COVID -19: COORDINATED AND SYNCHRONIZED FISCAL STIMULUS POLICY ACTION FOR BECOMING STRONGER AND HEALTHY ECONOMY OF INDIA

As of April 16, India has 10,824 reported COVID-19 cases with 420 deaths due to the disease. Prime Minister Modi announced on 24 March that the entire country will be closed for the next 21 days, now extended to 3 May. Prior to this announcement, numerous containment measures had already been imposed, varying in intensity across the country, including travel restrictions (complete restriction of incoming international commercial passenger aircraft and some restrictions on domestic travel including cancellation of domestic passenger air traffic); Closure of educational establishments, gyms, museums and theatres; prohibition of mass gatherings; and encouragement of companies to promote remote work. On April 15, the government announced several relaxation measures in geographic areas designated as non-hotspot with effect from April 20, 2020 with a view to supporting economic activities.
THE ACTION AREAS FOR A BECOMING STRONGER AND HEALTHY ECONOMY OF INDIA ARE FOLLOWING:-
FISCAL
More fiscal stimulus is required to prevent long-lasting economic harm. Recently announced budgetary initiatives are being deployed on a number of policies that urgently prioritize health expenditure and those in need. We know that robust prevention strategies – in conjunction with early detection – can slow down infection rate and virus spread. Governments will continue to broaden these efforts to meet the individuals and companies most affected — with initiatives that include expanded paid sick leave and targeted tax relief. Beyond these positive actions by individual countries, as the virus spreads, the case for a concerted and synchronized global fiscal stimulus for India's increasingly strong and healthy economy.
Finance Minister Sitharaman announced a stimulus package worth about 0.8 per cent of GDP on March 26. The main elements of the program are: in-kind (food; cooking gas) and cash transfers to lower-income households; medical coverage for healthcare employees; and wage assistance for low-wage workers (in some cases for those who are still working, and in other cases by ease of the requirements for obtaining compensation in case of job loss). In addition to a previous pledge by Prime Minister Modi, these initiatives would contribute an additional 150 billion rupees (approximately 0.1 per cent of GDP) to health infrastructure, including testing facilities for COVID-19, personal protective equipment, isolation beds, ICU beds and ventilators. Several steps have also been reported to ease the tax enforcement burden across a number of industries, including postponing certain tax-filing and other deadlines for enforcement. Many state governments have also announced measures to support the health and well-being of low-income households, primarily in the form of direct transfers (free food rations and cash transfers)—the magnitude of these measures varies by state, but to date, aggregate measures amount to about 0.2% of India's GDP.
MONETARY AND MACRO-FINANCIAL
Central banks in advanced economies will continue to support demand and boost confidence by loosening financial conditions and ensuring the flow of credit to the real economy. For instance, the US The Federal Reserve has just announced further reductions in interest rates, asset purchases, forward guidance and a decrease in reserve requirements. . As the institute  for International Finance said last week, since the onset of the crisis, investors have pulled almost $42 billion from emerging markets. This is their largest outflow ever recorded. So the policy action of central banks in emerging markets and developing economies will need to balance the particularly challenging challenge of tackling reversals in the capital flow and commodity shocks. In times of crisis like now, foreign exchange interventions and capital market control steps will supplement interest rates and other monetary policy actions in a useful way.
On March 27, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decreased repo and reverse repo rates by 75 and 90 basis points (bps) to 4.4 and 4.0 percent, respectively, and announced liquidity measures to the tune of 3.7 trillion rupees (1.8 percent of GDP) across three measures including Long Term Repo Operations (LTROs), a 100 bps Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), and an increase in marginal standing facilities. The CRR had been withdrawn earlier in February for all retail loans in order to reduce financing costs The RBI offered relief to both borrowers and lenders, allowing companies to provide a three-month moratorium on loan repayments and India's Securities and Exchange Board temporarily relaxed debt default rules on classified instruments. Around the same time, six months postponed the introduction of the net stable funding formula and the final stage of phased-in adoption of the capital investment buffers. On April 1 the RBI developed a facility to help with the short-term liquidity needs of the state government and relaxed export repatriation limits. RBI revised trading hours for different markets on April 3 in order to maximize thin capital and ensure staff health. Earlier, the RBI implemented regulatory steps to promote credit flows to retail and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and provided MSMEs and real estate developers with regulatory forbearance on asset classification of loans. CRR maintenance has been removed for all additional retail loans, and the priority sector classification for bank loans to NBFCs has been extended to FY 2020/21 on-lending. The RBI asked financial institutions to determine the effect of COVID-19 spreading on their asset quality, liquidity and other parameters, and to take immediate contingency steps, including BCPs, to mitigate the risks following the effect evaluation.
REGULATORY RESPONSE
Supervisors of the financial system would strive to maintain the balance between preserving financial stability, maintaining the soundness of the banking system
and sustaining economic activity. This crisis will stress check whether the changes brought about in the aftermath of the financial crisis would serve its intent. Banks should be allowed to use flexibility in existing regulations, for example through the use of their capital and liquidity reserves, and renegotiate the terms of loans for stressed borrowers. Risk disclosure and clear communication of supervisory requirements will also be crucial to the proper functioning of markets in the time ahead.
The IMF stands ready to mobilize its lending power of $1 trillion to support our membership. The Fund can deploy its flexible and rapidly disbursing emergency response toolkit as a first line of defence to help countries with urgent balance of payment needs. These instruments could provide the emerging and developing economies with $50 billion in cash. Our low-income members could have access to up to $10 billion through our concessional financing facilities which carry zero interest rates. The Fund already has 40 ongoing arrangements—both disbursing and precautionary—with combined commitments of about $200 billion. In many cases, these arrangements can provide another vehicle for the rapid disbursement of crisis financing. We also have received interest from about 20 countries and will be following up with them in the coming days. In addition, the Fund's Disaster Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) will provide immediate debt relief to the poorest countries, which will generate critical resources for health care, containment, and mitigation. In this context, I applaud the recent commitment of $195 million from the United Kingdom, which means that the CCRT now has around $400 million available for future debt relief. Our goal is to raise it to $1 billion with the assistance of other donors. The IMF will thus represent its 189 member countries and show the importance of international cooperation. Since, at the end of the day, our responses to this crisis do not come from one isolated process, one area or one nation. Only through sharing, coordination, and cooperation will we be able to stabilize the global economy and return it to full health.
EXCHANGE RATE AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
In addition to the previous one with equivalent volume and tenor, RBI announced a second FX swap on March 16 ($2 billion dollars, 6 months, auction-based). For FY 2020/21, the cap for FPI investment in corporate bonds has been set to 15 per cent of outstanding stocks. Restrictions on investment by non-residents in particular securities issued by the Central Government have been lifted.

Advances in Integrated Water Resources Management for Agriculture in Rural India

Integrated water resources management is therefore a systematic process for the sustainable development, allocation and monitoring of water resource use in the context of social, economic and environmental objectives. Contamination of surface and groundwater resources is agriculture in rural India with wastewater entering fresh water bodies or seeping into groundwater. An integrated approach is needed to manage the water and wastewater treatment so that water supply is kept clean and wastewater is recycled for beneficial use in agriculture and industry. A country’s need for water resource management varies according to its characteristics –its geography, climate, size, population, political and cultural systems, level of development, and the nature of its water resource problems. Water withdrawals have increased more than twice as fast as population growth and currently one third of the world's population live in countries that experience medium to high water stress;   Pollution is further enhancing water scarcity by reducing water usability downstream. The main objective of this article was to show an image of the scientific production related to integrate Water Resources Management by using the comparative study of the documents. This paper presented a study that was completed for the advances in integrated water resources treatment and management which will be recycled after secondary treatment for beneficial use by farmer for agriculture and other subsidiary occupation in rural India. The paper concludes that every drop of wastewater for agriculture and other subsidiary occupation in rural area of India should be recycled for reuse so that it does not contaminate our drinking water supplies and conserves scarce water resources for satisfying the thirst of the entire population.

Innovation of Market Led Extension in India

This Review paper is more focused on innovation and reform of the market led system in India because the farm extension program in India is at the core of its growth. The Indian Extension System has evolved over the last 50 years to represent domestic priorities. In the beginning, extension worked to achieve large rural development. But the food shortages that began in the late 1950s have re-energized attempts to expand food and food security. The combination of the late 1960s Green Revolution technology and the mid-1970s Training and Visit (T&V) Extension enabled India to achieve food self-sufficiency in the 1980s1990s. At the same time, the rural poor continue to have persistent problems with malnutrition and poverty. Therefore, with the assistance of the World Bank, the government of India has planned and piloted a new extension strategy to decentralize the extension scheme and refocus it on agricultural diversification and thus make it market-oriented. Only when the ends are the object of the means can agricultural sustainability be accomplished. This does not only include safe production in terms of awareness of future generation needs but also builds the capacity of the agricultural system to increase productivity cum profit maximization by means of the new trend of extension services. Under the WTO, market globalization requires farmers at all levels to transform themselves from domestic production and sales to producer cum sales on the broader market to achieve optimal returns on investments. The need for a market-led approach is necessary due to the paradigm shift in the current agricultural scenarios, which call for the sector to be converted into a profitable business.

Sustainable livelihoods under Climate Change in India

Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment, from shifting weather patterns that threaten food production. The global development community is looking for new solutions to traditional livelihood issues such as economic stagnation, persistent poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and illness, as well as newer challenges like environmental degradation and globalisation. One key approach that has received growing attention is the concept of sustainable livelihood under climate change. Meanwhile, the threat of global climate change poses an unprecedented challenge to humanity. While climate change is important in the long run, it is crucial to recognise that (especially for the developing countries) there are a number of other development issues that affect human welfare more immediately  such as hunger and malnutrition, poverty, health, and pressing local environmental issues. Climate change and sustainable livelihood interact in a circular fashion. Climate change will have an impact on prospects for sustainable livelihood development, and in turn, alternative development paths will certainly affect future climate change. Seen from the development viewpoint, climate change vulnerability, impacts and adaptation are the main elements of concern. From the climate perspective, development pathways also determine emission levels, and they have implications for mitigation strategies as well. We have adopted an integrated approach of climate smart farming and a locally-relevant mix of non-farm livelihoods. This helps attain production resilience and diversification of livelihoods in order that rural households can cope with production and risks. The key aspects cover domain interventions for enhancing livelihoods and productivity in an inclusive, participatory manner as well as initiatives to create and strengthen.