VIVAD SE VISHWAS BY - SHUBHAM SRIVASTAV
VIVAD SE
VISHWAS
AUTHORED BY - SHUBHAM SRIVASTAV
India has set the tone and
perspective for commitment to development with the aim of developing a circular
economy, each year in the month of February our Hon’ble Finance Minister
presents a Budget in the parliament before the country which we know that is an
instrument which stats about the expenditure and receipts of our country for
every year. Budget is basically more than the financial statement because it
not only predicts receipts or expenditure of our country but it also includes
several other different schemes and policies which assists government in
governing and solving different types of issues of citizens and country’s from
time to time , progress is also needs to be considered while making a budget
like economic, technological, corporate, health, education and several others
so that with the growth of our country citizens can also enjoy a growth of
prosperity at the same time. Budget also provides opportunity to other
country’s as well to invest in different projects in our country because budget
shows Gross Development Product rate which is a projection of country’s economy
in other words it predicts import and export goals for our country in future or
how much we will achieve in future.
Since last three years after the
pandemic nature of budgets are of achieving long term goals keeping in view to
fulfil the objectives and goals which were not able to achieve due to pandemic
situation , which not only resulted in causing a loss to economy but also
aroused many other problems along with these problems we are also have to face
another issue which was of disruptions in supply chain of several commodities
which we have to import as a result it also resulted in rise in inflation
target set by Reserve Bank of India, not only in India but war strike between
Russia and Ukraine resulted rise in inflation in other countries as well around
the world due to which United States of America hiked its rate of interest many
a times because of which RBI Monetary policy meeting also have to rise its repo
rate several times which leads to make a loan interest rate increased by the
banks, so these types of issues are faced by the world at this current time
which can only be remitted by following a policies and schemes to be introduced
these issues mentioned above, which can be done only by making a budget taking
all this issues into account.[1]
If we look at a glance previous years
of budgets they actually had been made to provide relief to rural and urban
class of poor sections of society because of pandemic situation which led the
government to formulate policies and schemes which help to rural and urban poor
class of society because parliament initiated several schemes and policies like
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in which it provides that 5 kg of
additional grain per person per month to be provided free of cost, Ujjwala and
Saubhagya Scheme which initiated to provide LPG and electricity connections
free of cost, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana ,Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Jan Dhan
Scheme , MGNREGA and like these several others to the poor sections of society
to the person standing at a last resort. It helped to the people due to which
our country able to fought the pandemic phase without any much issues, not only
to the this the budget was also took consider other plans and schemes to boost
our economy and for that government formulated several plans to help the growth
of a corporate sector as well in our country through earlier budgets because as
we know that pandemic not only creates trouble for poor class of society but
for other sectors as well of our country so to gain market share for firms in
various industries and to help them in ease of doing business and at the same
time helping in strengthening public private partnership as well which further
help in growth of Gross Domestic Product of our country, several policies and
plans helped the corporate sectors by reducing tax rate on their profits from
30 to 22 percent so that the dried up funds of IT Sector gets restored after
the pandemic[2], in
spite of assisting an each and every sector between march 2020 to September
2022 Central Banks have to tight up monetary policy by increasing tax rate
which led a looming recession in United States and European Countries are now
witnessing layoffs and a hiring freeze in tech giants firms. Effects of rate
hike by the US Federal Bank led in India as well to repo rate hike in India by
Monetary Policy Committee of Reserve Bank Of India from time to time to control
inflation in our country and to make ease of doing business because rate hike
led to starting to flow of foreign direct investment from India which effect in
reducing of foreign reserve of our country, but still our country is managing
to walk on the path of prosperity and continuous development through following
different schemes and policies of budget in time. In spite of many challenges
our country’s economy achieved a rapid growth in various sectors of our
economy, this all was possible only because of previous budgets which was
introduced with inclusiveness of various policies which provided a growth and
boost to our economy at the time of pandemic, but along with this we also
required to need a budget which not only provides schemes and policies for
different welfare measures but also which yields a good result in a long span
of time.
