A Plan for India 🇮🇳

“Awaken from thy slumber. Recall your strength. You have mountains to lift”

[Nitin A. Gokhale @nitingokhale]

On 15 August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced from the Red Fort that India will finally have a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). On January 1, 2020, Gen Bipin Rawat became the first CDS of India. The creation of the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) was a bonus the armed forces never expected to get. Seven years down the line after the first announcement, the three forces are still figuring out (a stronger term can be used here, but I will not) how to achieve the eventual objective of joint theatre commands. Veterans have been vocal about how to or how not to go about the journey. The serving have occasionally expressed their opinions in public too. We ourselves at @BharatShaktiBSI have been providing a platform for these opinions, including my own.
Having reviewed the trajectory so far, I have come to a conclusion: Ultimately, the Prime Minister, in consultation with top stakeholders (Raksha mantri, NSA and CDS, to name just three) will have to crack the whip and force a decision sooner than later.
The decision on a structure and the way forward for formation of joint theatre commands will eventually have to be taken by those entrusted with it no matter how many angry, reasoned or silly sounding suggestions we outsiders (veterans and peripheral commentators like me) make. I see no other way having watched the discussions, debates and deliberations so far.

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@sumedhasharma86 @MunCorpGurugram @PradeepIAS_HR @OfficialGMDA @pcmeenaIAS Baboons have woken up.

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@Aryan_warlord The government is extremely weak in highlighting n communicating such real achievements.

[A Regular Indian @Regular__Indian]

Being an ardent student of Economics, super happy on this news.

Let's see how Govt has achieved this.

Three shocks. Four buffers. And India’s fiscal engine is still on track.
This is the more interesting macro story unfolding right now.

We got three crisis back to back - West Asia hit oil, fertiliser and supply chains.

First, The ₹10/litre petrol-diesel excise cut created a roughly ₹1.23 lakh crore revenue hit.
Then, the new GDP series itself changed the denominator, mechanically pushing the FY27 fiscal-deficit ratio closer to ~4.5% rather than the original 4.3%.

Yet there has been no fiscal panic. We have to pay more than Projected but Govt is confident that Fiscal deficit won't by hit.

Why?

Because Four buffers are doing the heavy lifting.
1. Fertiliser shock is fading -
At one point, fertiliser subsidy requirements looked capable of exploding from the Budgeted ~₹1.71 lakh crore to more than ₹3 lakh crore. But now, prices are falling.

2. India built an actual shock absorber -
Govt has created ₹1 lakh crore Economic Stabilisation Fund so that there is no need of Fresh borrowings.

3. Asset monetisation is becoming a revenue lever -
The FY27 target is ₹80,000 crore from disinvestment and asset monetisation.
By August, the government had already raised nearly three-fourths of that target. This brings revenue.

4. Cut waste, not the growth engine - Most important part -
The government is reviewing schemes, tightening spending norms and moving towards just-in-time fund releases to prevent money from sitting idle.
Govt is squeezing inefficiency while protecting productive spending.

And look at what remains protected:

The Budget targets a 4.3% fiscal deficit for FY27, down from 4.4% in FY26, while central government debt is projected to fall from 56.1% to 55.6% of GDP. All this despite facing once in a decades crisis.

That's the key distinction.

A weak fiscal system responds to shocks by borrowing more.
A stronger one uses buffers, reprioritises expenditure, mobilises assets and protects capex. We have the latter now.

Thankful, we have Modi govt handling India at the time of these crisis.

