Did you know…
… that today is Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day? It’s the day we all wait for when we can legitimately enjoy a scoop(s) of our favorite ice cream to start the day off right! 😉 Trivia fans: It’s estimated that the United States is the leading consumer of ice cream in the world, with New Zealand a close second. Now go enjoy breakfast!
~~~
Today’s Inspirational Quote:
“I hope your only rocky road is chocolate.”
— Amanda Mosher
Budget 2019: Dole 16% of cultivators’ income from farming
By ..
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67802305.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Government’s income support to farmers no match to Telangana & Odisha schemes: Experts
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67796296.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
By Kuwar SinghFebruary 1, 2019
India’s 2019 budget was widely expected to be one for the farmers—and it has turned out to be just that.
The Narendra Modi government today (Feb. 01) announced the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, a scheme promising an annual assured income of Rs6,000 ($84.5) for any farmer who owns up to 2 hectares of farmland. The average farm size in India is about 1 hectare, according to the 2015-16 agricultural census.
The budget for fiscal year 2020 has allocated Rs75,000 crore for the scheme. An estimated 120 million land-owning farmer households will benefit from the scheme, interim finance minister Piyush Goyal said in his budget speech in parliament.
The government will count Dec. 01, 2018, as the start of the inaugural year of the cash transfer scheme, and an additional Rs20,000 crore has been allocated for the scheme for the ongoing financial year ending March.
The central government will transfer the assured income directly into the farmers’ bank accounts in three equal installments of Rs2,000 each, Goyal said, adding that the date of disbursing the first installment will be announced soon.
Though agriculture accounts for 17.32% of the Indian gross domestic product and employs over 50% of its population, rising costs and falling crop prices have taken a toll on the countryside. According to the 2011 census, 45 farmers commit suicide every day in India.
“Ask Modi to keep his Rs6,000. The farmers aren’t begging.”
Since the majority of Indian voters reside in villages, addressing farmers’ demands is crucial for the Narendra Modi government as elections approach.
Farmers Quartz spoke to have a mixed reaction to the announcement. “Ask Modi to keep his Rs6,000. The farmers aren’t begging,” said Shyambhir Singh, a farmer in Aurangabad Fazalgarh village of Ghaziabad district in the northern Uttar Pradesh state. “We want an implementation of the Swaminathan report (which recommends wide-sweeping reforms in the agricultural economy).”
“I’ll be happy if I get it. Something is better than nothing,” said Amreesh Rathi, a farmer of Chhachhrauli village in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.
In its earlier budgets too, the Modi government had increased agricultural spending. Yet, in recent months, thousands of farmers have been marching from villages to India’s metropolitan cities, seeking comprehensive loan waivers and higher minimum prices for farm produce.
Opposition parties have rushed to capitalise on the rural disillusionment. Just earlier this week, the Indian National Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi announced minimum guaranteed income for individuals below the poverty line if elected.
Goyal also announced an allocation of Rs60,000 crore for Mahathma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), a rural employment guarantee scheme launched by the previous government of the Congress party.
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Budget 2019: Modi govt’s new scheme offers Rs 6,000 directly into farmers’ bank accounts
Farmers, who own upto 2 hectares (5 acres) of land, will be given a direct income support Rs 2,000 every four months a year, which equals to Rs 6,000.
twitter-logo BusinessToday.In New Delhi Last Updated: February 1, 2019 | 15:14 IST
Budget 2019: Modi govt’s new scheme offers Rs 6,000 directly into farmers’ bank accounts
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Anil Ambani’s RCom files for bankruptcy after several failed attempts to repay debt Budget 2019: BJP thought about women, farmers, banking system; Congress took country for a ride, says Piyush Goyal
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in its Budget speech announced a direct income support Rs 6,000 per hectare which will be transferred directly into the farmers’ bank accounts.
Farmers, who own upto 2 hectares (5 acres) of land, will be given a direct income support Rs 2,000 every four months a year, which equals to Rs 6,000.
“This will be funded directly by the government of India,” Piyush Goyal said in the Parliament.
The scheme, which will be applicable from 1 December 2018 and will cost Rs 75,000 crore to the Modi government.
Piyush Goyal said that this scheme will benefit 12 crore farmers.
Also Read: Budget 2019 LIVE updates: Govt announces Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi; farmers with up to 2 hectare lands to get Rs 6,000 per year
In a move that will benefit farmers across India, the FM also announced 2.5 per cent interest subventions for farmers struck by natural calamities. Adding to it, he announced 2 per cent interest subvention for animal husbandry and fisheries sector.
An effective way to detect a Budget’s underlying message is by tracking moments during the speech when the Opposition’s murmur becomes an incessant wail. Today was no different. (Tweet This)
In the end, the present government’s last Budget before Elections was what many had expected. But also, what many hadn’t.
Let us assess what came in-line. This wasn’t a Vote-on-Account; but a chronicle of achievements garnished with expected pre-poll Populism. Farmers were kept in mind second year running. Commentators were on-the-money in expecting the return of the Middle Class. Private Sector like last year, was forgotten again.
So, what eluded expectations?
One can say that the government opted for sops but stopped short of defying logic, at least from a realpolitik standpoint. Fiscal Deficit breach stopped at 3.4% (vs. the initial target of 3.3%) and below market expectations. Loan write-offs and soft credit was thankfully avoided. Yes, a roadmap for the future envisaging the return of the government was thrown in. One may term it as political grandstanding, but still not an offence worthy enough to express much fuss.
Now to Today’s End of Day Wrap Up:
BUDGET
Interim budget promises direct income support for farmers, tax relief for middle class. Govt to breach fiscal deficit target for current FY.
One For All: Piyush Goyal presents a Budget which pleases all. Key highlights include:
Farmers with up to 2 hectares of land to get direct income support of INR6,000 per year under PM KISAN scheme
An increase in income tax exemption limit to INR5L per year
Announcement of a mega pension scheme to provide assured pension of INR3,000 per month to people working in the informal sector
Fiscal deficit for the current FY has been revised upward to 3.4% from the budgeted target of 3.3%.
BANKING
Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce removed from PCA framework. SBI posts highest quarterly profit in seven years, improves asset quality.
Sigh of Relief: As per a Times of India report, RBI has removed three PSBs – Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce from its prompt corrective action framework which put severe lending restrictions on stressed banks. The move comes after a review of their performance as per their reported results for the quarter ending December 2018.
Beating Expectations: SBI recorded a net profit of INR39.55bn in Q3 vs a loss of INR24.16bn last year and meaningfully ahead of analysts estimates. Provisions for bad loans dropped 21.3% to INR139.71bn vs last year.
ECOMMERCE
New FDI rules to impact over 50% of Amazon, Flipkart’s businesses. Amazon reports third record profit in a row, but issues warning on restrictions in India.
This Item is No Longer Available: The new FDI norms in the Indian e-commerce sector which kicked in today are likely to impact over 50% of the businesses of the likes of Amazon and Flipkart. Amazon India has already taken down numerous items sold by vendors such as Cloudtail and Shoppers Stop in which it holds a stake. It’s own range of Echo speakers, its Presto-branded home cleaning goods and other Amazon Basics products such as chargers and batteries are also no longer available.
Amazon posted record profit at $3bn, up 63% from a year earlier, but flags a possible uptick in spending in India on back of the new ecommerce policy.
You’re Halfway There
TIMEOUT
#OddOneOut
Which one doesn’t fit into the given sequence of numbers?
36, 54, 18, 27, 9, 18.5, 4.5
(Answer at the end of the newsletter)
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TESLA
Zach Kirkhorn, Tesla’s Vice President of Finance to take over as CFO. Tesla makes its patents public.
Following Deepak Ahuja’s re-retirement from Tesla, Vice President of Finance, Zach Kirkhorn is set to take over as the new CFO.
Know more about Tesla’s McKinsey-groomed, newly minted millennial CFO here.
For the Greater Good: In a rather extraordinary gesture, Elon Musk has made Tesla patents public.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Tesla quarterly results webcasts are never boring! See 5 unsettling comments from Q4 earnings call here.
