have delivered in every religion, every house in india, whether it is bank accounts, whether it is water with its electricity, whether it is a rewards, whether it is but the houses you can see the difference in even are remote villages in the quality of life and in the quality of services that people are getting right now, you're running the world's largest food distribution program. if you ask yourself that we've been able to provide better higher quality services to the people who really needed to look it, van them again. even earlier, you'll find that we have been able to deliver these basic services gas in lenders, electricity bank accounts,

far better than any other government in the past. taking the question to professor the non, ah, do you believe that the government manage it stimulus well during a moment of fest, that is supposed to fall. i think we need to argue and discusses debate as economists and of and we talk about data. i think this and this is something which is very men accepted and you know, talked about to while, but there's the academic world outside or even within the government is that it is just no date on your day. empirical expedients is very different from the empirical experience, which we have. the stock market is knowing indicator absolutely no indicator of growth or development or, or the rights of people or anything, you know, end up on amendable questions. how many my didn't know data, how many debts during gal that no data? how many no giant might it is after the been to me no data these out on to sponsors,

but in the parliament. it is no effort to collect data. a lot of us, but that it's into sions, or individuals, or universities or organizations, civil society. we have to fit in the gap. and please remember that the pandemic game in a state of vend economy was collapsing. it's very clear that they impact the negative impact of the band to make is not so much of the band to make it says, but the policy response of the lack of up on to see, to spawns the compassionate and antiquity policy response. do what the pandemic has served, brought about the 1st point, the other professor do. andries was that no data has been brenda, utterly untrue. the fact is that of course, prior to it, all of the official statistics will be released. of course, everything has been delayed because of the course that me, one of the numbers that she ordered, which is the 2nd point i want to respond to, is that the economy was not doing well prior to quote that is also not true. the

high frequency indicators were showing very good to companies are moving along quite well. it's scoring that interrupted that very smart jacoby, that displaying on. so that's point number 2, point. see the be ready would be shipped to coffee. that we are almost back to be covered levels and hopefully once the vaccination, which of course is also proceeding very well, then we will be able to resume our growth. and in fact, i've written several articles on this topic saying that we are like you to see a repeat of the roaring, twenties of resource entry of going professor. then i'll take that question back to you about judy schemes being implemented. i think the basic indicators which we have to see some people's point of view and not on the business point of view of the core to put a point of view to our people, getting enough food. are they getting enough employment? what are their wages? had the wages fallen on not fallen? i think these are the fundamental indicators between really need to talk about now those to minister back it is primarily for the supply side. it's a demand side,

it's only demand which can really increase the growth component to as you keep producing and people don't have the money. so what is being produced and what is being purchased now after a lot of appeals by the end, yours and by civil society and human rights organizations, workers, organizations, etc. did a transfer on free food, free in coats. ok. and seeing this in court, rising read was to be given, but in limited quantities in n, for they make at some point of time in certain states in particular. and that the amount of conditionality that is not known justification for the get to the back on the trajectory of growth. i totally disagree with that. i'm not a liberal economist, i don't study what is happening across the country because i'm a politician. i can tell you what is happening and has id, bug and intaquant, because i have visited the speediest towards my self and i have myself given out, you know, rations to people to make sure that this is happening properly. and what i've heard

is, by the way, that it's actually going quite smoothly, the governor said, please do more of you know of prevent anybody from getting grants, mitchell, the food is to this is just a little bit me to will develop. did forget to really just come to the albany as dumped the slums. gum come with me. not as a politician. not as a b, b politician. as an ordinary researcher, it's a different worried mr. somehow, even though we're running out of time, that is something i must ask you and this is about the prime minister scares fund, or the pm cares fund. in march 2020, the government launched a fund as to the sing donations from india and overseas to help india fight. corbett, after repeated repeated questions, petitions for clarity in our courts and on various other platforms in, in citizens are now told that the pm care's fund is not a government fund and therefore does not have to disclose the size of the fund or any of its expenditure how is this mr in are appropriate in a democracy?