#IndiaStory

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@Aryan_warlord That’s because “attention economy “ gets more eyeballs than real economy. 😂

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@Manik_M_Jolly @anujdhar One theka on DLF brings in more excise revenue than whole of Mahendergarh district. Given the topography of GGN, except TYO style flood control - nothing can help. https://t.co/mE3cZtnuUz

[Amar Jit Singh IFS(Retd)🇮🇳 @AmarJit_IFS]

Anecdote: A very senior politician who also held an important position in the Punjab Govt at the time would make frequent visits to Canada to meet one of his family members. Once when he was there, Khayalistanis called for his gherao and teach him a lesson on a desi radio. As head of our Consulate at the time, I immediately contacted his family member and went to meet him where he was. After assuring him assistance, I contacted the police there only to be advised to inform them when someone tries to harm him!! Neither did the police take any action against the person who threatened him. Later, somehow I saw him off at the airport to ensure his safe return to India. Point is despite danger to his life, the police there refused to take appropriate security measures for him. OTOH when some Indo-Canadian politician visits India, we go out of way to provide them elaborate security for no valid reason. I feel this should strictly be on reciprocal basis and there’s no need to go out of our way on the issue.
JaiHind🇮🇳

[WikiLeaks @WikiQLeaks]

Indian authorities to Pfizer...
“You can either lose 1.38 BILLION customers…or allow us to do an independent investigation to determine whether your product is safe and effective…” -India

“We would rather give up 1.8 billion customers…” -Pfizer

[Preeti Choudhry @PreetiChoudhry]

Another thing Indian women put up with .. the inability of Indian men to apologise even when knowing they were in the wrong. Will @RahulGandhi walk his talk and ask @_SandeepDikshit to apologise on the Meloni comment.

[Anchit Gupta @AnchitGupta9]

The only station named as a “Staging Post” in the @IAF_MCC was the No. 1 Aircraft Staging Post at Car Nicobar in 1956. This is the fascinating read of how Car Nicobar was the only RAF base in independent India & later became an accidental IAF “Staging Post” #IAFHistory (1/23)

[Shekhar Gupta @ShekharGupta]

This image from the ongoing hockey World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands…

The sporting high-5s…
Think about it…

India-Pakistan hockey rivalry is old as cricket and historically, way more competitive …

They’ve played each other multiple times since Op Sindoor, at all levels..

Seniors, under-19, juniors…

Shaking hands, exchanging high fives, hugs, the occasional pat on the back while playing…

Nobody’s outraged or called the Hockey India or the team’s patriotism in question…

Twitter ‘patriotism’ targets only cricket..

[Minhaz Merchant @MinhazMerchant]

Dear @nsitharaman, please read this excellent op-ed carefully.

If your finance ministry bureaucrats still insist on even a small MDR charge on #UPI, it will count as the worst financial decision since Pranab Mukherjee’s retrospective taxation.

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@aravind @SubramanianKri Still no match. One humans and animals have adapted to cold n high altitude desert. Those which run on battery packs are still miles away.

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@ArvindKejriwal Phooko Aur phooko bhai. His supporters be like - Bhagwan has spoken. 🐒

[AstroCounselKK 🇮🇳 @AstroCounselKK]

How many men were there...??

Simply amazing..!!

[Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 @KanchanGupta]

PS: Kapil Sibal had specifically drafted and devised 66A to do Sonia Gandhi’s bidding — mainly, jailing anybody who dared utter a word against the Queen of Janpath who was Super PM of the Congress-led Government.

[Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 @KanchanGupta]

These tools were not available when Sonia Gandhi was in power at head of UPA Govt censoring Social Media with the help of Kapil Sibal and 66A.
In a rage of fit the Queen said “Off with their Twitter handles” and Sibal complied. Internet Freedom types were enablers of censorship.

[ExtraSpiceAni @ShrivastavAni]

Spectacular view in J&K on the eve of Independence Day
🇮🇳♥️

[A Plan for India 🇮🇳 @planforindia]

@JaipurDialogues @Ra_Bies Aadmi hun aadami sey pyar karta hun!! Pappu ka Baap!!

[Smriti Z Irani @smritiirani]

ऊँचाई तक पहुँच न पाए, अभद्र व्यवहार करते हैं,
तर्कों से जो हार गए, मर्यादा तार-तार करते हैं।