HEALTH
Israeli scientists may have found the first complete cure for cancer.
Scientists at an Israeli biotech company Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies believe they will develop a complete cure for cancer within a year.
Science Talk: The potential treatment called “MuTaTo,” or “multitarget toxin” would consist of peptides that will bind to multiple sites on a cancer cell, restricting its mutation rate.
However, with no data to review, some believe that this solution is unlikely.
TIMEOUT ANSWER: 18.5 (The terms are alternatively multiplied by 1.5 and divided by 3)
FINIS (If you found today’s Newsletter share-worthy…seriously…don’t hold back.)
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News From the Future
A dispatch dropped-shipped from tomorrow.
Curated by Institute for the Future.
February 1, 2019 – Issue #16 – View online
News from News from the Future
🌞 New Schedule, new content
At IFTF, we’re constantly on the lookout for stories, incidents, inventions, mistakes, and unexpected consequences that provide a glimpse of possible futures. We call these “signals” and they’re an important part of our forecasting toolkit. In our previous newsletter, we started sharing some of the most interesting signals we’ve collected recently, and we’ll continue to include signals in every issue of News From the Future.
And to make sure the signals we share with you are as fresh as possible, we’ve increased the frequency of this newsletter from monthly to fortnightly.
If you enjoy News from the Future, please help your friends subscribe by sharing this link to our sign up page.
Signals From the Future
💉 Drones deliver vaccines in remote Pacific island
Erromango is a remote Vanuatu island in the South Pacific. Parents living in villages here have to walk for up to two days with their children to have them vaccinated against diseases like measles and rubella, and then they have to make the return trip back to their village. But now vaccines are coming to them, thanks to a small drone developed by an Australian company called Swoop Aero that flies 100km per hour and delivers vials of vaccine medication and syringes. The battery-powered drone trip takes just 20 minutes and uses about $1 of electricity. Vanuatu is now considering using drones to deliver election ballots.
Take a look at our one of IFTF’s Artifacts from the Future, which imagines a drone delivery service for people who want to rent their personal items.
🤖 Human warehouse workers at Amazon wear special vests to protect them against robots
Robots working in Amazon warehouses don’t want to bash into their soft-bodied colleagues, but when accidental collisions occur, it’s the human who suffers. To prevent unwanted human-bot mishaps, human workers are wearing vests that transmit signals to robots warning them to take it easy. “What the vest allows the robots to do is detect the human from farther away and smartly update its travel plan to steer clear,” Amazon Robotics VP Brad Porter told TechCrunch. Porter says the vests have been a “huge success” with “more than one million unique activations.”
🚗 South Korea will deploy 80,000 hydrogen vehicles by 2022
Only about 6,500 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are currently on the planet and South Korea has 2,000 of them. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Finance announced that South Korea intends to become the undisputed FCEV leader by deploying 80,000 hydrogen vehicles in the next three years. One reason South Korea is bullish on FCEVs: the energy density of hydrogen is 236 times that of lithium-ion batteries. One downside: you can’t charge a hydrogen vehicle at home, and a charging station costs between $1 million and $5 million.
🛴Self-driving scooters could solve nagging micromobility problems
Two big complaints about micromobility are that on-demand scooters frequently have dead batteries and aren’t around when you need them. Uber wants to change that. At a recent DIY Robocars event, Uber announced it was hiring engineers to design autonomous scooters that can steer themselves to charging stations and high-demand locations.
The Big Tent is Burning Down
At IFTF, we believe companies can no longer avoid politics altogether.
Consumer brands (most recently, Gillette with its #TheBestMenCanBe effort) have started to realize that taking a stand on a divisive issue is sometimes a better choice than remaining silent. What’s most fascinating about this is how companies’ ties to the bottom-line world of the marketplace of commerce may end up contributing something useful to our marketplace of ideas.
IFTF explored the implications of this in an essay by New York Times Columnist Rob Walker, and in a video, also written by Rob and narrated by Olivia Olson (the voice of Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time).
Future 50 Partnership
Exciting new things are happening in 2019 for our Future 50 partners!
