Reuters A 2,000 Indian rupee note. Picture used for illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: REUTERS

Thanks to Gulf News, I was reminded of a forgotten word of my university days: Stagflation. It is a condition of slow economic growth, relatively high unemployment and rising prices of inflation.

Does it ring a bell? Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned a few weeks ago that the inflation numbers are far too high and that the Reserve Bank of India will not have the initiative to boost the economic growth even with their good intention to reduce interest rates.

Indias elected representatives must forget the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and focus on stagflation!

The reported growth numbers are available for everyone to see. Before demonetisation, it was peaking at 8.2 per cent. Immediately after its introduction, the growth began to fall to 7.2, then 6.8 and last year it was 5 per cent.

What will it take to revive the economy?

The government should continue to increase all resources for the farming sector, which began in the current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) first term.

Lending should be made easier for small businesses as 90 per cent of the employment is within the unorganised or small sectors. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collected has reached Rs1 lakh (Dh 5,154) crore for two consecutive months; the government must share it with the states.

For the economy to grow, the current government should spend on say the construction of a dam at a cost of a certain amount and the labour aspect should be half of that. The workers then take their half and spend it in the market place. These vendors now have more money to hire people, to make more products, leading to another round of spending. Therefore, a rupee of government spending will generate more than a rupee in economic growth.

Heres my research on the economic situation in the state of West Bengal, one of the states that has a double-digit growth, despite Indias overall numbers being low. These are numbers that are vouched for by the government of India. The capital expenditure (asset creating spends) by the West Bengal government increased by 11 times in 2019, compared to the 2018 this has kicked in the Keynesian multiplier what it means is that the government stimulating spending in turn increases employment and therefore prosperity. Again, with West Bengal, banks are lending Rs70,000 crores (Dh36,070,023) in 2020 to small entrepreneurs; this creates employment and brings money into the hands of the people leading to economic growth.- The reader is the head of manufacturing at a Dubai-based company.

Readers Views: What motivates you to work?

People work best when there is some kind of deep motivation driving their actions. So, which kind of motivation is the best? Well, it depends on you and the situation. The difficulty of the task at hand is not crucial, the motivation behind is the key aspect to consider.

Achievement motivation focuses on reaching the goal for the sake of an accomplishment, which is ultimately the driving factor. The achievement could be winning a title or public recognition, which is the final goal.

Being motivated for power is the desire to influence people and be a leader. People are motivated by their control over various situations. People driven by power motivation always tend to create an impact and are willing to take risks for the same. Some might choose a job, which has a higher position even if the pay is comparatively lower. Incentive motivation is reward reliant. The reward associated with the goal is the major influencer rather than the achievement itself. Some employees perform better when money or rewards are offered as incentives.

Avoidance of pain or harmful consequences is the paramount reason to keep you going. Tasks or goals are pursued even if one does not desire to achieve them. However, fear from certain outcomes could lead towards the right direction and the results could be fruitful. The fear of failure is the major driver, which prevents people from quitting.

Competence and learning motivated people are motivated by the process of doing and enjoying work without considering any reward or achievement at the end. Completion of goal or task is the only objective because either the person is passionate about it or wants to learn more by the process of doing it.

Behind any task or objective, there could be more than one motivating factors, which is helping a person to hustle. There is no particular motivation which can be assigned for a particular task, it depends on the individual and the context which drives the person towards their goals. Some kind of motivational factor must exist if a person is proceeding towards a goal. It is worthless to plan for or do something which lacks motivation. You must consider what kind of motivation is driving you before starting towards your milestone.

- The reader is a student at a Dubai-based university.

February 4, is observed as World Cancer Day. Its estimated that 14 million people die of cancer globally and an increase of 90 per cent deaths annually. Cancer is not only a health issue, but it has a wide-reaching social economic and human rights implications.

The mutation in hormones, excessive usage of tobacco, and increase in the usage of pesticides are some of the reasons cited for cancer. It is important to increase your daily physical activity, choose a healthy lifestyle and go for periodic check-ups. Early detection is most important in this disease. Compulsory periodic check-ups like mammograms after the age of 35 for all women to detect breast cancer is advised. Men also need to go for regular doctors visits in order to diagnose diseases at the right time.

Now cancer is considered as curable disease and once it is affected, periodic treatment, should be given to the patient. Even now, some people in India have superstitious beliefs that cancer cannot be cured and the patient should not be informed of what they have.

Governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should conduct mass awareness campaigns to educate the people and once the patient is cured, rehabilitation should be made available to help them lead a normal life. On this day, we all should look to our family members, friends and relatives and try to create awareness so that they are encouraged to go for a medical check-up for early detection. Increase in number of early detection centres and awareness will prevent this disease. Losing loved ones to cancer is painful. We should strive to lead a healthy life, where the household is full of cheers, smiles and fight this deadly disease.

- The reader is a resident of Dubai.

More here:
Readers Views: Readers discuss World Cancer Day, the Indian economy and motivation - Gulf News