All Indians Matter

Language is political. So, when nurses in a Delhi hospital were asked to not converse in Malayalam, it was correctly considered discriminatory. Instances of linguistic discrimination, including the first draft of the education policy, abound in India. Linguistic discrimination is social discrimination and its economic and cultural costs are high. Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

44 labour laws have been condensed into four codes on wages, social security, occupational safety and industrial relations. The government claims this will allow flexibility in hiring and layoffs, and make strikes difficult. Activists say they make workers more vulnerable to exploitation.

Chandan Kumar, National Coordinator of the Working People’s Charter, a coalition of over 150 worker collectives organising informal workers across India, speaks to All Indians Matter.

Don’t miss the bit about how the codes affect gig workers. Or how, during the pandemic, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from workers who need the money the most to the wealthy, who need it the least.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There were roughly 350,000 orphans in institutional care before COVID-19. The pandemic has orphaned thousands more, say social workers. The government said at least 577 children were orphaned between April 1 and May 25, 2021, alone. With our low adoption rates and the danger of them falling prey to traffickers, this is a crisis that India must deal with quickly. Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer is facing a deadly shortage of COVID-19 doses. From planning to procurement and pricing, everything went wrong. 

Murali Neelakantan, a former global general counsel for pharma heavyweights who has worked extensively on issues related to the intersection of healthcare and law, dissects the crisis – from IPR to procurement and production to pricing – for All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 million Indians have invested $2 billion in cryptocurrency. Is it a bubble? Or an opportunity? A lot depends on how the regulatory framework takes shape.

Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

An estimated 15 million Indians have invested over $2 billion in cryptocurrency. Depending on who you choose to believe, cryptocurrency is a wealth creation opportunity like no other or a bubble that will put the dotcom meltdown to shame. Regulators, naturally, are faced with a tough ask – how do you allow the frothy, exciting fintech sector to flourish while ensuring investor security and checks against misuse?

Cryptocurrency is a digital asset, a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. Many companies have issued their own currencies, often called tokens, which can be traded for the company’s offerings. Think of them as casino chips – you need to exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies are based on Blockchain, a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and records transactions and is said to be extremely secure. It is what is known as distributed-ledger technology.

At this time, more than 6,700 different cryptocurrencies are traded publicly.

Bitcoin, perhaps the best-known, is considered a hot investment, rallying 400% over the past year. And it’s not just millennials who’re buying it in India – industry estimates say that since January 2021 people above 45 years of age have been showing a keen interest in it.

The crypto universe has been in the news for other reasons recently – Bitcoin went into freefall from $65,000 in April to below the $40,000 mark. And the volatility continues. That puts the focus firmly on regulation of cryptocurrencies.

So, are cryptocurrencies legal in India? And what is the government’s stand on them?

After vacillating for a long time, the government took the first step towards regulation. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs made it mandatory for companies to disclose crypto trading and investments, which experts see as a positive step. It is aimed at curbing illegal trading and the use of cryptos to conceal black money. Such disclosures will also mean better, more transparent corporate governance.

So, while you can trade in cryptocurrencies, India is a long way from having a robust regulatory framework.

The government had formed an inter-ministerial committee on November 2, 2017, to study virtual currencies. Its report highlighted the positive aspect of distributed-ledger technology and suggested applications for it in financial services. However, the government wasn’t convinced about cryptocurrencies and proposed a blanket ban on them.

Accordingly, in April 2018, the Reserve Bank advised all entities under its jurisdiction to not deal in virtual currencies or provide services to anyone dealing with them. The Finance Ministry too issued a statement saying: “The government does not consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate the use of these crypto assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system.”

In mid-2019, a government committee suggested banning all private cryptocurrencies with a jail term of up to 10 years as well as heavy penalties for those dealing in them. However, the Supreme Court in March 2020 overturned the ban and so cryptos are legal.

The current thinking within the industry is that a strict set of regulations will be put into place sometime this year. These currencies are already taxable and the regulations are expected to detail a tax regime specifically applicable to them.

All of this comes on the back of the rising popularity of Blockchain in areas such as identity management, smart contracts and supply chain. Cryptocurrency is perhaps the best known use case for Blockchain. The global user base increased by 190% between 2018 and 2020 to 200 million, driving the market capital of cryptocurrency to $2 trillion in April 2021.

India has been a global driver of the technology ecosystem, so it should be well placed to seize this opportunity.

There is no definitive count of how many Indians deal in cryptocurrencies but, judging from the trading levels, industry estimates peg the number at 15 million. Their holdings are estimated at Rs 15,000 crore and monthly trading volumes at Rs 60,000 crore.

What worries the government and observers is the volatility and decentralised nature of cryptocurrency. After all, cryptocurrencies are not issued by a government-controlled centralised authority the way, say, the rupee is minted by the Reserve Bank of India.

The industry can help by offering solutions to the concerns. A whitepaper with detailed recommendations was submitted to the government by IndiaTech.org, an internet start-up association.

First of all, it recommended, stop treating cryptos as currencies and look upon them as digital assets. By doing this, you take away the uncertainty around it being a currency competing with the rupee. Register Indian crypto exchanges and have foreign direct investment limits – just like we do with banks – and establish checks and balances, the report added. Among these are mandatory KYC of all cryptocurrency holders, notified accounting standards and disclosures through entities like chartered accountants.

There are also recommendations on anti-money laundering checks, taxation, traceability, disclosure, trading limits and source disclosure.

With the correct regulation, combined with the fast-growing digital economy, India can be home to a Blockchain boom – just as we did with information technology and information technology enabled services.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Disability is a political issue,” asserts disability rights crusader Arman Ali in a special conversation with All Indians Matter. The 2011 census counted 2.68 crore disabled persons, which is more than the population of Australia.

However, activists believe this is a gross undercount. Why is being getting this count right crucial for social justice?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you open up COVID-19 vaccinations for roughly 960 million Indians without procuring anything close to the 1.8 billion doses required? It’s a story of bad planning, thoughtless procurement and the less said about pricing the better. It’s ironic that the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer is facing a deadly shortage of vaccines itself.

Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unsustainable development and the disappearance of mangroves, wetlands and water bodies is destroying India’s coastlines. The damage has impacted fishing communities, their economies, fish catches and adjoining urban areas. Recurring natural disasters like cyclones and manmade structures like ports pose a serious danger to our coasts.

Coastal conservation experts Aarthi Sridhar and Naveen Namboothri speak to All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid the second wave of COVID-19, India is now witnessing cases of mucormycosis – the ‘black fungus’. The rare but potentially fatal infection is being found in COVIDpatients with a number of cases detected in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi. With over 22 million COVID cases and counting, this is another challenge in India’s COVID battle.

Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression and 38 million from anxiety disorders. Very few, however, seek help. In villages, especially, patients are likely to face stigma and fall prey to quacks and witch doctors in the absence of mental healthcare facilities. 

Snehal Joshi, director and COO of Healstation, a startup that runs one of India’s largest non-government community mental health programmes with tribals in Bihar, speaks to All Indians Matter.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices