Visakhapatnam is an essential city in Andhra Pradesh. But the current Visakhapatnam airport is owned by the Navy and has restrictions against further development. So, in 2015, the government proposed to develop a greenfield airport at Bhogapuram, which is 40 km from Visakhapatnam. The state government has also allocated 2000+ acres of land for its construction.
Bids were invited and in August 2017, AAI (Airports Authority of India) outbid GMR and 6 other bidders. It won by bidding a revenue share of 30.2% compared to GMR’s 21.6%. Moreover, phase one of the construction began immediately as the deadline was December 2020.
In January 2018, the Andhra Pradesh government suddenly canceled the project stating ‘project scope’ as the reason. They called for a fresh set of bids with a changed revenue model and regulations. In February 2019, GMR won the contract by bidding INR 303 per passenger compared to AAI’s INR 202. But 800 crores were already exhausted by APADCL on behalf of AAI.
A significant amount of tax payer’s money was wasted by the authorities. To put it in perspective, it would take another 13 years to recover the 800 crores from the revenue of new airport.
After 2 biddings, the future of Bhogapuram Airport is still unknown. Its functioning is dependent on the closure of the old airport as they are just 40 km apart. But AAI is not inclined to shut it due to their investments in the old airport and viability of the new one (Due to the pandemic).
The question remains! Is it reasonable to spend the rest of the budget in constructing the new airport or wise to stick to the current one?
The routine of school-going children went for a toss during the COVID-19 crisis. The overlap of COVID-19 spread with this year’s summer did not entirely deprive children of their learning but pulled the power of evaluation from their teachers. If the pandemic stays till the end of December as we know it, there will be repercussions for the school-going children.
India has 15.22 Lakh schools and 14.2 Crore students. To understand the severity of the impact on student’s education, we have to delve deep into the educational statistics. My Analysis of the report by Depart of school education and Literacy Statistics Division gave a good insight into the expenditure on each student, which we will take ahead to develop a comprehensive view.
The above figures demonstrate the state-wise annual spending on each student attending a government school. The above report also states the enrolment rate of schools is >90% in most of the states. Therefore, the primary take away is the importance of state-wise dependency on government for the education budget. As, many factors like private schools, the scale of enrolment brings expenditure per student down, there is no definite correlation between the quality of education and expenditure per student. Further, the expenditure per student nationally is Rs. 3099/-.
The majority of the states did not even use 90% of the budget allocated for schools and budget usage differs widely. Also multiplying the expenditure per student and the ratio of budget used gives us an index that determines a state’s efforts towards school education. As a lower budget utilisation and a lower expenditure per student gives a low value in the index. opinions. The following files contain the complete quantified data. Do have a look at it.
If the average national expenditure per student is Rs. 3100. How much can a parent afford on the student’s education annually? What would be the income of the student’s parents? If we consider that an average Indian household who sends their kids to a government school spend 5% on the child’s education, then their annual income would be 1.55 lakh. But an average private school fee in India is Rs. 65,000 to Rs. 1,25,000 as per ASSOCHAM India. This infers that it is impossible for a student attending a government school to lead a quality life! Then, how many students can afford good quality education with all the necessary infrastructure with minimal effect from the pandemic?
As per NCAER-CMCR 2010 annual income data, a person earning 17 LPA or above would qualify as the top 3 percent earning bracket. Going with a floor function, around 90% of children cannot avoid a disruption-free education during the pandemic. As a country, our government does not have the necessary budget. Even if it has the funds, scalability will require tons of reforms and takes decades to implement.
But an attempt can be made to engage the student at a time of crisis. For that, we have to explore the available communication channels for the government for educational purposes. Let us consider e-learning, these platforms are a tough choice as they require infrastructure and they come at a premium. Byju’s charges 15,000 per subject which is a costly affair. Next comes television, it is affordable if transmitted on a free channel. Similar to Ramayan, educational content can be broadcasted to the TV during non-prime hours for the school children.
If the government uses radio to broadcast educational content, it will generate much required positive sentiment among the adults as the broadcasts can keep children engaged and aware. The government can embrace its assets for this plan. Using All India Radio to broadcast content via AM frequency, government teachers for content generation, etc. The process would be budget-friendly one both at the transmitting and receiving end.
Last time I remember, a portable branded radio set costs 500 bucks. I don’t deny that there won’t be hurdles in this process like the availability of radio sets, regional content, etc., But the undertaking will bring change as its implementation is budget-friendly and just requires discretion. After all, We should not just watch and ignore the rights of a segment which we were a part of.
The world is crumbling due to COVID-19. But one nation will be worst-hit if corona doesn’t subside on time. Can you guess?
It is the UAE. The country strategically relies on oil in the past. But the scenario in the last 2 decades changed quite drastically and significant investments are being made in this sector. It shifted its focus from oil to become a hub for travel and trade and achieved it.
If we look at the statistics, the travel and tourism industry contributes a whopping $43.3 billion, which is equivalent to 12.1% of its GDP. The impact of Corona is hard-hitting the sectors which contribute to 50% of GDP.
This crisis puts the country and its investors at great risk. Additionally, the real-estate sector which made UAE what it is today is bracing itself until the storm passes. To tackle this condition, the county released a $70 billion, equivalent to 18% of its GDP.
On the contrary, many are predicting that this crisis will make the Gulf nations put their differences aside and work together. This makes me reminded of Winston Churchill’s words “Never waste a good crisis”.
A couple of years back, significant investments happened in Retail space starting from the acquisition of Flipkart, Amazon picking up share in Future retail, and many more. Parallelly, Telecom was struggling. Now, the tables have turned
1) 9.99% stake($5.7) in #Jio, bought by #Facebook.
2) #Google eyeing a 5% stake in #Vodafone Idea.
3) #Amazon in talks with #Airtel to invest $2 billion.
There is no greater vivid pattern that demonstrates embracing change is worthwhile.
A brand-new world, the piece by Pradipta Bagchi, in Business Standard simply ignited my gut feeling. He talks about the #VocalforLocal movement and its significant impact on the trends and the MSMEs.
He is correct and consumer behavior is fast changing. The metamorphosis happened over the past 3 months and now a new customer is born. Majorly for the consumables sector. As the major brands rely on their efficient and long supply chains, it affects their delivery time from the production to the end consumer.
As Corona slowed down the movement unbiasedly throughout the country. In these desperate times, emerged local heroes(#VocalforLocal) backed up by the government and Goliaths rigidity. These local heroes understand the pulse of their market and provide the goods in no time. Also, the new customer is happy to purchase a product in a category rather than to ponder about the choice he/she has to take in the current scenario.
I think it is the right moment in time to achieve better than a zero-sum game. The local brands can induce trust in their functionality which in turn will grow the local brand and saves cost customers as the advertising costs will ram down.
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