In 2023 to 2024 we witnessed a budget
which was presented by Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman at parliament
on 1st April 2023 with an aim to provide schemes and policies with
respect to achieve a goals and services of a long term which in future yields
an impact on our country’s economy because a more larger a size of Gross
Domestic Product a larger will be our country’s economy this was kept while
making a budget at this year , it not only yields a better result but will also
help in finding a substitute of a goods and services for global disruptions in supply
chains because of war between Russia and Ukraine as well as due to pandemic. If
I talk about particular aims and objectives or some of the points about on
which current budget focused was to make policies focused on budgets are for tribals, youths, women, middle class, rebate
in a tax slab of income up to 7 lakh rupees under new tax regime and on several other important sectors of our
economy which will help us to make our country’s economy more strong and vibrant
in the era of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and will help in achieving aspirational
dreams of our society along with increasing the consumption and reducing
through reducing personal income tax.[3]Despite
the disruptions in global supply chain due to pandemic and a war between Russia
and Ukraine current year budget made a projection of Indian economy to grow at
7 % of Gross Domestic Product which will be a much major growth of our
country’s economy as compared to other economies of the world, along with
facing all challenges our country is on a path of peace , prosperity , a bright
future and vision of Amrit Kaal which will be technology driven ,strong public
finances, knowledge based economy and a robust financial sector .Inclusion of
different policies will provide ample of opportunities for youth which will
help in making them skilful so that in future our country will become a hub of
start ups in different sectors which not only make a growth of country Gross
Domestic Product but will also reduce unemployment and strengthen a macro
economic stability of our country, growth in capital expenditure was projected
at 3.3% and our nominal gross domestic product was also 10.5% for this year
,all this was possible because of right strategies and policies at right time
which acted as a cushion against global head winds.[4] If
we talk about an investment in infrastructure a budget have a inclusive policy
for country’s investment model because
central government has announced that interest free loans will be provided to
state governments for a period of additional twelve months so that our country
could achieve a progressive growth at each and every level. Investment model
will lead to develop a connectivity of roads, railways which are two sector
which requires a higher additional capital outlays in capital expenditure , in
addition housing , urban affairs, additional airports, water aerodromes and
advanced landing grounds will be rejuvenated for regional air connectivity
which will provide an additional push to UDAAN scheme also. In 2023 this year
allocation of share of capital expenditure was also raised to Rupees 1.05 lakh
crore from Gross Domestic Product which will give a boost to our state
governments in creating capital assets. Capex led growth will definitely help
in managing debt levels and will lead a longer term implications for growth at
each level.[5]A major
push was also provided to rural infrastructure through initiating a boost which
is highest ever since the inception of the scheme in 2016 of Pradhan Mantri
Awaas Yojana Gramin, this scheme will help in creating an assets in rural
areas, which will provide a holistic growth at each level of our country.[6]
Inception of pandemic arises several
many health problems to those who are effected by a covid 19 and there are
others who are availing different health problems after suffering from pandemic
so to solve these several health issues of citizens government had increased a
ratio of health sector investment from 2.1% to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product
by the year 2025 because as we know that cure and treatment of different health
diseases is very expensive now a days some of the famous health schemes which
are provided by our government are Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat and National
Digital Health Mission are a major assistance for our citizens who are availing
these facilities from government hospitals in a timely manner.[7]
Government since last several years trying its best through the cooperation of
its citizens to make our country a global leader in each and every aspect of
our country’s economy , from last few years our country has achieved a landmark
by becoming a 5th largest economy of the world from the position of
10th, this was achieved because of adopting various schemes and
policies from time to time and according to a need of an hour in our country
like as mentioned earlier also due to several disruptions globally due to covid
19 and now due to a war between Russia and Ukraine it become very important for
us to make those policies which do not hamper our supply chain of import and
export of goods and services in our country.
All of the issues were always
kept in a budget and then schemes were drafted due to these several last year
budget schemes which were adopted in several past years we were able to record
an eighteen months low inflation from 5.66 percent to 4.6 percent from last
April which moderated food prices, tax which was collected was utilised in
different welfare schemes, upgrading infrastructure of urban and rural, health
facilities so that citizens can have easily available essential things on
timely basis , in the agriculture sector as well India is emerging as a leader
in milk and banana production and in
wheat also we have done much more to make our self-reliance , in horticulture
as well there is emerged a growth of 110 lakh tonnes from 56 lakh tonnes in
last nine years.[8] If we
want that a growth of our economy to be maintained in this particular manner
and we achieve a long term benefits of our budgets then we have to strive make
our country’s economic environment conducive to business needs in our country,
then only in future we will be able to become a most developed nation and a
worlds leader’s, because next 25 years are very important for our country, so
schemes should be such type which help in achieving aspirational goals of our
society and at the same time we must ensure to have an ease in doing of
business in our country.
