A deluge of words.

"Unveiling the fourth tranche of government's mega stimulus, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid emphasis on wide-ranging structural reforms across eight critical sectors - Coal, Minerals, Defence Production, Airspace management, Power Distribution companies, Social Infrastructure Projects, Space sectors and Atomic Energy." She said that commercial mining of coal will be allowed "on revenue sharing mechanism instead of the regime of fixed rupee/tonne".  Ominous words! The telecom industry also has to share its so-called Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) with the government. Telecom companies naturally expect AGR to mean revenue from their core business but the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) wanted a chunk of "dividend, interest, capital gains on sales of assets and securities and from foreign exchange fluctuations". DOT won in Supreme Court. "Exploring the earth for economically viable (high grade) mineral deposits is a high risk improbable activity," wrote Peter Nichols and Rahul Tongia. "Existing mining law provides that any discoveries (winnings) made by an explorer will be handed back to the government and the government will reimburse the explorer for the funds they expended." That is why, despite having a coastline of over 7,000 km, India imported crude oil worth $111.9 billion in 2018-19. As for privatising electricity distribution companies, or discoms, how are they to make any profit if electricity theft is rampant, if the local administration allows free consumption of electricity, and then will not allow the company to raise prices on other users. "Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has over a dozen facilities that design and develop communication and earth observation satellites and rockets that can carry up to six tonnes of payload into space." It earned Rs 3.24 billion in 2018-19 and has contracts with at least 10 countries to launch their satellites. What if the startups sell out to foreign company of a hostile nation, like China or Pakistan, which will then get a foothold in India's space research. India loses to China because of low productivity, because our companies are small, electricity and transport costs are too high, a strangling bureaucracy and corruption which is why we cannot even make pictures of our own gods, wrote Prof Farok J Contractor. "Many say the government's stimulus lacks demand-side push and is more medium to long-term focussed, when the economy needs a more immediate dose of adrenaline booster."  Sitharaman "will unveil the fifth and final tranche of mega Covid stimulus today at 11 am". May we suggest that she concludes by singing, "It's only words and words are all I have." No tax on words. Pity.