National

Nothing secret about vision document on Taj, Supreme Court tells Uttar Pradesh govt

New Delhi | The Supreme Court told the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday that the vision document on the Taj Mahal, being prepared by the Delhi School of Planning and Architecture, should be made public. “There is nothing secret about it,” a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said.

The Delhi School of Planning and Architecture told the court that it is in the process of preparing a vision document for the protection and the preservation of the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra town and will complete it in a few days. It said the document would be submitted to the state government.

Additional Solicitor General A N S Nadkarni, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the first draft of the Heritage Plan for Taj Mahal, which is to be submitted to the UNESCO, will be finalised within eight weeks.

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Former Chief Economic Adivsor Subramanian calls Demonetisation a “Draconian, Monetary Shock”

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New Delhi | In a major setback to the Union Government, former Chief Economic Advisor of the Indian government Arvind Subramanian has called NDA government’s Demonetisation decision a Draconian and Monetary Shock.

Speaking on the 8 November 2016 decision of demonetising high-value currency notes. Subramanian said, “Demonetisation was a massive, draconian, monetary shock that accelerated economic slide to 6.8 percent in the seven quarters after it against the 8 percent recorded prior to the notes ban.”

Writing in his book “Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy” Arvind Subramanian has said, hat he does not have a strongly-backed empirical view apart from the fact that the welfare costs, especially on the informal sector, were substantial. However, he has skipped that part on whether he was informed or whether he was consulted in the decision-making process of demonetisation.

Subramanian further wrote, “Demonetisation was a massive, draconian, monetary shock: In one fell swoop, 86 percent of the currency in circulation was withdrawn. The real GDP growth was affected by the demonetisation. Growth had been slowing even before, but after demonetisation, In another chapter titled “The Two Puzzles of Demonetisation — Political and Economic” he claimed,”In the six quarters before demonetisation, growth averaged 8 percent and in the seven quarters after, it averaged about 6.8 percent (with a four-quarter window, the relevant numbers are 8.1 percent before and 6.2 percent after).”

Writing about the impact of Demonetisation, Subramanian stated that he does not think anyone disputes that demonetisation slowed growth. Rather, the debate has been about the size of the effect — whether it was 2 per cent points, or much less. “After all, many other factors affected growth in this period, especially higher real interest rates, GST implementation and oil prices.”

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