In an analysis of previous and
current year budget in the above paragraphs of this article, one of the scheme
of utmost importance which was introduced in a budget was known as Vivaad se
Vishwas scheme and which I have discussed here in this particular article in
later paragraphs , this scheme was introduced in budget to resolve contractual
disputes between the government and private contractors, the major reason for
the scheme to be introduced was due to covid 19 because , before covid19 our
country economy was going in its assigned way, but as we know that this
pandemic situation aroused many types of problems in front of us in many ways
which we had overcame since last years by making different policies from time
to time same situation which leads to making of this scheme was a contract of
work which was signed between government and contractors for the completion of
different types of infrastructure, in which government or a government
undertaking was one of the parties in a litigation, this scheme was introduced
to clear a backlog of disputes which was hampering a government to do
investment in new sectors or to take up fresh investment projects because in
todays era when our country is facing a disruptions in supply chains of several
commodities due to several external factors like covid19 and a war between
Russia and Ukraine , this scheme is very much important at this particular time
to settle a backlog of contractual disputes between a governments undertaking
and a contractors.[9]
Vivad Se
Vishwas Scheme[10]
Ministry of finance drafted and
presented this scheme before the parliament in a union budget of 2023-24, to
solve the problem of pending cases of contractual disputes, so that in a quick
and in an easy manner without much delaying as a result of which this scheme
initiated in a union parliament and got accent of the president , because its
motive or an aim was to do an ease of doing business in a hassle free manner
for both the government undertakings and for stakeholders as well ,as a result
this scheme helped in settling backlog of cases in an effectively and
efficiently because it was hampering a fresh investments of the government in
various infrastructure of our country’s development, so to cure this problem of
backlog of cases this one time settlement scheme helped in a many ways and it
later on proved to be a win-win situation for the both a stakeholders and
government also.
Salient features of the scheme are
discussed below:
1)
Application
of this scheme will be on Government , Autonomous bodies , Public Sectors
Banks, Government public sector financial institutions, Central Public Sector
Enterprise, Union Sector Enterprise, National Capital Territory of Delhi, and
all of government agencies and undertakings thereof where central government
have 50% shareholding.
2)
A
contractors shall be eligible in this scheme if they had submitted disputed
claims either to court or to arbitration or to the conciliation on or before
30.09.2022.
3)
Under
this scheme claims of only financial in nature will be settled in this scheme.
4)
Depending
upon the pendency level of a disputed claims a scheme consists of a graded
settlement terms through which a disputed claims will be settled.
5)
A
cases of domestic arbitration in nature will be settled under this scheme, this
scheme was implemented through online Government e Market portal.
After the salient features of this
scheme another crucial aspect of this scheme was a criteria through which
settlement compensation will be awarded to the contractors were discussed under
below mentioned points.
Amount of
Settlement :[11]
Settlement amount will be provided
under graded settlement scheme to the contractors in the following ways :
1)
Eighty
percent of the net amount will be awarded by the court when an order of court
was passed to pay an amount which was payable to the contractor. A court order
will include a case when parties have approached a courts directly or
subsequent to arbitral award.
2)
When
a case is not under an appeal before a court and if an arbitral award is passed
in such a case, a settlement amount of sixty percent of the amount shall be
awarded by the arbitral tribunal.
3)
Thirty
percent of the net claim amount shall be paid by the contractors subtracting an
amount of counter claim of procuring entity, this will be done or followed only
when a case is in process before the arbitral tribunal, conciliation or either
in court.
4)
Twenty
percent of the net claim amount will be awarded when in a case of litigation
either in court where in a case no arbitration was done or an arbitration was
done or when a case is in an ongoing litigation.
To Initiate a process mentioned above
or to participate in this particular scheme a contractor should have to
registered on an online platform Government -e- Marketplace and then a process
will begin after the verification of contractors details through a nodal
officers on an online platform, and then when a settlement agreement was
concluded by the parties under this settlement it shall have a same effect,
meaning and consequence just like in any other agreement under the Arbitration
and Conciliation Act 1996.