logos, it is entirely within the legal framework to establish funds which are not government funds that are in your phones or that are funds of video games that can be used for charitable purposes. everything that has been done for pm gears has been done as for the legal framework that we have in the m cast fund, you see is not an official program. it's hosted on an indian government website. it has the prime minister space on its website. the are prime ministers, the ex official chairman of the fund, the ministers of defense form affairs and finance are the trustees of the fund. the website says it was created by the prime minister's office. how can this not be a government fund? and also, when donations were being solicited into this fund, the citizens were never told that this was not a government fund. and this would be a private fund with 0 accountability to the public. a facility i have complete confidence that whatever has been done that has been done digging into account all

of the appropriate legal protocols and all of the appropriate procedures and requirements off running a fact that this going because i'm sure you know all these have been will go, but let me, let me give you this. we don't, you know, we don't know as general public or as the media. how much money is in this fund right now. india spent without an estimate calculating, walked corporate entities, had declared as their donations into this fund at $1270000000.00 in march last year. this was in the 1st 2 months of the front. would you be able to tell us where this money has been used to fight it? and where does the accountability assessment of democracy in a democracy that are various remedies that is violating a legal fame book? then of course, your remedy is in the course of law, there's another set of remedies which is a political sen, remedies of which is in any democracies through elections. if indeed,

that is not to the liking of the public or india, they can express their views through the valid books and the content of their queue remedies, which is through parliament and fear will verify your position. i'm sure they will take it on the belief that they're not appropriate remedies through dr. chambliss. well, i just like to add something, you know, i think the p n k find, you know, a dog that it knocked down, it was declared on the 25th of march 202026. is this elite package. and on the 27th of march, is that the and get and, and i know on a salad ease in universities and colleges of pensioners, of doctors in the medical institute went on strike against a one day being got to be put into the p. m. k. fun, i think that be again is, is the most perfect example of how india has fallen from a democracy to laud democracy. this is a, not just on that one point our government employees handed in their wages to the pm

cast fund. do believe that they deserve accountability of how that money is being used. well i also, you know, essentially donated money to the bm guess fund that was done one and only as far as i'm concerned, i think the money has been extremely well spent. we have seen the back of it and i believe that it has had a tremendously valuable door to play during the i have a final question to the 2 of you. we are seeing foster group as of the last quarter and g p numbers that did come in is this sustainable and has india, us economy turned a corner is to say, oh, absolutely. it has turned the corner. as i said, we are seeing a very strong we ship to cover you moving into that already bring these that are for very awful growth drivers, which is of course the fiscal and monetary stimulus that's been applied. it's the export growth. it's the startup ecosystem. and of course, the fact that people are diversifying the supply chain, therefore, what i think is we're going to see very strong, sustainable growth going forward. and that is going to, of course,

benefit our workers. it's going to benefit all of our citizens. because not just in india, but around the world, you're going to see synchronized fossil progressive, unseen question to you. do you believe that this growth is sustainable and you believe they've turned a corner for us? yeah, i think the growth is in sectors be you know, getting on to provide any kind of sustenance and sustainable livelihood, to the people of this country. not only sector which has shown some kind of a growth is agricultural and that is in spite of the farm acts and in spite of the way that has been implemented. so now you're in former sectors, collapse, jaw, micro, smaller units, which have not got any, even, even in the last budget. there has been no stimulus in fact, but it was there as actually been deduced in this, that done, which is being used as good on the game that is developed and the,

nor his peers don't ask is donica. it's because his data that god does not get good even today, people are struggling for food. so one girl is going to come is only then you put money in the hands of people. and that's why they don't go to university basic income. i'm going to live with that. i want to thank both my guests giving us time professor devonne and mr. i thank you for your time. thank you so much for speaking with us. yeah. on context it and finally that out. a multitude of artists in india who've been creating work to the long months of the pandemic. we wanted to feature some very languages, they work in and the perspectives that they bring this week, the closing for the next up, the for wrap, track in family, one of the languages of south india. i feel to want to come virus. it translates to welcome bye. this is been written and performed by a 27 year old, single wrapper and middest. his work is about social justice and deals, especially with the politics of cost in india. this jack is about reclaiming

a sense of humanity. miss the crisis of the vice. i'll see you next week on context india. with

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