Power is our urgent future for 2019. We’re in the midst of a deep dive on shifting power dynamics—from centralized to distributed systems, from organizations to networks, from markets to movements, and from the top down to the bottom up—to help our partners makes sense of the emerging landscape.
Plans for our Ten-Year Forecast Summit in June 2019 are well underway. Mark your calendars today.
IFTF’s Future 50 is a network of exceptional organizations turning the extreme turbulence of today into extraordinary possibilities for decades to come. If you’re not yet a Future 50 Partner and want to learn more about this year’s Future 50 research agenda and the upcoming Ten-Year Forecast summit, reach out to Sean Ness and get the ball rolling.
Live Event at IFTF’s Offices
A Few Thousand Dollars with Robert Friedman
February 21, 2019
201 Hamilton Ave.
Palo Alto, CA
Institute for the Future’s For Future Reference Public Event Series invites you to join us in a conversation and reception with Prosperity Now founder Robert (Bob) Friedman and author of the new book A Few Thousand Dollars: Sparking Prosperity for Everyone, hosted by IFTF Executive Director Marina Gorbis.
RSVP Today!
What Marina’s Reading
I just read two books side by side: Tamsin Woolley-Barker’s Teeming: How Superorganisms Work Together to Build Infinite Wealth on a Finite Planet (and your company can too), applying evolutionary biology to understanding how humans organize and behave, and Douglas Rushkoff’s Team Human, a rallying cry to re-think how we build, use, and think about technologies and what they are doing to us. I highly recommend both and let’s all join Team Human!
About Institute for the Future
Institute for the Future is the world’s leading futures thinking organization. For over 50 years, businesses, governments, and social impact organizations have depended upon IFTF global forecasts, custom research, and foresight training to navigate complex change and develop world-ready strategies. IFTF methodologies and toolsets yield coherent views of transformative possibilities across all sectors that together support a more sustainable future. Institute for the Future is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California.
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DailyGood
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Kindness begets… Kindness begets kindness. This simple saying points to a profound truth. What we put out into the world, often comes back to us in one form or another. Not only does kindness have this wonderful boomerang effect, it’s also delightfully contagious. Being at the receiving end of an act of kindness or witnessing a thoughtful gesture for another person can inspire a chain reaction. This just might be one of the best recipe’s out there for creating a better world. For inspiration, here are some of KindSpring’s favorite stories of 2018. Read More >>
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“Sarah Corbett never dreamed a cross-stitched teddy bear could change her life and how she approached her career. But looking back, she realizes that thats when it all started.
Corbett, a professional campaigner for causes and charities, was preparing to board a train from London to Glasgow to give yet another workshop on training people as activists.But she was exhausted, stressed, and burning out. With a five-hour journey ahead of her, she couldnt work because it made her travel sick. Feeling a hankering to do something creative, she picked up the tiny cross-stitch kit. As she took her seat and began to work, she immediately noticed something….” Read More >>
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Encounter the mystery… Encounter the mystery of life and living with Krista Tippet and Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, wise physician, author and founder of the Remen Institute for the study of Health and Illness.
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The Gift of Presence and the Perils of Advice
Parker Palmer is the… Parker Palmer is the founder and senior partner of the Center for Courage and Renewal. His work teaches us to connect with others through our authentic self. His courses help to develop courageous leadership and collectively evolve our spirits for social change. With humor and heart, Parker shares his perspectives on advice giving vs the gift of our presence. Leading us into presence with unconditional listening and loving. Read More >>
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My Word of the Year
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Breakthrough Generation: A Story of Transformation
“He must have been around 66. When he walked in through the sliding glass doors, he had to bend down a little bit to avoid hitting the top beam. He was a well-built African American. He was dressed to kill. His blue full-sleeved shirt still looked prim, proper, neatly pressed with the crease still showing although it was towards the end of a working day. His black slacks looked classy, professional, and rich. His shoes were shining spick-and-span. His head and face were clean shaven. He took a seat on the couch that was adjacent to mine. I was sitting at the car dealership waiting for my car to be serviced.” What follows is the story of an inspirational encounter that unfolded in the midst of an ordinary day. Read More >>
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