Section 73 of Arbitration and
Conciliation Act 1993 is an heart and soul of this particular scheme because an
agreement of settlement between the contractors and a government will come in
effect through this particular section only, because this particular section
stats that whenever a conciliator founds that there exists a terms of
settlements between the parties a conciliator will pursue an agreement terms
and conditions to both the parties and then gives them time to agree on the
terms and conditions of an agreement and later on will receive a feedback on an
agreement provided earlier and made some other suggestions also as provided by
the parties on an agreement. After this a parties will have to reach on
agreement of settlement between both the parties ,if parties find it difficult
to reach or make a terms of settlement of an agreement then conciliator will
assists them in drawing up an agreement. Parties then have to sign an agreement
of settlement which shall be final and binding between both the parties who are
claiming under it. Conciliator shall authenticate an agreement of settlement
and will provide both the parties a copy of an agreement. Section 73 basically
have much more dominance in this particular scheme because settlement agreement
will have to be made under this section only.
On the settlement of an agreement
between the contractor and procuring entities, a status of disputed agreement
will have a same effect as stated by an Arbitral Tribunal under section 30 of
an Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1993.
Section 75
of Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1993.[14]
Contractor and a procuring entity
have to keep secret a document of settlement agreement signed between them and
required to disclose a document where ever it is required to implement or
enforce a document.
A procuring entity after following or
settling their matters of dispute under one time settlement scheme of vivad se
vishwas by following a particular procedures as mentioned in above sections of
Arbitration and Conciliation Act ,1993 then all types of obligations or
litigations filed before a court of law will be stand discharged between both
the parties under this settlement scheme. If we come to the conclusion we will
observe that this scheme facilitates a solution to a dispute between different
contractors involved to do some or the other types of work with a government
under a different types of contracts, instead of involving in a regular
litigation which hamper a socio-economic development of our country, this
scheme adopts such a type of mechanism which settles a disputes between a
contractors and governments, another important point on which this particular
scheme was introduced was that majority of cases in which a arbitral award was
challenged by the contractors , majority of cases were decided in favour of
contractors only which led a huge financial loss to our government.[15]
Conclusion
Vivad se Vishwas scheme is very much
a need in a present era for our country at this particular time because in
current scenario our country India is in a phase of inspiring a whole world by
achieving a new landmark achievements every day through its innovation,
planning schemes and through its resources which are proving to be an important
destination of investment and innovation for the whole world , if we took a
glance of last five years we are going to become a third largest economy from
tenth largest economy in few coming years only, International Monetary Fund
also sourced its data that by 2027 India will become a third largest economy
the reason behind this is very simple that through its policies and schemes in
different complex time we are heading a world today. Gross Domestic Product of
our country has also scored a very much better growth as compared to other
different developed countries like our country’s GDP had grown by 83% between a
time span of ten years and other developed nations like France growth was only
of 2%,United Kingdom grown by 3 % only in this time, a reason behind it was
none but Global Financial Crises which had hit a whole world in 2008 – 09 this
also had hit India but have not much impacted our country because of our
policies and schemes made form time to time.[16]
In our country macro - economic
environment foreign portfolio investment are continuously rising a risk
appetite for our country’s economic development because since three months
foreign portfolio investment had witnessed a major hike in its investment which
is a very positive sign for any country’s economic growth or a growth in a
domestic equity market, previously when federal reserve had done a hike in its
currency exchange rate our country had witnessed a major outflows but as now we
are on a much stable condition for foreign investors this was only possible
because of following a right policies at right time and one of the most
important example here ,I like to quote was of a monetary policy committee
which from time to time maintain an inflation rate through opting out changes
in a repo rate from time to time.[17]
One another major reason to have a
requirement of several such schemes like vivaad se vishwaas was that this year
our country is heading a presidentship of G-20 which is a major and a proud
moment for all of us because from being a member of G-20 to having its
leadership is just a marvellous achievement for our country in this year,
several meeting on different types of issues were being held every month in
different states of our country with a theme of one earth one family and one
future which makes a vivad se vishwas schemes an another important factor for
our country because when we make such types of settlement schemes to resolve
and adjudicate issues it will leads to make our country’s economic environment
very much suitable for business of other country’s to invest in our country
which will leads to employment generation , foreign direct investment inflow
and leads to grow a gross domestic product of our country ,because we now have
to find different ways to solve different issues emerging in our country rather
than only depending upon a traditional techniques of solving issues.
In recent years only when we started
adopting schemes of settlement in a timely manner especially in cases of
resolving business issues or issues of economic in nature like the one we have
seen in vivad se vishwas scheme our country’s economy have become a highly
promising for us as well as for others nations who want to invest and to do
business with us. In recently I would like to mention some examples which have
participated with us in an era of growth, prosperity and development, an “Act
East Policy”, signed between India and South East Asia which main motive is to
strengthen economic, strategic, cultural relations in Indo- Pacific region ,
which will in future result in buttressing the region as a global economic
power house.[18]In our
country recently we had rolled a red carpet for two major industries of
semiconductor chip making that is Japan’s Foxconn Semi conductor chip making
industry and another was of United States corporation an Advance Micro Devices
in an event organised recently in India in a state of Gujarat in which these
two major companies are very much assured that our country’s is viable for them
in each and every way whether it be a demographically or in many other ways
because they feel that our country is having an environment for business
organization stable, responsible, and reform – oriented government[19]
.Our country’s electronic production was also increased in a couple of years
from 30 billion USD to 100 billion USD, Internet users also increased from 6
crore to 80 crore ,these figures not just depict the growth and success of
India but also an increased business of semiconductor industries, another
important factor for other nations in investing in our country is that India
has a fast paced infrastructure growth , finance assistance, low corporate tax
structure, and massive talent pool needed for the semi conductor industry.[20]
Ultimately this all will benefit us by creating employment generation, growth
in a Gross Domestic Product of our country and later on will create a strong
and vibrant economy in a recent coming years and this will be achieved by us
only because we have adopted such types of schemes and policies which are
favourable for our country because if we continue to adopt schemes of
settlement then it will helps in reducing burden of court cases and along with
it will help in development of our country in economically and socially as well
and our country’s talented people will get an employment and will increase in
socially and economically in all aspect.
If policies and schemes
like vivad se vishwas will be implemented in our country form time to time it
will make our country a pro business environment friendly in making a contract
between a government and several contractors of domestic as well as of
international as well, a pro business environment will definitely encourage
private investors to establish several types of ventures in our country which
will help in generating employment in our country and also make an image of our
country as an business environmental friendly country in the whole world, other
than this it will also reduce a burden of cases on our country’s judicial
system and along with this problem another issue which will arise is that it
will hamper a growth of our country’s economy, and as a result we have to face
a depreciation in our country’s gross domestic product in a long span of time .
A schemes of this types is an extreme need for our country because this is the
only way through which we can do development and providing justice at the same
time.
In present era when we
are following a principle of “one earth, one family and one future” or in other
way it is also called a principle of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” we can follow such
principle only when we make such type of policies from time to time which in a
long term benefits all of us whether in our country or to other countries as
well in a long span of time.
[1] Gajendra Yadav,” Her Balancing Act
: Won’t tax – will spend”, Indian Express, August 8,2023.
[2]Harish Damodaran, ”After Targeting
rural and urban poor, the pre-2024 message ”,Indian Express, 02.Feburary,2023
[3] Liz Mathew,“ Budget focus aligns
with BJP support base of middle class, youth, women”, Indian Express, February
02,2023.
[4] Hitesh Vyas and Sukalp Sharma ,
“Economy on right track; to grow at 7% in FY23:FM”,Indian Express, February
02,2023.
[5] Anchal Magazine, ”Renewed thrust
on capex: Rs. 10 lakh cr outlay, 33% hike”, Indian Express ,February 02.2023
[6] HariKishan Sharma, “Highest ever
PMAY-G outlay to spur capex”, Indian Express, February 02,2023.
[7] Anonna Dutt ,“Overall health
allocation up, but capital spending cut”, Indian Express, February 02,2023
[8] Express News Service, “centre
monitoring inflation closely with ground level data : Sitharaman”, Indian
Express, May 30, 2023.
[9] Visited on June 13,2023.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Udit Misra, “3rd
largest economy in 3rd Modi term ? Anatomy of India’s growth”, The
India Express,July 28,2023.
[17] Hitesh Vyas, “FPIs back with a
bang, but tighter disclosures may impact inflows”, The Indian Express, June
5,2023.
[18] Enrique Manalo,“Partnership for
the future”, Indian Express, June 29,2023.
[19] Soumy Arendra Barik & Avinash Nair, “India Will
be your trusted global partner, P.M. promises semi conductors makers”, The
Indian Express, July 29,2023.
[20] Soumy Arendra Barik, “AMD to
invest $400 m n in India over 5 years for its biggest design centre”, The
Indian Express, July 29,2023.